PUBG Was Amazing (and How it Got Bad)

[@Tetratronic]

Ironically, PUBG was the most fun when it was the jankiest. Nothing beats the moment when you're in a car with your friends, the worst driver is at the wheel, you're barreling down a hill at light speed, your jeep hits a pebble and you explode with the fury of a thousand suns, launching the car into orbit. Immense laughter ensues.

[@DeeDee_Nola]

True. The game was grittier back then

[@cameronxyz1568]

Pure Cinema

[@LeBornMajes]

Only fun when playing with friends, going solo back then was so bad

[@IvanoCroPro]

Realest thing bro😭

[@andrewwitchell2708]

Those were the days of exploding rocket cars

[@pchris]

That’s such an interesting problem. As a game developer you could be receiving all this very loud feedback making it very clear what your focus should be, but if you follow it, you kill your game. Really shows that you need to hold on to your creative intentions and filter feedback through your own lens. Taking feedback is a skill.

[@rsho3472]

Damn, Rockstar following this to the top! Not listening to feedback at all, releasing mediocre updates for their primary source of income (And no updates for the other one) and having both games be a huge security risk for their player base, as well as not having any functional anti-cheat. I guess all that are good descisions because they are just making bags like champions, good for them! Damn I love Red Dead Online...

[@rept2902]

@@rsho3472 i also love team fortress 2

[@ekki1993]

The user is often right about the problem but almost always wrong about the solution.

[@mn7306]

But there's also the problem with profit I believe. Following your creative might be not the best method to gain money, which probably not a very concerning thing for a small/indie studio But what if it has grown big enough that they must make a way to gain money?

[@dotchas4133]

@@rsho3472 yeah man they also made some of the best games in all of history how could they or valve who also made some of the best games in history like cs and never gave a fck about the community and still made cs the best fps shooter on the market (fairly their anti cheat is weak and cs2 is still getting polished but im 100% confident if one of those issues are tackled soon it will be like before (at the top)

[@petarantic5979]

Paranoia is the best word you can say to describe the feeling being in a field near Pochinki and running to zone without hearing any shots. Its clear silence.

[@lucasgomez3283]

in any map, having to encroach the zone with

[@F.B.I]

​​@@lucasgomez3283 Thats why i dont get this guy's point, i kinda agree but... Its a battle royale?, survival of the fittest? - you would find a lot of sweats on school, but you also would find one near the end of the match, sitting behind a tree, watching... and youre over here trembling, hands drenched. Yet this guy talks about intense school fights, when theres ALWAYS either an extremely close fight, or a sniper battle, which literally makes your heart go 150BPM. - nobody likes sweats, thats why there's the ranking system, sweats play against sweats, sanhok tried to separate sweats and dopamine addicts from casual players, and let new players to play Erangel in peace, but that didnt happen??. I also dont get how this guy said a solid point on how there's always gotta be space and a chance for casual players to survive, and then liked Miramar, where everything is visible and there's barely any cover?. Not to mention that PUBG is clocking insane amounts of players each day, yet its "dead"?, maybe the hype and the "jank" of you getting sent into the orbit because you hit a pebble is over, but... Most of the people miss the fun, not the game.

[@ILTP69420]

Hearing those loud ass gunshots brought me right back to Erangel and Miramar, I never realized how paranoid those gunshots made me until I rewatched this

[@caffeinedep6492]

Good point about the „skill wall“. I paused for 14 months, started playing again same days ago. Brought along a friend who never played. The amount of frustration he faces is immense. The remaining players are all basically battle hardend veterans.

[@trapway666]

it really ruins the game like this

[@dnegel9546]

Haha its like trying to get into tekken or street fighter.

[@denzo3882]

Now I feel honored to have experienced PUBG at it's prime.

[@SougoUltimateSadist]

dropping inside the floor of a triangle that suppossed to be a building never felt that nostalgic

[@ShadowF-]

The nostalgia Bros ... Game its improving every update...

[@GoozaWoW]

you should, all my shit got stolen during it's peak and i only got a play a game or two on my friend's computer. it was so much better. it reminds me of all the old games i grew up on that are now long dead and never coming back.

