PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is the Survival Game for People That Don't Like Survival Games

Since its debut on Steam Early Access in March of this year, PUBG has eclipsed over 30 million players in a way that can only be described as a "phenomenon." However, Project ARC given that the game has only just "released" now nine months after it launched through in Early Access, PUBG still very much feels like a game that's a work-in-progress, and that's likely going to be the case with it for months and, potentially, ye


Earning a chicken dinner victory in PUBG can come just as effectively from players that are aggressive and go after other players the moment they see them as they can from players that are deliberate and careful. A big part of that comes from using the environment to your advantage -- snipers that find manage to find a great hill or mountain can easily use that to their advantage to pick off players from a distance without ever knowing where they are. Likewise, setting up an ambush in a crowded city can also work to your advantage by keeping players guessing as to your location. Heck, avoiding combat altogether can sometimes be the best solution, as you sneak by while a passing enemy gets into a confrontation with another pla


On that last point, PUBG is by no means the "best" game from this year. On a technical level, it's still riddled with bugs and in dire need of fine-tuned optimization on PC (and on Xbox One as well, given the reports of its significant technical performance issues). Likewise, its progression and micro-transactions systems are a step back compared to the more satisfying sense of earning loot and rewards from investing time into it as games like Overwatch prov


In the hours that I've played PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds , most of those fears have gone away from the start. That isn't to say Battlegrounds goes completely against the grain when it comes to most Early Access survival sims - there are bugs a-plenty and what's actually available in the game for players is a bit sparse at the moment (though frequent updates are regulating that). However, I find what PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds does best so far is capture what I like the most about survival games - that intoxicating stress of fighting for your life - while stripping away almost all of the mechanics that I often clash with in the ge


In the hours I've played in Battlegrounds , I've come out of each round with wildly different outcomes. Some matches I died almost immediately after parachuting into a dropzone, due to either just dumb luck or a lack of vital resources to gather. Other times, my friends and I rode our way to near-victory ( with our best Squad game resulting in #2 placement ) and executed squad tactics with lethal precision - only for the game's unpredictable ways catching us by surprise in the


Over on the Steam community forum for the title, developer Brendan Greene (aka "PlayerUnknown") outlined what players can expect from the next Monthly Update for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which includes a hefty number of updates for the game. Specifically, these include a new car horn feature when driving vehicles, the addition of first-person only servers for the game in Solo and Duo game types for North America and Europe, support for the Xbox One controller, new weapons and character customization options, and much m


As a genre that's only grown in popularity over the past few years, I've mostly found myself bouncing off most survival games for a combination of reasons. I've liked the style of We Happy Few , the Hunger Games -inspired carnage of The Culling , the man vs. nature atmosphere of The Long Dark , and several others in the past, but few have ever left their impression on me for more than a few hours, largely due to gameplay mechanics that I (often) don't quite mesh with fu


Still a sore spot amongst PC gamers is the fact that the previous game was only ever out on consoles. People couldn’t understand why Rockstar wouldn’t tap into that vast market, although most people theorize it was due to the incredible difficulties the programmers had coding the g


Likewise, the actual design and visuals of PUBG are equally a mixed bag. Character models in particular take on some odd qualities and though players can customize them to their liking, they aren't exactly stellar looking and the cosmetic options that the game provides (even with loot crates and microtransactions) are limited, at best. The maps are perhaps my favorite aspect of the game's aesthetic as their vast draw distance and varied terrains are impressive, other than the occasional low-res textures or copy-pasted building and town layo


While Rockstar has refused to confirm many map locations outside of town names, it would make sense to give fans more of what they want. Alternatively, there are maps floating around the internet stating that RDR2’s map will have very little in common with the previous map, with only a slight overlap in West Elizabeth. So there are two rumors for the price of