PUBG has been out for almost seven years already and in that time plenty has changed, from great new maps and weapons to the introduction of seasonal battle passes. For a game to survive this long though, it’s not all about cramming in new toys. Sometimes you have to look back at the existing content and bring it up to standard, and that’s exactly what PUBG update 33.1 has done. Bringing destructible environments to the jungle, it’s time to relearn Sanhok all over again.
Available right now on PC, the latest PUBG: Battlegrounds update brings sweeping updates to one of the best battle royale games. Headlining the update is undeniably the addition of destructible environments to Sanhok, one of the weakest maps of the bunch.
Following in the footsteps of the destruction update to Rondo earlier this year, you’ll now able to destroy entire buildings and create craters using various explosives. Concrete and wooden buildings are fully destructible, while steel and stone structures are only partially destructible. The Red Zone can also damage the environment, so be careful when making your way to safety.
This adds more depth, dynamism, and strategy to each firefight – as well as more chaos. See an enemy hiding in a building? Blow it up. Got caught out in the open? Create a ditch for some makeshift cover.
Sanhok has also received various location reworks to improve the flow of combat. For example, additional foliage and rocks have been added to several areas to provide more cover – a long overdue change given how open the location is. Likewise, a handful of textures have also been improved, most easily seen on the buildings dotted around the map.
The update also includes various weapon balancing adjustments, too. Namely, SMGs have had a significant accuracy buff to make them more consistent, especially at close range where they were previously being outclassed by assault rifles. You can read the full patch notes here.
Following significant community requests, you can now also matchmake specifically with players of the same language preference in the normal queue. Communication is key in PUBG, so this change will hopefully ensure smoother comms when teaming up with random players.
As the cherry on top, these overhauls and improvements coincide with the annual ‘Let It Snow’ Survivor Pass. Celebrate the holidays with winter-themed missions and rewards.
Although the multiplayer game is no longer the battle royale king it was all those years ago, the major changes over the years – including update 33.1 – make it an FPS game worth returning to. Plus, more updates are on the way in the new year, so it’s far from over.
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