[@FeverDev64]

😢 I didn't have a decent pc nor money to buy it back then. Too bad, I missed one of the most genre defining game of all time

[@GoozaWoW]

It's a shame really, because they're adding updates to this day. they're not 100% solid updates, but i love all of the new weapons and the maps. @@FeverDev64 It would really be a game again if people just started playing it again. the ONLY problem it has is the bots.

[@reach268]

Couldn't agree more. I miss those early days, the big slow maps, me and my friends dropping outside the hotspots and enjoying that slow building tension towards combat, joking, chatting, becoming increasingly paranoid. It was a magical experience which I deeply miss.

[@miltonbuu]

Magical? The fuck bro 😂

[@mikebasketball11]

@@miltonbuuwhen you take a step back and realize a mere few hundred years ago we were in the fucken dark ages, it is absolutely magical we get to play virtual battle royals multiplayer games on personal computers. 😊

[@miltonbuu]

@@mikebasketball11 👍

[@monstertyler2010]

Bot

[@Gaelerx]

Real

[@RadiusCulling]

the tension the game managed to build was unmatched. the immediate switch from comfort to complete terror that happens halfway through the match is intense, and you're just forced to sit with that emotion making minutes feel like hours. that paranoia is what gets you genuinely engaged. eventually the tension is masterfully released by a kill that overwhelms you with glee, or a death that is so frustrating it motivates you to play another match, and you really never know which one is going to happen. devs need to embrace making the player uncomfortable, thats what made the game fun in the first place.

[@dzungphan2665]

So you run around for half an hour and that’s fun for you ?

[@armpitsweatlicker]

​@@dzungphan2665me when constant incessant attention parting effects and constant cheap engagement is not present

[@dzungphan2665]

@@armpitsweatlicker Why would they want a player base full of hiding rats ? I would rather have the confidence to jump out with a nade on my hand when I hear football steps than to hide anxiously. Constant engagement teaches you how to play and master the game. Harder in the beginning but much more rewarding in the long run. Winning with 1 kill after running for half an hour is boring af.

[@RadiusCulling]

​@@dzungphan2665it is fun, i explained why in my comment. its clear that the game just isnt for you. ironically this video showcases that your mindset and appealing to players like you is what ruined the game, but apparently you didnt read my comment, or watch the video.

[@gungrave10]

What do you think of CS GO battle royale?

[@AmyStrikesBack]

Years latter and it's still impossible to not think about the bridge incident when talking about this game

[@Theffries]

For anyone wondering what this comment is about, pewdiepie had a one of the most amazing game winning kills on the bridge. Look up “pewdiepie bridge” to watch it

[@tanktheta]

A legendary moment

[@mercadonor]

I really think people give a lot more shit than they should to that situation. The racism is done by those exaggerating a word and giving it so much value. Maybe I see it that way because my culture treat racism very differently

[@AmyStrikesBack]

@@mercadonor people reacted in that way mainly because pewdiepie allready had a historic of questionable actions

[@mercadonor]

@@AmyStrikesBack I don't know about their previous actions, but what is giving them real value is the ammount of people thinking that its a big deal to say a word. If someone wants to say that word, then let them do it. Here in Argentina we have very little taboos about words and stuff, our jokes are very racist (at least from the POV of United States dude) but most of the people don't care and don't give a crap about the word or the person saying it. We joke around with the brazilians about them being macacos (monkeys) and they joke about us too, we all have a laugh and then inmediately forget about it. Obviously there are genuine people who are really racist and do racist stuff, but its very rare. On the other hand, you have contextual localization. There are words that you would say out loud with your friends, but do not dare say those same words to your mom or to an unknown guy in a dangerous part of the city. But in the north american case, white people can't say the n word to anybody, and the same white people get offended because someone else said it and act like its a sin. In the end: if someone wants to be disrespectful on purpose or just making jokes, just let them be, take off some of the weight of that word and just take a joke, ignore a joke or whatever.

[@yanneyanenchannel]

I think most multiplayer games are at their best when they are relatively new and nobody knows what the hell they are doing yet. I also have fond memories of early PUBG with my friends, and I really appreciated the more quiet moments of running and driving, where we could just hang out and chat (until we heard gun shots somewhere in the distance). I think we stopped playing even before Sanhok, but based on this video, I believe it was the right call, sadly enough.

