Shroud Gives His Verdict on New Map in Valorant

Riot Games kicked off Act 3 on Valorant with the all-new Icebox map, along with a couple of other changes. Players realized at once that Icebox is different than all the other maps in the game, despite being an amalgamation of various elements from them.

Spread across a large area, this map is pretty diverse in terms of its layout. As a result, it encourages multiple gameplay strategies and styles. Shroud tested out this map recently, and it seems he liked it a great deal.

Shroud makes a good point about the map when he says, “It’s not f—ing one-dimensional like every other map“. 

And we can see why he would say so. If we consider all the other maps in the game, none of them feature as many variations in their layout as this one does.

“It’s not f—ing one-dimensional”: Looks like the G.O.A.T. is a big fan of the new Valorant map

First of all, this is the only map that has its Site A in an enclosed space, and yet, the layout does not make it seem congested. Rather, the layout of Site A makes it suitable for an ambush. On the other hand, we have Site B, which is perhaps the biggest spike site in the game.

All the other maps in the game feature a lane-oriented layout. All the pathways that connect the sites are basically straightforward lanes (yes, we mean the underground pathways of Split as well). This is possibly what Shroud meant when he called the other maps one-dimensional.

Icebox is more like an open maze. The layout is realistic, and the map features as much variety as we have seen in maps from, say, Modern Warfare, or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Although some might argue about the variety in the layout of Counter-Strike maps, it is still better than what we have seen in Valorant.

The one negative is that players have already encountered a glitch in this map, which, if not fixed, will enable players to exploit and spam kills. Hiko recently encountered it on stream, and he urged other players to let the devs know of it. If all goes well, Riot might fix this in the upcoming update patch cycle.

As for Shroud, he made full utilization of the layout to score some insane kills. The map does provide enough sniping opportunities and the aim god did what he does best and rained death upon his enemies with the Operator.