Riot Games Announces New Map Abyss for VALORANT
Riot Games has released a complete cinematic teaser for the new VALORANT map Abyss, which shows various areas where players might fall to their doom—and fans can not help but connect it to one of Counter-Strike’s legendary playgrounds.
Riot introduced the new map on June 8, with a video featuring multiple agents traveling through what appears to be a garden on top of an unending pit, which makes sense given the name.
“The map from [a] bird eyes view looks an awful lot like de_vertigo from Counter-Strike,” one fan said in a June 8 Reddit thread. Several fans are also looking forward to losing rounds in their matches simply because their colleagues disappeared off the map, which will definitely happen when they learn their bearings in the first few weeks.
Comparison to Vertigo
What distinguishes Abyss from Vertigo is that the VALORANT map shows a large hole in the center of what looks to be a Spike location. While players can fall from Vertigo’s edges, they cannot freefall from anyplace within the map’s limits. Riot has yet to announce whether there will be a barrier that prevents players from leaving the map.
The developers considered adding a pit to Pearl before its debut in 2022, but chose not to proceed with the design upon release to ensure the map’s basic goal—a “deceptively simple” layout—was satisfied. Pearl also has a hole atop the ropes in front of the attackers’ spawn, but you cannot jump off the map from here.
Console Release
The Abyss teaser concludes the week on a high note for VALORANT, as Riot’s tactical FPS is expected to release on consoles this year.