[@HIMISOCOOL]

I super get this sentiment, I had the most fun in BF3 before everyone knew how to play, everyone was super cautious and you got the dopamine trickled in from things like surpression bonuses

[@PInnHeAd]

Yeah me and my friends just wanted to test fornite when it first released, we thought it was a test and then forgett kinda game but early fortnite before people built mansions in 1 second flat and it had the (decently) annoying RNG shooting was some of the funnest we ever had.

[@flagondragon1854]

​@@PInnHeAdno build honestly brought that old fun back in fortnite.

[@Romashka_Sov]

Talk about WoW

[@isaiahblake8723]

Fr i remember when no one dropped school when i first started playing pubg it was me and my boys little secret spot for like a week we called ourselves the barefooted bandits cause we always dropped our shoes at match start

[@looppp]

PUBG holds such a special place in my heart. The music, the ambiance, the pacing, and the stress of the silence is something so unique

[@JackoBanon1]

I have 2k hours in this game. Most of it done in 2017-18. This was the best time to experience the game. So random and so much fun. Nothing can bring back this time.

[@Papa_Straight]

​@@JackoBanon1I played the mobile on for 2years. Became a try hard for a while and I learned so fast I just played casual and still got lot of kills because of the skill gap. Then the unoptimized game started adding more bs and I just left that shit. Never reached conquerer. Was too too busy in ace 5 dying and rushing and getting kills

[@lowfade556]

i played 4k hours since 2022 and i guess the current state of the game is great. however they could really delete shit like the panzerfaust, bears or sand/snowstorms.

[@-ZM_Gaming-]

​@@Papa_Straight you described my last time playing that game

[@EnemyStandUser_]

@@Papa_Straight I wish they make a mobile version without all that bloat, Just a few game modes to keep the game simple.

[@int3r4ct]

As someone who was once a very good PUBG player, it was fantastic back in its day. I have fond memories playing with friends and just having fun. Idk if my friends and I just grew out of it or if the new maps just weren’t as good or the changes were bad or what, but eventually we all just slowly stopped playing and moved on to other games. I’ve basically just stopped playing BRs altogether, the closest thing I’ll play these days is Tarkov.

[@pedroscoponi4905]

If what I've heard about Tarkov is true, then the fact you gravitated to it after PUBG is proof that the thing that changed was indeed PUBG, not you or your friends. It's another game that thrives on long arcs of tension and release. I think it will be a long, long time before we see a title in that niche catch fire the way PUBG did, and I don't doubt whenever that happens, it will be a repeat of what the video describes...

[@jacobjohnson3200]

For me, it was the massive influx of cheats, the refusal to region lock certain countries, and the forced random map selection that lead to people constantly quitting sessions until they found with the map they wanted to play.

[@cymbolicjedi]

if havnt tried i highly recommend hunt showdown, an amazing extraction shooter

[@int3r4ct]

@@cymbolicjedi I play a fair amount of hunt with friends as well. Great game, hate playing it solo though.

[@YOURDADSNEPHEW]

Ultra hero rumble is good

[@ascoookie]

I don't know how people hated/hate the Miramar. Since it came out in 2018 it's always been my favorite map. We used to play on it with friends so much. It's probably the "school bullies" who hate it, since it's designed to fight against them.

[@PainkillerX12]

I agree, I live Miramar, it's a great map, maybe people disliked it because of the very reasons exposed in this video... Let's not forget that we might be a minority to enjoy playing PUBG the same way we played it in 2017 but the vast majority of people want fast shooters... There's nothing wrong with it but I agree that the game lost some of his uniqueness to become fortnite with arma look...

[@moonboy685]

I personally disliked it early on due to poor loot pools. It was difficult to find 2 gear and optics, unless you went to high traffic areas.

