"People don't like Abyss?": Valorant community debates on the latest map being worse than others
Abyss was recently added to Valorant during patch 8.11. This is the first map in Valorant where you can actually fall off and die, much like Vertigo in CS2. While the community seemed initially thrilled, the excitement seems to have slowly faded. Now, some players adore Abyss while others would much rather dodge the queue in hopes of avoiding it altogether.
A user named giggaval took to Reddit, asking the game's community if they actually liked Abyss. Naturally, the fans were divided. User Inevitable-Ice-1939 was among those surprised at people actually disliking the map. They asked:
"People don't like Abyss? It's a fun map"
The differences in opinion were wide and plenty. One user, Urkedurke, noted that they saw no problem with Abyss in Valorant. In fact, they even suggested OP take their time to study the map to help with the overall experience of it:
"I don't see any issues with it. It's a two site map like any other. I might suggest that you watch content and angle guides for the map and then run around in a custom. For example, I used to hate Lotus, but after punting in the time to understand it, it became my favorite map."
The fact that Abyss punishes players for misstepping is very well-known at this point. Perhaps that's why user BisonAthlete92 suggested that players need to take care of their movement and practice on the map. This, according to them, could lead to a more enjoyable playing experience.
Of course, not everyone had good things to say about Abyss. User BeneficialDream332 chimed in with their thoughts for Abyss and several other maps including Sunset, Breeze, Split, and more:
"Abyss is the worst map to come out, ever. Fracture is a good map, split is a great map and sunset is a hit or miss. Also breeze, breeze is sh*t too"
It was TallMills who brought forth a more balanced approach. They admitted that they personally did not like Abyss. However, they believed that new maps do have a tendency to be disliked. Often, they grow on the players, with many adopting a kinder view of the maps.
Are there major issues with Abyss in Valorant?
Abyss is an interesting map with a unique design. The falling-off mechanic is brilliant to play around and the overall build feels balanced. There seem to be no major issues with the map in Valorant so far.
However, a lack of issues alone is not nearly enough for fans to like the map. It is entirely possible that Valorant developers spend months or years on a brilliant map and it still may fall flat with the community. This happened with Sunset, Pearl, and even Lotus to a certain degree.
As one of the Reddit community members noted, maps grow on people with time. Perhaps Abyss will too.