Hop onto PUBG, download a 12.9GB update, and you’ll find Vikendi – a veritable winter wonderland – ready to play.
Update: January 22nd, 2019
PUBG’s wonderful winter map, Vikendi, is now available to console players on both PS4 and Xbox One.
Also, Brendan Greene teased a little update that’s coming to the Vikendi map on the PUBG PC test servers very soon:
https://twitter.com/PLAYERUNKNOWN/status/1086663545570377728
That’s exciting stuff.
Original story:
Over the past few weeks, PUBG Corp. have been testing their latest and long-awaited winter map, Vikendi, on the PUBG test servers.
It’s a wintry environment, loosely based on a recce the team’s artists took to Slovenia to explore the region’s mountains, lakes, and beautiful architecture. The Vikendi map takes in (approximations of) all of these locations, from the waterside of Lake Bled to the mountain villages of Kranjska Gora, Slovenia’s premier ski resort; plus a few little extras.
There are towns, and docks, and military facilities, and all the other sorts of things we’re familiar with in a PUBG map. But then there’s also an abandoned, Soviet-era cosmodrome, and a slightly run-down dinosaur amusement park. (That’s the giant fibreglass dinosaur model variety, not the, er, Jurassic Park kind.) It’s an extra level of whimsy that’s new to PUBG, and we like it.
There are also new gameplay features added to PUBG, specifically for the Vikendi map.
First up, there are snowmobiles. These are, frankly, a lot of fun. They’re less slippery and likely to kill you than a motorcycle, but more manoeuvrable than Miramar’s jetskis. You get the best of both vehicles and the ability to hoon it around on all terrains, including snowy hillsides and frozen rivers where a wheeled vehicle might struggle. There’s also room for two, so bring a friend.
Then there’s a new weapon, exclusive to the Vikendi map: the G36c carbine rifle. It’s chambered for 5.56mm ammunition and takes a lot of attachments, so is a good approximation for the M416 carbine and everybody’s favourite, the SCAR-L.
And finally, there’s the best bit of all: deformable snow cover. Specifically, as you walk, run, slither on your belly, or drive vehicles through the powdery snow on PUBG’s Vikendi map, you’ll leave a trail. But unlike open doors and broken glass, which give you no indication of how recently they were breached, footprints in the snow will be covered after a period of time. It gives the game’s already tense mechanics an interesting new dimension.
Also, it makes a lovely crunchy noise.
It’s early days, but Vikendi might be the best PUBG map yet. We’ll see you on the slopes, folks (just don’t eat the red snow).