[@donotcareatall]

That map absolutely sucks it’s a huge map with little to no action most of it is dodging snipers from over 500m or driving to circle worst map in pubg

[@flavoredrice176]

I remember being so excited when the map layout was announced. Me and a friend got in a call and began analyzing it, trying to predict what each area would have and how it would play. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed when it dropped. The new lever action wasn't very fun to use, the map felt like it had no loot, and it was nearly impossible to move without dying. We liked the slow pace of Erangel, but Miramar was a step too far. Erangel had open areas, but getting killed at super ranges was avoidable and you usually had cover to use if needed. Miramar seemed to have plenty of cover, but it always felt completely useless. I genuinely do not remember a single satisfying fight on that map, while I could gush for ages on fights we had at Ferry Pier alone(or as we called it, Furry Pier, because it was 2017 and that was extremely funny. Still is, honestly). Sanhok was too strong of an overcorrection, but I don't think it really mattered. I vividly remember the last moments of the last game we played of PUBG. Running through the fields of Erangel near farm, one of us was instantly headshot and went down. The rest of us tried to take cover and hide, but as soon as he racked the bolt we dropped. One of us got to cover, but as soon as they tried to move they dropped too. If it wasn't auto aim, that single player hit the best clip of his life. We decided then and there that we were done. This was not the first time this happened and we knew it would be far from the last. Cheating was rampant around the release of Sanhok. That's what killed the game for us, not the maps.

[@saevio6736]

​@@donotcareatallway to prove the points bud

[@acc4670]

This helped me understand why my husband enjoyed PUBG so much back in the day. Not my preferred genre but the way you explain the experience, I get it. Some games just have/had "it". He doesn't play anymore, communities change.

[@badger297]

This is a great comment ❤

[@dedbetter]

same for my friends and i. it’s that experience, more so than the game.

[@acc4670]

@otselet2443 I kinda sad I missed it's heyday. I might have actually enjoyed the "long slow and quiet" survival style gameplay. I'm not great at fire fights so I'd probably never win but I'd feel good about surviving as long as I could, getting better, and the quality time. Now if someone could explain grand strategy games to me as eloquently as PUBG. He'd love for me to play with him but it just looks like he's staring at a map and reading a lot lmao 😂

[@7rodo]

​@@acc4670what type of games would you say you're into

[@Theodon23]

*it's 2017, you just realized people cant see you if you're sitting in a bush* Life is good, you have no enemies 😢

[@Jordannn_nope]

We got Vinland saga x pubg before GTA VI

[@phineas1112]

nah my life sucked in 2017.

[@drex5160]

Except the ppl you snake kill from the bush.

[@nichoascrouse3610]

Got to stay alive to hide in the bush. Lol good job.

[@thomaschi8025]

I still amBUSH. Life is still good.

[@briantobread]

I started playing PUBG in 2017 before they had vault mechanics. Battle Royales felt so new and unique. I played days worth with a buddy of mine who has since passed. I have plenty of memories with my friend having a blast diving into Pochinki. It was great being able to play this game at its peak. It will be missed. And RIP to my buddy.

[@Postbus22]

There was a bug when you pressed space and crouch at the same time, you would glitch through the window. I made a makro key for that precision move. good times, good times :D

[@KitteridgeStudios]

Played the game a lot back then, from 2017 to some time after Vikendi released (loved that map tho). So many memories of my squad, of the absurd amount of hours we played and cursed and memed around. Great memories. I reinstalled the game earlier this year. It's almost unrecognizable now.

[@MixologistMilo]

✊ to those memories with your mate

[@justdance689]

Something and with my best bud who’s passed

[@dudedude6690]

Atleast you played in it's peak days but alot of people missed that opportunity. I love those days man, that was so Nostalgia

[@FutureXGeneration]

Holy shit man Dude. As an industry professional game dev who grew up gaming from 1999 -today, MGS to CoD to CSGO, you fucking nailed the death of what many consider the golden age of video games through the lens of PUBG. Esports and gaming content irreversibly warped and influenced game development, for good and for bad. Jesus Christ dude. You're amazing.

[@Rozzachu]

I didn't know I missed PUBG this much... I remember when finding a Kar98k was an amazing feeling, and getting a snipe from over 50m away felt great, and I love the moments where I was crouch walking through fields walking around looking for small dots. This was a great throwback, and great video!

[@kidcrumpet3333]

I think ima go play a bit now lol. I’m a mobile player but this video hit hard

[@AyoKeito]

You can try Tarkov, but it has it's own numerous problems

[@xtunying]

I played PUBG last time.. i don't know what the other items do.

[@paperclip6377]

Bro not the attention seeking pfp 😭

[@goliathmb18]

Ngl sometimes i look back at how pubg was and say yeah the games with all it's issues back then was actually more fun than now....now it's just a clownfest with all these kinky stripper skins and shitty dances that should have never been introduced into the game.

