The screenshot teases for PUBG’s next map are over. Today, Bluehole is revealing the all-new battleground we all will fight over. It’s called Miramar and couldn’t be more different than the island of Erangel we’ve been playing on for the better part of a year.
Anyone keeping up with PUBG on social media or Reddit knows the new map has an entirely new aesthetic. The rolling hills and forests of Erangel give way to a desert landscape.
“We wanted to go the opposite direction of having lush fields and forests and arrived at the harsh and unforgiving desert of what we can now reveal is Miramar. The unique terrain and dense urban areas of Miramar will create a new Battle Royale experience where the old strategies may no longer work and new tactics are required.”
My right eye twitched reading “dense urban areas.” Lag City (I mean, Yasnaya Polyana) doesn’t exactly run smooth. Even after countless optimization updates. But the folks behind PUBG say they’ve been working hard on optimizing the new map, and the old. Plus, they’ve been getting some help from the team over at Xbox. Bluehole has said some of the optimization tweaks made on the Xbox version will make their way over to the PC side.
I’m cautiously optimistic. Bluehole isn’t about to release the most anticipated piece of content riddled with optimization bug.
The desert wasteland and dense urban centers aren’t the only gameplay changes coming in Miramar. Bluehole is also tossing in weapons and vehicles that can only be found on the new map.
Here’s a truck that looks primed to flip over at the smallest bump.
New vehicle coming soon. Exclusive to the desert map. #ThisIsBattleRoyale pic.twitter.com/iL2dn6qTdq
— PLAY BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBATTLEGROUNDS) December 5, 2017
The lever-action Win94 perfectly fits the desert theme.
We’re very happy to reveal another new weapon – Win94. It’s a world spawn and a desert map exclusive. #ThisIsBattleRoyale pic.twitter.com/lfWInzCL7K
— PLAY BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBATTLEGROUNDS) December 6, 2017
And a sawed-off shotgun.
The test servers are now offline. Thank you for helping us test and for all your feedback.
The desert map will be available in the next round of testing. Here’s a new weapon, exclusive to the desert map. We will keep you posted regarding the schedule. pic.twitter.com/KCSiMsy3Ug
— PLAY BATTLEGROUNDS (@PUBATTLEGROUNDS) December 1, 2017
Check out the dev post for small blurbs about each of the major cities in Miramar.
Now, when can we play it? Bluehole is letting the masses play the map during the final test before PUBG exits early access later this month. We don’t have an exact release date, but sometime next week is a good bet.