Valorant has quickly gained popularity and has become one of the biggest competitive games much like CS-GO, Leagues of Legends, and Dota 2.
It is one of the few games that not only has a first-person shooter gameplay but it also focuses on the storylines of the characters. Riot Games places subtle visual and auditory cues about the main characters since their background story was never told directly.
This leads players to look for small details with every update to decipher the meaning. Valorant does it best with additional voice lines where a lot of stories are subtly hinted at.
Moreover, numerous notes are scattered across maps that reveal bits of information that form a theory about a certain character. This includes the computer notes in the practice area or the notes present at the Spawn site on Fracture.
Additionally, animated sequences are a great way of getting to know a bit about the characters, and various easter eggs are frequently hidden within these scenes, much like a Christopher Nolan film.
Furthermore, banner art for your profile is one of the best ways Valorant hints at an upcoming update. This is what happened in Act 3 of the ongoing Episode 4. One of the banners, which is unlocked at higher levels, has a yellow tram with an enormous aquarium behind it.
Upon further digging, ValorLeaks and Cynprel identified the location on the banner. It appears to be present in Lisbon, Portugal. The way they deciphered it requires insane attention to detail and they seem to be successful in doing so.
🔻 Map 8 Teasers Explained w/ Cynprel 🔻
Hey Leak Friends,
ValorLeaks has invited me to compile and explain the various teasers for VALORANT's next map!
At a glance:
– Map 8 is likely to be in Lisbon, Portugal 🇵🇹
– It takes place on Ω-Earth/Thread | #VALORANT pic.twitter.com/T9sOyY1ihq
— Valorleaks | Leaks & Info (@ValorLeaks) May 19, 2022
Valorant released a visual novel where coordinates of a certain location were hidden in a vertically arranged layout. The leaker spotted the coordinates and placed them in the real world only to find out that the location is none other than the capital of Portugal, Lisbon.
This was confirmed by the map located behind Raze in a cinematic sequence where the team practiced against a robot.
Teaser 3 // Jan. 2022
A map of Lisbon was hidden in a couple of scenes from the WARM UP cinematic. pic.twitter.com/4zHqnNQ8S4
— Valorleaks | Leaks & Info (@ValorLeaks) May 19, 2022
To further confirm this theory, both the leakers decided to decode the yellow trams. Coincidentally, these trams are famous for roaming around Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.
Since that’s out of the way, we are only left with one thing, the aquarium appearing behind these yellow trams. Recently, Valorant also teased us with a picture of a large aquarium with a large octopus covering the middle and children are admiring it from a distance.
Something special's bubbling up in VALORANT. Get ready for Aquarium week. pic.twitter.com/xuDUoT4B1X
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) May 23, 2022
A little research lead to an astonishing discovery. This aquarium nearly resembles the ‘Oceanário de Lisboa’ or ‘The Lisbon Oceanarium’ which is an enormous underwater aquarium present in Lisbon.
Another interesting thing is that the large octopus resembles Omen since it has the same stripes on its head as Omen has on his face. The children might be the players that admire the game and play it throughout its episodes.
In addition, the octopus appearing in the middle and being the center of attention for the players might be hinting at something.
It leads us into thinking that the next episode might feature massive lore about Omen and if it happens, it would be the first time Omen will get lore for himself since all of his lores were only indirectly hinted at.
A user spotted that the octopus buddy we were given a long time ago changes its form and becomes like the octopus shown in today’s teased image.
also when u put the gun buddy on omens ghost it does this lol pic.twitter.com/wi0T5MdNcR
— Gab(e) (@energyepic_720) May 23, 2022
This buddy toy is named “ancient mysteries revealed” which further proves the point that Valorant has been planning this for quite some time.
Secondly, fans are speculating about the release of a new map (map 8) that would have an oceanic theme. This is also not any coincidence because Valorant has been planning this for quite a long time.
They added the ‘Depth Bundle’ where the weapon skin is based on an aquatic theme long before in episode 2 act 3.
Moreover, the top portion of the night market’s background theme is similar to the teased image by Valorant. Both portray an underwater scenario where light rays are entering the surface of the water.
Another thing that appears to be a ‘coincidence’ for the underwater theme, is the lobby animation where Neon touches a triangular gateway made out of pure water.
It could be a new gimmick since every map has a gimmick. Split and Icebox have vertical zip wires, Fracture has a long horizontal zip wire, Breeze has closable vents, Bind has teleporting portals and Ascent has closable doors.
Introducing a new gimmick on the Eighth map would be interesting and it seems that this water portal might serve as a great medium to teleport to the underwater world.
Whether there will be a new map with an oceanic theme, or the ‘Depth 2.0 Bundle’ being released, all the fans are eager for the updates to see what Valorant has set up for us.
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[News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than three years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