[@Mochaaaauwu]

I've never seen a video that perfectly described how I feel about pubg, what drew me to it in the first place and what killed it for me. God damn good video

[@nonono-yf9hm]

Nah, sometimes people need to find excuses for being bad at the game.

[@chicken1443]

When he mentioned Miramar it immediately resonated with me. I didn't know why but I've always loved it. It also explained why I love more realistic fps like Arma

[@DavidFinni]

I don't understand how he says the game is dead. Player count always stays above 150k and is top 3 on steam. If that is dead...

[@verde7595]

@@DavidFinni You're right - you don't understand. Because he said "there is still a game called PUBG, but its identity is dead." That's the point. The game is still "there", sure, but it simply isn't the same game. And that is a bad thing. And besides, for a game that peaked at 3.5 million and averaged upwards of 2 for literal years, 150k is nothing. Especially when 125k of those are SEA hackers. It takes several minutes to queue these days and most of the time it's the same handful of players, plus some bots because not enough people were free to completely fill the lobby.

[@verde7595]

@@nonono-yf9hm you are literally the problem shown in the video lmao

[@braedontrumpie5851]

When you starting talking about your disagreement's with the general view on Miramar, I started stupidly yelling "YES! YES!" because you are so right. PUBG used to feel so unique and real. PUBG was slow and strategic. Some fights could last for multiple minutes, and they had layers to them. After every fight that I lost, there were always ways that I knew I could have done better. Playing this game with my friends was so fun, because it allowed so much time to just talk or goof around. Sometimes, this game was genuinely relaxing because of the road trips and vast landscape to traverse. With that being said, Miramar and Erangel could also be delightfully terrifying. The final fights and final circles provided a level of tension that felt similar to Subnautica. I genuinely loved being scared in those final circles, and no other battle royale or FPS could make me feel how PUBG felt. I still play PUBG, but it lost its spark. The game is different now, and it lost many of the aspects that made it different from so many other games. I understand that most great games are destined to fall, though. Great video.

[@zanyquack]

I was always drawn to PubG because it had the same sorta DayZ firefight feeling. Gunfights would last a while, tactics were important. Looking back its clear why I never fell in love with Fortnite or Apex or Warzone the same I did with OG PubG.

[@simont.n.4229]

The comment you've articulated is exactly what I would have said, but you summarized it perfectly.

[@oj8289]

I used to play PUBG mobile and was 1 of the players when there was just 1 map 2 modes (classic and arcade) and a start button. After some while when new things were added in the game. And I lost my interest then Miramar was released and it brought back the joy of old Erangle. And now both the games PUBG mobile and BGMI are dead. not adding new maps and mechanics and just adding new collabs and skins.

[@BrandonHilikus]

I miss original pubg.... rip 2017-2019

[@luthfihar3211]

i miss the days where the final count down in erangel is just a tense slow hunt in tall grass and the wheat fields with everyone not aware of eachother's position

[@Ethan348]

4:53 "Not just because of the incident" that one got me good! 😂😂😂

[@nghtspawn651]

We all know whar he's talking about 💀💀💀

[@superhans85]

@@nghtspawn651 I don't. What incident?

[@nghtspawn651]

@superhans85 look up pewdiepie pubg bridge

[@runertje550]

@@superhans85get educated my man

[@superhans85]

@@runertje550 how, without someone willing to educate me?

[@lukky6648]

I remember playing the game for the first time in 2017. Everything about it felt so....raw and fresh , and it felt like the 2 maps had a hidden story to tell , something to uncover , speculate. Weapons felt like they were actually abandoned and not just spawned there for you to use. Finding clothes and different items felt like they belonged to someone else some time ago. Gunfights were a "Oh Shit!" Moment instead of a "another kill for me to take!". End battles with a few remaining made your heart beat faster and palms sweaty. Everything about the game felt so realistic because of a lack of flashy cosmetics or gameplay mechanics. It was about survival instead of skills or the number of kills. Later on , it turned into your average competitive shooter. Playinv a match no longer felt like a story from beginning to the end , it felt like dick measuring contest , who's got more kills , who can do no scopes and other sorts of bullshit.

