In early April, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds developer PUBG Corporation revealed the game’s smallest map yet. Code-named “Savage,” the map was previously 16 square kilometers, allowing for fast-paced action that played much differently than the game’s previous two enormous maps. But with the addition of a new underground cave area, Savage is getting a whole lot bigger.
Inspired by a trip the game’s development team took to Thailand’s Phraya Nakhon Cave, an update to the Savage map will add an enormous opening in the mountain at the map’s center, which players can skydive into after leaving the plane at the beginning of a match. Three exits are located underground, which lead outdoors, and the underground area features wooden structures and staircases that look like they were ripped out of an Uncharted or Tomb Raider level.
Because it’s underneath the map already in place, the distance it takes you to run from one side of Savage to the other doesn’t look like it’s going to change, but this should allow for more unique ambush opportunities and for bloodbaths as dozens of players drop into the same area. The map is still far from complete, with PUBG Corporation adding in its update post that a Tuk Tuk vehicle will be coming, as well.
Nothing is set in stone yet (aside from the giant whole in the map’s literal stone) with the development team welcoming feedback from players in order to improve the map before it rolls out to everyone.
One other major change is coming to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: Map selection. No longer will you have to delete the files for your least favorite map from the game’s code. At the main menu, you can now select or remove any of the game’s maps from your personal list. Suggest just one, and that’s the map you’ll be playing. Select more, and your map will be chosen at random, just like it was in the past. The feature isn’t live yet, but it will be released “soon after implementing it on the test server.”
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is now available on PC and Xbox One, though the original Erangel map is currently the only one available on the latter platform.
