Valorant players have been clamouring for a new map and Riot Games obliged them as the devs announced Icebox would come out months ahead of schedule.
Icebox is a map in a sub-zero setting with a shipwreck and what appears to be a remote scientific station, not unlike those we would see in the Arctic. While the setting itself is a far cry from the warmer ones seen in the four existing maps, it is not the most interesting detail of the announcement.
There are two things that will likely take the spotlight. The first one is that the map was not supposed to come out before Episode 2. For reference, Valorant is about the get Act III of Episode 1, which will last for months. In other words, Riot devs turned out to be months ahead of schedule on this one.
This info is coming straight from a Rioter on Reddit and now that the map is releasing one episode sooner, it remains to be seen whether another will make a debut in Episode 2.
Meanwhile, people are already celebrating that they will have less chance to play Split now. Despite Riot's efforts to bring the map in line with others, many players kept the aversion to the zipline-littered map.
The irony here is that Icebox will also feature ziplines but it remains to be seen whether the layout will be as unfriendly to one team as Split is to attackers.
Ziplines in the new map are not only vertical though as some that can be seen in the trailer can take players from one spot to another in a horizontal direction. It remains to be seen how it will affect the agents who rely on positional superiority provided by their abilities now that everyone will be able to reach what seems to be a great position on high ground.