[@luthfihar3211]

yep the identity crisis of the game is palpable ever since the devs panicked and went with taking features and cue from warzone

[@luthfihar3211]

to add to this, the Culling used to be an even Raw-er version of the concept with everyone struggling to survive but also struggling to kill eachother since weapons are scarce and the race to stock up in supplies and weapons before the last count down was more intense

[@garakthetailor]

I remember getting my 2 year anniversary scar a couple months before the 3rd map came out

[@D0CTR1NEE]

Perfect comment ! ❤

[@phalxor]

this video and the people commenting this sentiment are only outing themselves as the people they complain about. you can play the game however you want and treat it however you want. it doesn't need to be as you describe and it isn't for a large number of players. get your head straight

[@daniel4412]

Am I the only one who commonly has dreams about PUBG? Haven't played it in 4+ years, but every once in a while I still have a dream that revolves around the map Erangel.

[@mathewvanostin7118]

Bro dream about erangel gameplay dammm 😂

[@daniel4412]

@@mathewvanostin7118 It's crazy, it's not like I'm actually playing the game, but I'm in the map. I had like 1000 hours in it, back then I was like 16, and these dreams only started a year ago. If anyone else has this I would be fascinated to know. The map, with the two main islands is always how the world is, but also different and new sometimes.

[@pzy9870]

Yes it hapeened to me with call of duty

[@daniel4412]

@@pzy9870 Fascinating

[@AnastasiaCole-]

I can't see a plane irl without thinking air drop 😂 So many other little things also. You should come back to the dark side.

[@HardCoreStefanO]

I really miss that 'quiet and slow time' of PUBG. Just having fun conversations with the boys while looting and stuff and then intensify once battle erupted. It was fun while it lasted.

[@noamias4897]

Me and my friends still do that

[@benkai9921]

Just started a few days ago and do exactly that

[@pasonveronica2370]

Lol

[@CennoSoldier]

Got back into the game I have to say…. At this current time this video is a bit dramatic. Been playing classic erangel and even sanhok and it feels very much like the tac military shooters I mainly play. Slowly positioning around the map and taking up positions to pick off enemies slowly and patiently.

[@HardCoreStefanO]

@@CennoSoldier Classic erangel does sound good, i'll give it a try

[@Unh0lySpectre]

One of my favorite strean viewing experiences was watching a smaller streamer on a day off. She'd cleared Pochinki, and wandered to the rolling hills to the West of it. The second circle covered pretty much the entire western half of Erangal, and the plane had flown over that half at the start, so she was under no hustle to get to cirle and had few straglers high tailing it in past. What followed was 5 minutes of just... quiet. The streamer hanging out with chat, watching what few stragglers had floated to Mylta or Yanaya Polyana trickle in, the hills of western Erangel as the backdrop. It was, in a word, tranquil. Then she cleaned shop with the rest of the lobby nort of Primorsk. You just dont get that juxtaposion in Karakin

[@bobbythekidd4712]

I loved PUBG. I love the slow aspect. I loved carefully planning your movements, analyzing the terrain, and getting the tactical advantage because of it. It felt real. I really played it after my mom died. The slow quiet gameplay was a much needed change of pace for me. After a while it started to deteriorate. I didn’t know why until your video. You hit the nail on the head. At one point I showed this game to my friend. He hated it. Just running from town to town looking for kills and getting upset when he got punished for it. He thought the way I played was horribly boring and long. He moved on to fortnite and in order to play with him I did too. It never felt the same. I played it like PUBG and got punished for it. What’s the point of a mountain high ground when you can build a staircase up to it. Why avoid large fields when you can build your own cover. Why look at the map for anything besides the storm. I wish more people saw PUBG like you do. Then we would still have a game to play.

[@RamblinRichard]

Reading your comment I just want to say I felt the same. Maybe one day we will have a game like this again.

