Much of the hype surrounding the crucible updates in Rise of Iron revolves around the announcement of private matches or the new game mode, Supremacy, but what about the new maps we’ll be playing on?
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Floating Gardens
This battle arena, located on Venus, features a twist on the traditional 3 lane maps we have come to love (see: Burning Shrine). While a lot of maps currently in Destiny have long straight sniper lanes, this map features lanes that snake throughout the map, and converge on one point.
The map draws inspiration from Vex technology. Bungie Senior Designer, Derek Carroll, describes it in a recent interview as, “…a shrine and recycling center.”
Floating Gardens also boasts a bridge section and many structures that afford the player ample opportunity for cover. This will allow players that enjoy closer engagements to use movement and verticality in their combat.
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Skyline
Skyline is set in an abandon Mars terminal once inhabited by research and engineering teams.
Split into two sections, Skyline was designed with a lot of open vertical space. The map was designed to allow players to fight in the building’s interior, or push outside into a courtyard area. This should allow players of varying playstyles to have a habitat cohesive to them, and the large open airspaces should grant guardians plenty of room to become ninja-like and make use of perks such as Icarus.
The lobby on this map will be illuminated by a hologram of Mars with the Traveler hanging nearby (which furthers my personal suspicion that the traveler is totally hiding some evil plans!).
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Icarus
Icarus, exclusive to PlayStation guardians, will be located on Mercury. Dropped into Mercury’s unforgiving atmosphere, players will duke it out in a circular map that is something akin Drifter, but quite a bit larger. Icarus, which will be compatible with all 6v6 modes, is set in a large facility that captures the suns energy.
The map will feature sparse areas of cover, as well as an outer ring that lends itself well to long range engagements and skilled snipers. Players will be required to embrace the movement that is encouraged by the map design, but should find reprieve in being able to disengage opponents easier due to Icarus’ circular, non-lane based design. Players would be smart to avoid hanging out in the center of this map for too long, because it was described by Lars Bakken and the design team as “the meat grinder”.
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Last Exit
The Last Exit takes us back to Venus, and combatants will square off in a decaying transit station. The map is essentially divided into two sections, a courtyard and subway tunnels. The underground portion of the map, located just down the escalator that is sure to be a death trap, will be a haven to players that enjoy close range combat.
As players push through the basement of collapsed and decaying structures, they arrive in a courtyard area that overlooks Venus’ vast oceans. This area should be great for players that prefer medium-to-long engagements, and, during his GameInformer interview, Derek Carroll assured players that “…a lot of mayhem happens out there.”