PUBG Battlegrounds is getting a big new update this week, as the Vikendi map finally hits PS4 and Xbox One.
The new snow map will be available to download on the morning of January 22.
PUBG will be taken offline for maintenance at 8am UK time, before returning at 10am GMT.
Vikendi is 6x6km map, which is said to be quicker than Erangel and Miramar, but more tactical than Sanhok.
The snow map offers some unique gameplay opportunities, letting players throw snowballs in the waiting area, and track enemies using their footprints in the snow.
Vehicles are also harder to control on the ice, and take longer to speed up.
Battlegrounds developer Bluehole will also add new weapons, including the Skorpion – which is available on all maps – and the G36C – which is exclusive to Vikendi.
QoL
• Minimap: Players can now further magnify the minimap
• Player order consistency: Player order between the lobby and in-game is now consistent so that players will have fixed numbers and colors based on lobby order when they enter a game.
• Added field of view slider in First Person Perspective mode (FPP) settings
New Map: Vikendi
Vikendi Gameplay
• Vikendi is 6x6km map. The gameplay of Vikendi is quicker than Erangel and Miramar, but offers an arguably more tactical experience than Sanhok.
• Players can throw snowballs while waiting to board the plane in the starting area
• Vehicles will be more slippery in snow or icy areas. Acceleration on icy terrain is slow and you lose more general vehicle control as you speed up
• Footprints and vehicle tracks will appear as players travel in snow-covered areas. Keep an eye out! These are great to help identify if enemies have passed by recently
• Keep in mind that footprints and tracks in the snow don’t stay around forever!
Redzone
• The center of the red zone spawns outside of the play zone
• The smaller the play zone, the smaller the red zone
Bluezone
• The first circle of every game is much smaller than other maps, but subsequent circle sizes change less drastically.
• This facilitates more blue zone variety and unique experiences.
• Similar strategies work on Vikendi to Erangel and Miramar for the first three phases, but the zones will close slower starting from phase 4, similar to Sahnok. We feel this leads to a good balance between strategy and gunplay throughout the duration of each match
Item Spawn Balance
• The overall item spawn rate is at a midpoint between our maps – offering a unique place between the spawn rates of Erangel and Sahnok.
• Level 3 helmets spawn in the world
• Level 3 vests spawn more often than other maps
• Smoke Grenades are spawned at a higher rate compared to other throwables
Gameplay
• Decreased recoil of the P18C
• Added auto-reload option
– When enabled, you will reload weapons automatically when you try to fire while your magazine is empty
– By default, this is set to “Off” but can be changed in the Gameplay menu
• Maximum number of Forward Running Sensitivity has changed from 50 to 100
• The maximum value would stay the same, so if your Forward Running Sensitivity was 10, it will change to 20
– This is to have a more specific value
• Improved the sound settings in option
– The sound settings are now separated into Master Volume, FX Volume, UI Volume and Music Volume
Parachute System Overhaul
• Freefalling
– Tapping L-Stick now puts you into a dive at full speed straight down towards the ground
– Turning speed is now much faster and has increased control, responsiveness, and precision
• Parachuting
– Added new freefall animations and increased overall control and responsiveness
– Tapping L-Stick helps you drop faster and land quicker
– Pulling L-Stick backwards lets you glide, when you want to travel a longer distance
– You can now cut the parachute while relatively close to the ground by pressing O, while still moving through the air.
– This can be used to strategically to get to your drop point faster, but be careful, as you can take damage if you drop too far
– Added new landing animations
– The speed in which you land matters, as landing too fast may force your character to roll, or roll for longer, before you can gain full control of your movement
– Colliding with buildings or objects while parachuting will now automatically cut your parachute. Be careful!
– The parachute no longer disappears instantly after landing
• Improved the character animations used in the air.
– Character movements are much more fluid and have been improved to be more realistic.
• Improved blood hit effects
– Improved the visuals of blood particles when players are shot.
– Improved the visuals of blood effects that appear on screen when shot by other players.
• Slightly decreased the maximum number of shots possible to fire per second with the M16A4
– The reason for this change was due to the fire-rate of burst mode for the M16A4 being unintentionally slower than single fire shot rapidly
– We are planning to have a weapon balance patch in the first half of 2019. Please continue to share your feedback with us regarding weapon balance
• Adjusted the sight position to be closer to the muzzle for some weapons
– In a future update, we will be adding a new attachment which will require this new sight position, so we’ve made the change in advance to help players adjust to the change
– There is no change to weapon recoil, but weapon control may be perceived differently due to the sight location change
• Players now receive damage from Molotovs that hit their vehicle
– Molotovs that hit around the vehicle, or when driven through an already-exploded molotov will not damage those inside
UI/UX
• Player order consistency: Player order between the lobby and in-game is now consistent so that players will have fixed numbers and colors based on lobby order when they enter a game.
• Controller Guide can now be seen from the lobby from settings
• The name of the player being watched while spectating teammates, in observer view, or killer spectating will now appear in the top left corner of the screen.
• Changed the overall lobby theme in celebration of our latest map – Vikendi
– Applied the snowfield environment theme
– Applied a snowing effect
– Changed the background music
• Combined the ‘Career’ and ‘Leaderboard’ menu in Statistics into a ‘Season’ menu
Performance
• Improved the client performance by optimizing the creation of character materials
• Improved performance by mitigating an issue causing thin objects to flicker.
• Optimized particles in rainy weather.
• Adjusted the parachute and character sync rate depending on the distance to improve server performance
• Improved the items and skins to look smoother on preview
– Added characters, weapon skins and parachute preview
• Optimized rendering method on vegetation to improve performance
• Optimized object creation to improve CPU performance