PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ original map, Erangel, will soon see some big changes, with a visual overhaul coming when Season 4 launches July 24. The update is currently live on the game’s test servers and will be available to everyone on PC next week, with a console release coming at an unspecified date.
PUBG is no longer quite the cultural phenomenon that it was when it helped launch the battle royale genre to stratospheric popularity, nor has it kept up with the relentless update schedule of competitor Fortnite, but it’s still received regular improvements since its release. Its most recent map, Vikendi, launched late last year, after which developer PUBG Corporation announced that it would begin remastering old maps before releasing another new one.
The Season 4 patch doesn’t just clean up Erangel’s graphics; it actually makes some substantial tweaks to the map. It’s nothing that will fundamentally change how the game is played, but the changes are enough to make Erangel feel fresh again, with new buildings and “plenty of secrets to find,” according to PUBG Corporation. Check out the trailer below:
Some of the changes coming to Erangel are tied to a newly released lore video that reveals PUBG’s surprisingly dark backstory. The video follows a child war survivor who grows up to found the battle royale tournament that players didn’t even know they’d been participating in the past couple of years. To bring Erangel more in line with the game’s retroactively grim history, the update will add blast scars, abandoned tanks, and other signs of the war that eventually led to the battle royale’s creation.
As the kickoff to a new season, patch 4.1 does a lot more than just spruce up Erangel. It also introduces a new survivor pass, called Aftermath. In addition to more than 100 items to earn, Aftermath adds a new cooperative mission type that rewards players for working together to complete objectives. The Aftermath survivor pass will be active from July 23 to October 15.
Patch 4.1 also brings a ton of balance tweaks, new features, and bug fixes. One of the most significant changes is a series of improvements to healing items. Players can now walk, but not run, while healing; and healing will continuously consume bandages until players are at 75 percent health or until canceled, rather than requiring players to use multiple bandages until they hit that level. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has plenty of longstanding problems that players may have wanted to see fixed before this graphical overhaul, which isn’t likely to win back many lapsed players. Still, for those still fighting it out in Erangel, it’s a nice way to kick off the new season with a little nostalgia.
Source: PUBG Corporation