Pitts, scuttle crab and a home in the dome: Fans get a glimpse of Pearl's hidden history in Valorant

Valorant maps are, in general, filled with nods to the overarching lore of the game and various other goodies that one can find and enjoy. Players have had a gala time exploring new maps to find out how they further the current story arc, figuring out new strategies, testing out new mechanics and coming across cuddly plushies. Pearl similarly continues that trend.

Riot recently provided a glimpse at the hidden history of Valorant's latest map, with a series of tweets covering a number of intriguing topics. Players have been milling around the underwater geo-dome for some time now with the map recently being added to the competitive queue as well.

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Riot shares a look at the hidden history of Valorant's latest map Pearl

Through the game's official Twitter channel, the developers shared a number of posts covering tidbits regarding the developmental process, how the map looked early on, how it changed over time to its final version and the fan-favorite Tactibears hidden across the map.

The first tweet referred to the internal name for Pearl, which was PITT, and explained that the map was called so because it originally had a giant hole in the center. Supposedly there were even "art and narrative concepts to support the idea."

Next, Riot mentioned that in early playtests there was a giant Scuttle Crab hanging beyond the dome, "watching, cheering, and probably learning some sick Sage walls." League of Legends veterans will be delighted with the addition, and the iconic creature has already made an appearance on the Split map, albeit in a tad controversial way.

Appparently, Pearl wasn't conceived as a fully submerged city. Riot said:

"Early concepts had half of the map outside of the water, so you could wade into the deep end at your own pace."

It would have been interesting to see how this would have played out given the 5v5 gameplay. Although the end result of a geo-dome is definitely a unique feature in Valorant, players will always wonder how the map would have felt if the early concepts had gotten actualized.

Riot also mentioned that there are multiple Tactibears scattered across the nooks and crannies of Pear with one "fishing underwater and living their absolute best life." It's fun looking around and finding these little hidden cuddly plushies.

Furthermore, the developers mentioned that the artist Kruella Denfer "featured a Portuguese guitar at the bottom of the sea in her mural." This supposedly inspired the Fado vinyl album cover design.

Little tidbits of information like these provide Valorant fans with a richer view of the game and its maps. It also gives a glimpse at the various stages of the developmental process and the concepts that don't make it into the final version.

Valorant recently received patch 5.01 which brought a number of changes to some of the Agents on the roster. Phoenix, Yoru and Kay/O had a number of their abilities tweaked. The game's North American servers will also be getting a new "smurf detection functionality" that will try tackling the annoying issue.