[@lsp6032]

I just hope pubg can be revived, and look back towards its roots as somewhat of a survival horror type game rather than just like every other shooter, especially fortnite which I haven't and will never play in any capacity

[@NKiwi2903]

I actually think the game still feels like old PUBG on Erangel or Miramar. Or even the map Taego which is similar in size to Erangel or Miramar. Only the presentation got more Cartoony which sucks in my opinion because I think they should have just doubled down on the semi-realism

[@lsp6032]

@NKiwi-sm9zy I would probably play erangel and mirador mostly, since I am mostly about winning after surviving all those carnage happening in hotspots and probably taking out the hotspot victors

[@Deezfuggin]

Can’t lie no build revived Fortnite for me for a while, Fortnite died cause the skill gap got too large with everyone spamming builds. Now there are actual benefits to the terrain and it actually matters what weapons you carry. Still doesn’t beat the og pub feeling or anything but at least I got to take a break from taking a break from battle royales

[@llKeey]

Gaming went from a fun hobby to basically acting as a drug and streamers being the pseudo dealers. I hate that shooters are so prime for this happening since its such a simple gameplay loop. I too like to have time to think, make mistakes and adapt, make plays based on my decisions rather than just my aiming skill, and most shooters these days due to "competitiveness" and everyone feeling they need to prove that they are in fact good at a game is really ruining games, mostly shooters I guess so it's not all bad.

[@zircon104]

Wow, you hit the nail on the head as to why I have never been into streamers. I honestly love contemplative games where skill is a factor but not as omni-present as mainline shooters like COD and Fortnite. It's why I loved early PUBG so much and mostly just play RPGs. Also ngl the mobile version is still a lot of fun.

[@diabeticmonkey]

Exactly. Everyone wanting to be some kind of “pro” ruined casual shooter gameplay, and that’s why I only watch streamers that play single player games

[@Recolor_Dude]

​@@diabeticmonkey it was inevitable, anything ever in popularity comes with oversaturation

[@Gr0ot]

I’m confused. You’re mad people are playing the game…and want to be good at it? 🤨 Isn’t that the whole point of gaming, also to have fun, but still…to get good at the game.

[@diabeticmonkey]

@@Recolor_Dude This is very true

[@Ziro_kun]

Still grindin this in 2024 and still enjoyin itt

[@PeteM-vb9sm]

yep😂

[@ceekhannianga860]

Theyre just weak in the game who keeps on dying even on easy fights, thats why the found it now boring and got dissapointed all the time.a

[@BasedHSVdude]

@@ceekhannianga860 nah the tension and slow burn was amazing, the problem is they made it more like Fortnite and Warzone with fast paced fights instead of its original tension philosophy

[@Fcmobilegoals1]

Me tooo😂

[@default587]

@@ceekhannianga860based

[@Teddicles]

If they dropped a PUBG Legacy, and it was basically a carbon copy of 2017-2018 PUBG, people would play

[@vewyscawymonsta]

PUBG is still one of the most played games. 700k 24 hr peak compared to Apex Legends less than 200k 24 hr peak. So..people still play.

[@Themix274]

Still on average the number 3 game on steam with the most players, def not dead. I'm still having a lot of fun with the game, after a break of a year, Ive been playing for the past 3 weeks and its fun

[@aksh4wty]

​@@Themix274it's fun, Just got into it and it seems a little nerfed but still solid

[@F.B.I]

​@@Themix274 Same, maybe its the "jank" of early PUBG that people miss, when you get sent flying into the orbit, of rolling your car down from the hill like a cartoon - or maybe it was the childhood they're missing, the friends, or basically - they miss the fun, not the game. I was playing with my brother last month, even tho i barely played pubg in 2017-2022 and "missed" the golden era, its still fun!, barely encountered any sweats or "bullies" while ranking up, even randomly dinked a guy on the head, running 490m away from me wiith a kar98 with a 3x scope, and i felt like the greatest sniper ever. Surely the game has changed a lot but its barely any different now - i still jump as far away as possible, loot and talk with my friends, and still have my hands sweating when theres 8 players left in a small circle, just like 7 years ago, still roll my car over, everything is still fun. And ive encountered so many people saying that "i miss "insert game name" and its golden era" (especially with COD) while there's different and solid points on how some games got REALLY bad, most of them are the same. People grow up, and maybe its the childhood and the fun they miss, and not the game.

