Lotus, VALORANT's newest map filled with Indian architecture, three bombsites, and new gimmicks

Following a successful 2022 for VALORANT in terms of esports events and the overall development of the game, we delve head-on into 2023 as Riot Games developers are gearing up for a big start to the year. With top level professional circuits kicking off in February in Brazil for the unique kick-off tournament, early January will see a brand-new map be introduced into the game (and possibly the active map pool). Named Lotus, VALORANT’s 9th map will be the second to feature a triple-bombsite layout and arrives with brand new gimmicks. This time around, players will be transported to Western Ghats, India, where Lotus is situated.

“We wanted to make another 3 site map and show that this is more of a format we’ll keep using than just a single map. Additionally, we aimed to make a map with high flexibility and movement for both teams.” - Joe Lansford – Level Designer

Experiencing the "Indiana Jones moment"

As it has become a rather standard procedure with up-and-coming VALORANT maps, the dev team takes great care in situating the maps fittingly to their given environment (in this case India). Lotus is no exception to that rule as the architectural design of the new map takes inspiration directly from Indian locations and architectural styles.

“There are several traditional Indian architectural elements and locations that we took inspiration from. Stepwells, Rock-Cut architecture and the Dravidian style. Badami Cave Temples, Ellora Caves and Rani Ki Vav to name a few.” - Joe Lansford

According to some of the Riot Games devs, Lotus aims to provide players with a sense of exploration and discovery. Upon entering the map, some of the implemented map designs are supposed to make players experience an "Indiana Jones moment." For those that are not familiar with the action-adventure cult movie series, this refers to a sense of wonder, discovery, and usually involves encountering a new location or world. Brian Yam, the Art Lead and Concept at Riot Games puts it best:

"For the visual experience for players, we wanted players to experience an Indiana Jones moment. For example, going into C-site, you are greeted with the Rock-Cut cave and a stream of sunlight from above gives a sense of wonder and discovery of a lost city."

Despite how Lotus turned out in the end, Joe Lansford shared that his idea for the map was initially entirely different. However, after some experimentation, the novel idea was scrapped due to it not turning out to be “fun” in the end. "When designing Lotus," he says, "I was originally envisioning a space station and an airlock mechanic that shut down large areas of the map. Turned out to just not be that fun, so we scrapped the idea and moved in the direction we have today."

Bringing back unique mechanics to Lotus

The previous map to join the VALORANT map pool was Pearl. Situated in Portugal, Pearl was the first VALORANT map to be introduced into the game not to feature any unique mechanics or gimmicks. With Pearl, Riot devs rather bet on a clean design that rewarded strategy over anything else. However, as we reported before, it seems like Lotus will be an entirely different story in regards to map mechanics.

As per an embargo provided by Riot Games, Lotus will launch with the following new mechanics:

• Rotating doors
• A destructible door/wall
• A silent drop

We are yet to see how the above work on VALORANT's ninth map. However, Lotus is looking to be a very creative map due to a triple-bombsite setup alongside three different gimmicks to complement its design of the "lost city."

When does Lotus launch in VALORANT?

Riot Games devs are gearing up for the end of Episode 5. This means that the current Battlepass will also come to a close. Episode 6, Act 1 is launching on January 10. This means a fresh Battlepass, new skin lines, and of course Lotus are going to be added to the game.

Lotus showcase: