Top 5 CS:GO Maps Which Could Potentially Inspire New Maps In VALORANT
VALORANT had been steadily rising in popularity since its initial launch back in June 2020. Its growth in the FPS genre is unparalleled to any other game in the video games industry. Backed by one of the best developers of our time, Riot Games, the game had many expectations to fulfil and serve different FPS enthusiasts, than their existing successful MOBA counter-part: League of Legends. The game was initially teased as Project-A during Riot's 10th Anniversary, and it was launched in beta. Content creators and players tried out the unique take on the FPS and felt that this game has enormous potential to be one of the best FPS titles.
Many fans believed that VALORANT could potentially give Valve a run for their money and make Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) stale as the developers weren't paying much attention to the title. Many professional esports players like Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom and Spencer "Hiko" Martin were quick to observe the trend, and they shifted to VALORANT to escalate their careers and play in future tournaments. Over the last year, the game has released many Agents with the addition of two maps, and organised mainstream esports tournaments throughout the world.
Apart from the esports side of things, if there is something that VALORANT lacks, it is a huge pool of maps. While the game's been barely out for one year, it is expected that the maps will roll out slowly during the next few years. The game has maps like Split, Bind, Ascent, Icebox, and Haven, which makes a good round count of five for the competitive scene. But for the ranked players of the game, it might become a bit repetitive playing and grinding the game every day. Moreover, having a bigger pool of maps would allow the game to have a concise set of maps for esports and others targeted towards casual players.
- Related: How To Play Astra In VALORANT
Here is a look at five CS:GO that could bring inspiration to the upcoming VALORANT maps:
1. INFERNO
Inferno has to be one of the favourite community maps along with Nuke in CS:GO. The map is centred on a small town with European architecture, which looks very stylish and ancient. It has two bombsites where the terrorists look to blow up two critical gas pipelines while the counter-terrorists look to prevent it from happening.
At the moment, the VALORANT spike blast seems very unreasonable, and a connection with the lore of the game would certainly make a map based on this concept a very fun experience for the players.
2. VERTIGO
The Vertigo map in CS:GO has a very interesting location to its name. The map is centred on a conflict between the two teams on top of the skyscraper. Moreover, unlike other maps, the main attraction of this map is that it punishes people who do not respect its elevation. Many professional players have fallen to their deaths in this map, making for interesting montages, and would be a great new feature to add to the VALORANT maps. Players could even use their movement abilities to avoid falling, making for some high octane gameplay for the viewers.
3. CACHE
The cache is a map based on Ukraine, and it is a unique map in terms of maintenance, as it is the creator 'FMPONE' who controls it instead of Valve. It further made a huge accomplishment by getting added to the game's competitive map pool, and Riot Games could potentially add a system that would allow creators to make their maps in the game and showcase it to the community in the custom mode. This type of change would bring the community tighter and incentivise players to spend more time in the game.
4. TRAIN
The Train is a very interesting setting for a map location. The map got mixed reviews from the CS:GO community, but it has been one of the most played maps of all time. The Train is a classic example of a busy map setting that is very chaotic yet very fun to play. VALORANT could take common places from Asia and other active areas of the world and make a new map based on the visual attractiveness of the sites.
5. CANALS
Last but not least, we have the Canals. The map is based on Venice, and it is a very aesthetically pleasing map. There are bridges, and the overall setting of the environment looks very crisp. Many players don't like this map as it wasn't made for competitive players, but it perfectly appeals to casual players with low action-packed matches and gives them time to react to scenarios. Overall, maps like this would be very beginner-friendly and would help players learn the game efficiently.
It is important to keep in mind that VALORANT Maps have distinct feature/characteristics which separate them from the rest of the competitive maps in different video games. Ascent have doors that can temporarily block enemies entrance to the site from mid; Bind has teleporters, and more. Therefore, it might take a while for the developers to develop new map exclusive mechanics and blend them well with the whole map's aesthetics.
Images via Riot Games | Valve