The first images of the desert map coming to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds have been published by the game’s lead designer, Brendan “Playerunknown” Greene. Neither tells us much about the unreleased environment that we didn’t already know. But it’s nice to see some progress on the new maps while Bluehole continues to fine-tune the core PUBG experience.
We first learned about the existence of the upcoming desert map back in March. Greene then reconfirmed work on the environment during the PlayerUnknown’s Battleground segment of the PC Gaming Show at E3. Now we’re getting an early look at the smallest map we’ll see in PUBG. And we’re a bit disappointed, to be honest.
The new environment is being assembled by a team in Madison, Wisconsin. That means the studio doesn’t have to divide its team up between maps or split its attention between several environments. We don’t have any information on how big the secondary team is or how long they’ve been working on the desert map. But it’s disappointing to see so many assets from the existing map seemingly reused for the Peruvian battleground. The buildings from the first two screenshots very similar to buildings we’ve been exploring on Murder Island for the last three months. Sure, it’s a bit nitpicky. But PUBG has already moved four million copies. And it’s not even a full release or available on consoles (yet). Is it so terrible to hope that a massive cash influx would lead to a noticeable increase in developmental resources and unique content?
One of the desert map screenshots may also be teasing the next vehicle coming to PUBG. Bicycles have become a staple of survival games and battle royale shooters, thanks in no small part to their popularity in ARMA 2 and DayZ. And half of what seems to be a fully functional bike is sticking out from behind the building in the second image released by Greene. There’s been no confirmation of a new vehicle from Bluehole. But it’s worth pointing out that a recent addition to the game’s armory, the P18C, was also “announced” with an image.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently available in Early Access. The game heads to Xbox One in early 2018.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds coverage in 2017 and as long as Bluehole supports PUBG in the years ahead.
