First-person hero-shooter Valorant is adding a new map, titled "Fracture", which drew inspiration from a famous location in the Lord of the Rings films. While this new map is not a recreation of Helm's Deep, the influence of the famous location is quite evident from playing the map.
Valorant is the first shooter game from Riot Games, which lets players choose from one of sixteen available agents. Each agent has unique tactical abilities to aid themselves and their teammates capture or defend the bomb in order to win the round. In addition to skills such as managing income earned each round and used to buy weapons, learning how to carefully navigate each of Valorant's six maps is critical for players who want to emerge victorious from their match. Now that a seventh map is being added to the game, players will have to learn the tricks of Fracture if they wish to secure more victories.
According to Riot, Fracture is an H-shaped map where defenders spawn in the middle, with attackers spawning on each side of the map. Ziplines can be used to traverse the map, making this the first Valorant map with interactive objects. There are also interactive narrative objects, as Fracture is the first map that features the Mirror Earth Kingdom. However, according to Level Designer Joe Lansford, the level took inspiration from the Battle of Helm's Deep in the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The fact that attackers pincer the defenders from both sides gave Lansford a feeling similar to when the Riders of Rohan and the army in Helm's Deep ride out to converge on the army of orcs sieging the Deep.
In addition to the new map, Riot also revealed there will be a new battle pass for Episode 3, Act II. There will be several free items, such as an Artisan Ghost weapon skin, two gun buddies, a spray, and a Phoenix card. There will also be several items available in the paid tier (costing 1,000 VP, or $9.99 USD) that Valorant players will be excited to get their hands on, like the Varnish Sheriff, Artisan Phantom, Artisan Foil, and more.
All this new content is sure to excite Valorant players, but the new Fracture map is what will likely draw most fans' attention. Most of the maps in the game have been around since Valorant first entered beta. The most recent map release, prior to Fracture, was Breeze, a tropical, seaside paradise that was released in April 2021.
With Valorant set to host its next Champions Tour event in September, interest in the game is sure to be peaking. Although Fracture will likely not be active during the tournament itself, players of all skills will have to learn the intricacies of the map if they wish to avoid the same fate as the orc army.
Valorant is available on PC.