Plaid. PlayerUnknown`s Batllegrounds. The best chicken dinner in town according to some guy on Twitch.

Surely you`ve already heard of this game. With a large group of streamers on Twitch, with at least 30 million copies sold, with a recent record of 3 million concurrent players on Steam PUBG is one of the highlights of the previous year. Yet as buggy and un-optimised as it is the game surely earned its` record figures.

PUBG isn`t so much a game than it is a fad. Do you remember the exploding popularity of DayZ back in 2011 that spawned endless hoards of zombie survival/crafting simulators?  The effects of the bomb that is PUBG are already visible: Fortnite, GTA V, even CS:GO is rumoured to have a battle royale mode in the works. However, unlike DayZ that lies unfinished and forgotten it looks as if things are going to be slightly different now: PUBG Corp. (as a part of Bluehole) already took the game into 1.0 state. A step mostly symbolic since fixes and improvements are much needed.

For those unaware, battle royale mode works like this: a large number of players (up to 100 in PUBG) are air-dropped into a vast map wearing nothing but their clothes. Guns and gear (loot) is scattered throughout the area for the players to grab and use. The playable area of the maps shrinks to a randomly picked spot over time to accelerate the match. Last player (or squad) standing gets a “Winner winner, chicken dinner!” message that constitutes a win in PUBG.

The natural predator of PUBG players: the Blue Wall of Death. Main force of constricting the playable area.

Truth is, the concept of battle royale has hit mainstream gaming for the first time and this is where B. Greene`s and the dev team`s main achievement lies. This is what makes PUBG appealing and interesting. And this is what gives it an unforgettable atmosphere. The composition of picking your landing spot, building your loadout with loot you can immediately find, and engaging with unplanned and random encounters with different players creates an atmosphere that doesn`t require any backstory or character progression.

 Note, Pre-1.0 screeshot! Have you ever tipped a boat with your buddies? Also, note the visual changes between pre and post launch.

The loot available in-game varies largely. Even though the best stuff is always tucked away in crates air-dropped randomly throughout the game there are always good weapons and armour that provide you with a chicken dinner if you`re both skilled and lucky enough.

Michael Bay would be so proud right now. (1.0 screenshot there and after)

Variability or luck is a very important factor in this game. And I`m not talking about comsetic lootboxes (they are present, yes). Because of the high variable amount (e.g. loot at your drop point, decisions of your opponents, where the playable area would end up etc) each game is like no other. Which is good, considering there are only two maps at this moment in time (and at the same time to succeed you`d need to have at least some knowledge of the area). However, luck is a cruel mistress: all the variables can make a match a breeze taking you to at least top 5 without hassle or turn it into a hardcore nightmare. In my personal experience I had a playbuddy who rage-quit and uninstalled the game when we were slaughtered like lambs even though we found very good equipment few minutes prior. It was just unlucky that other saw us before we saw them. So, caveat emptor [buyer beware], I guess.

Team Waldo ready to go! Well, almost, anyway.

Being a multiplayer experience it doesn`t take long to find a game due to large crowds of players. And yet this game attracted so many new Chinese players that the most used language in Steam clients worldwide is now Chinese. Which isn`t bad at all, but from what I hear China servers are in dire state: overpopulated, cheater- and ad-ridden. Hence, a lot of Chinese players flock to other servers, Oceania in particular, which makes communication with your potential teammates hard, considering how not a lot of them speak or understand English. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a caveat emptor moment you should be aware of.

In-game character screen. One of the fresher bugs: sometimes you and/or your teammates appear as #unknown. PlayerUknown`s Battlegrounds, I guess.

The game`s main issues lie in the way it`s built. It is a widespread opinion that the dev team did not expect PUBG to blow up as it did: the game was built quickly with cash-grab style assets and mindset. As such bugs are ubiquitous even in 1.0 release. Framerate is another issue that the players are enraged about with even high-tier hardware being put to stress with such an un-optimised game. While important, these issues present a great opportunity for the dev team to win the trust of the playerbase. One can only hope that this will one day become true.

That`s what going AFK does to you, kids.

Lastly, cheaters are present in considerable numbers. It does say a lot when there is a “Report” button on your character`s death screen. However, as per latest reports a whopping 1.5 million cheaters have been banned so that leaves me hopeful.

"It is entirely seemly for a young man killed in battle to lie mangled by the bronze spear. In his death all things appear fair." - Homer. Also kudos to my teammate ramming our bike into another vehicle.

PUBG is a multiplayer game that is best enjoyed with friends, but can be just as fun solo or with random people. Bugs, optimisation issues, and occasional cheaters can worsen your experience, however you are likely to have massive adrenalin-infused fun prior to abovementioned things become too apparent. Personally, I rate it 7/10, a solid must-try battle royale experience that is not without fault.

Upd 13/01. Fixed the typo in creator`s name.