Update 4.2 is now live for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on PC. This patch introduces a number of player-requested features, but the big addition is the dynamic weather system.
“The season continues with update 4.2, now available on the live server — and a storm is raging on the Battlegrounds,” reads a blog post from developer The PUBG Corp. “Erangel’s overcast weather can now produce a variety of other weather conditions on the island, from thunderstorms, to fog, to heavy winds, and even hail.”
Erangel is PUBG’s original map. And the dynamic weather system enables the environment to change over time. So while you might start with sun and some clouds, you could end up having to deal with loud rain.
This weather system is just one more thing that players can use to their advantage. While you normally want to listen for your opponents footsteps and gunfire, rain can muffle that. And in a hail storm, you probably won’t hear anything else except for all hell breaking loose.
I live at 6,000 feet above sea level, and we get multiple hail storms every spring. And other than raising the costs of our auto-insurance premiums, those little hail balls can also do a lot of physical damage. They dent cars and just generally cause a cacophonus ruckus.
PUBG has always featured rain as an option, but it was static. If it was raining on Erangel, it was always raining. But with dynamic weather, you can potentially wait for rain to show up before you make your big move. And the sound of hail or rain could mask your movement past enemies. It should make the frightening cat-and-mouse gameplay of PUBG even more intense — although it won’t affect things like car handling or running in the mud.
PUBG Corp. previously tested out dynamic weather on Erangel, but it removed the system from the game prior to its 1.0 release. The studio instead focused on getting the game running better on more systems. But now the developer has revamped the island multiple times, and it’s time to bring the system back.
