PUBG Season 8: Biggest Changes & Most Important Patch Notes
PUBG Season 8 is almost here, and with it comes some major changes to the Sanhok map, new loot opportunities, and several general enhancements.
Battle royale PlayerUnknown’s BATTLEGROUNDS’ 8th season lands this week, and with it comes a complete re-haul of the Sanhok map along with a few new features. Season 7 brought back the once-removed Vikendi map, updating DinoLand and adding railways, a new game mode, and landscape changes to the entire map. Season 8 adds similar changes to a different map while bringing some much-needed quality of life updates.
What was once the least-played map in the battle royale’s lineup, Sanhok has been reworked completely for better performance and graphics. The small map has previously been criticized for being a bit imbalanced and not having as many opportunities for long-range encounters. Season 8’s update adds several landmark changes that are meant to improve the strategic combat in the area. Examples include adding rope bridges and larger stone blocks in the Quarry to provide better movement and coverage, along with increasing opportunities for loot in underground pathways and explorable labyrinths.
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According to the game’s patch notes, other areas in Sanhok that received substantial changes are Mongnai, the Docks, the Cave, and many more. The farm area is replaced with an Airfield, creating the only spot on Sanhok to spawn a Motor Glider, while the Docks have been replaced with a loot-filled paradise resort known as The Getaway. The Cave, if players can fall inside alive, looks completely different, almost resembling an Uncharted-style level, giving more opportunities for exploration. Expect emptier towns to receive some updates in terms of added verticality and extra space for the new Loot Truck. Dave Curd, studio director of PUBG Madison, says he felt the river town of Pai Nan is the area of PUBG’s new Sanhok map that got the best overhaul, citing catwalks, rooftops to parkour across, and great head-to-head shooting across the river.
What’s New In PUBG Season 8?
One of the biggest new features in Season 8 of PUBG is the Loot Truck. Putting a spin on the Air Drops, the Loot Truck is an on-rails vehicle that lures players to attack it as it drives along roads. While damaging the truck, loot will drop as they continue to drive, but if players manage to actually destroy the truck they’ll be rewarded with a massive amount of loot. Of course, with such great rewards comes great risk. Air Drops are already easy to camp near and snipe potential looters, but with the amount of noise needed to take down a Loot Truck, any player going for the prize will alert everyone around them.
The Gas Can improvements from PUBG’s 7.2 update have returned with a few changes. Spilled fuel blends with the area more to make it harder to see and gas cans can now be thrown like a melee weapon, spilling fuel as it falls making it easier to ignite with gunshots. Other gameplay changes include a footstep sound redesign, set to enhance the quality of footstep sounds for more accurate tracking, and some UI improvements to improve user experience like improving the style of tooltips.
Every new season of PUBG comes with a new Survivor Pass and general game updates as well. The newest pass adds nearly 100 new skins, missions, and an increase in experience gained while playing. Vikendi is now added to the Ranked Mode lineup, and players can now get bonus Kill Points when killing an enemy whose rank is higher than theirs. The most useful UI update in Season 8 is the Team Up System, where players can now easily form a team with others met through Normal or Ranked matches.
Season 8 brings a slew of updates and a completely remastered map, but what it also shows is some background into the story of PUBG as well. Today, PUBG released some ‘recovered footage’ of an organization called ‘Battlegrounds’, introducing characters known as the ‘Sanhok 4’. Learn more about the origins of these characters when Season 8 of PlayerUnkown’s BATTLEGROUNDs releases July 22nd on PC and Consoles.
