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Fracture is the latest map to be added to Valorant. This unconventional structure brings unique gameplay perspectives.
Riot Games’ first-person shooter Valorant has gained popularity worldwide due to its easy and approachable gameplay paired with the active community. The game has successfully established itself as one of the most played esports within a year of its launch.
One of the most common complaints regarding Valorant has been its lack of maps. While each of the maps is purposefully crafted to give players plenty of opportunities to utilize the environment both as an attacker and as a defender, the total number of maps is too few.
With the addition of Fracture, Valorant has achieved the seven map count target, which was mentioned by developers previously.
The locations and the callouts of Valorant’s latest map Fracture
Fracture is quite a unique map in comparison to other Valorant maps. Instead of the traditional three-lane design with the attacker and defender spawning on either end, it implements an H shape that puts the defender spawn in the dead center while the attackers are at the edge of the map.
This totally flips the gameplay design. Defenders have to guard against every side, while attackers have multiple entries on the site. All the locations on the site are as follows:
Attacker Side
- Attacker Side Spawn
- Attacker Side Bridge
Defender Side
- Defender Side Spawn
A Side
- A Rope
- A Door
- A Hall
- A Main
- A Site
- A Link
- A Drop
- A Dish
- A Gate
B Side
- B Tree
- B Tunnel
- B Main
- B Site
- B Tower
- B Generator
- B Canteen
- B Link
- B Arcade
- B Bench
The idea behind the design of Fracture in Valorant
The developers compared the Fracture map design to that of Battle of Helm’s Deep from The Lord of The Rings. When asked about the goals, Joe Lansford, the Level Designer at Riot Games said,
The idea for the map came from a simple question: “What if?” Specifically, what if attackers started on both sides of the map, pinching defenders? We really wanted to ask players to rethink some fundamental assumptions and give them unique problems to solve. For example, for whom is the neutral space really for? From there, the goals just all focused on supporting that “what if.” The H-shape of the map, the neutral spaces, the ziplines, everything is built to reinforce that core idea.
It is quite interesting to see how the developers have implemented the design in Fracture. Fracture launches with patch 3.05 update, alongside Valorant Episode 3 Act 2.