[@Shark-ni7dn]

I seriously cherish new releases of yours, I love each style and structure of them. Full serious, lighthearted, intriguing, solemn, and this, more laid back, but still intricate and well-thought. you're an all-star dude

[@TheCursedJudge]

i deeply appreciate it, i try my best

[@tcniatcniatcnia]

As someone who has almost 200 hours on PUBG (All of them were pre Sanhok) I really enjoyed the game, playing it with friends was some of the most fun experiences in online gaming, I loved goofing around and enjoying my time. But I'm not gonna lie, I was never good at it. I never won, I never got to experience your first chicken dinner. I always was the person being bullied. I still enjoyed it though, winning wasnt all for me. I loved the quiet moments and I really enjoyed Miramar. In 2021 I re-downloaded the game after what feels like forever and after being greeted with what felt like a completely different game. I queued up for a map I've never recognized, dropped somewhere and instantly died. It happened for around 2.5 hours straight and it just felt miserable. I knew I was bad and I didnt expect to do good but man, that was not a fun experience. I havent touched it ever since but I after watching this video I kinda have this odd feeling where I wanna play it again lol, I wish I had a group of 3 friends where I could just play pubg again. Maybe finally get that long awaited cold chicken dinner.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

To me this is just the devs' fault. They don't understand that in MP game design the most important thing is players like you, the foundation, and not the loud high-end players.

[@yellowwducky]

I would say you could give it a go again. I am not a great player but as long as you land far from the plane, you likely can accumulate loot and if you are strategic get decent placement and some kills. Landing far also gives a bit of the feel of the original experience because you have not hot dropped. I would say the most forgiving map for a new player would be Paramo (which comes and goes in the rotation).

[@AUTO6]

I wasn't good too but I still remember my first chicken dinner (I needed over 80 maches to play before I've won first time), this emotions where only one enemy left...

[@post-surreal]

damn bruh 200 hours and not a single win idk what to tell you

[@ponyslavestation4669]

Yea they just dont understand that catering to the pros is always just a short term success and i dont get how they dont see that. That only works for a small period of time whilst the game is fresh later on casuals will leave because of the game is becoming too sweaty and not even that new ppl wont come in and try it because of the exact reason. Leaving only the pros witch will start to move on slowly as well because the q times get longer and every enemy u encounter is as sweaty as them and it becomes unsatisfying for pros them selves...

[@CS-zb7hx]

I miss the hell out of this game, the version of it that doesn't exist. I used to play third person duos with an old friend and it was a really great gaming experience as someone who was of average/okay skill and won on rare occasion.

[@Luke_cockhold]

It's still the same lol

[@dan_la]

I first played pubg in early 2017, and I still play to this day and enjoy playing. I had my short breaks from it and phases etc. but its the gritty side and unpolished nature of it... the intense moments no other competitive game can replicate. It is pure gold, regardless of if it is dead already or not. Amazing video, hit the nail on the head. Earnt a sub

[@starcraftgod1212123]

people want games to play competive but once the game becomes too competive people quit

[@sohailakhtar5391]

Agreed

[@Sorest2]

@@nanumwav I think one of the tough things with PUBG specifically, is that you can't really sort 100 players evenly in skill. So you're kind of bound to run into this issue where some people gatekeep and dominate lobbies. If you compare it to LoL or Valorant, you have 5v5's, where the ranked ladder is much more functional at placing people at their skill level and putting them vs each other. This allows for newer players to enter way more gracefully.

[@trapway666]

@@nanumwav all it is is a fat skill gap wall now, no skill based matchmaking due to lack of players to fill up a single game. yeah its ruined at this point

[@trapway666]

@@nanumwav 100 percent agree with what you said and can relate. All facts

[@trapway666]

@@nanumwav Proximity chat for console would be nice to some things uo

[@HONEmusicINT]

Me and my friends picked up PUBG yesterday for the first time in 5 years, we had an absolute blast tbh and plan to play more now

[@jolewisskates4173]

I absolutely agree. My mate and I got back into it after Apex and we're having so much fun. I think people need to revisit PUBG. Some of the new maps are very comfortable, and I like the fact you can get the gear you want very quickly as it was not much of a game when you had bullshit loot being killed. It's in a great state right now.

[@Luke_cockhold]

​@@jolewisskates4173it's a very fun game and imo it's the best battle royal ever, it still is. But the real reason this game lost majority of it's players is because of videos like this, people started talking nonsense and talking about how pubg is trash now blah blah blah and the casual Players never play it now because of that. Sure might be a bit worse than before but it's still pretty fun.

[@hybridpheonix6343]

Yea me and my squad started playing 3 days ago and we are having a blast

[@maxfieldnelson]

STILL playing pubg with the boys. this video is hyperbole. have you looked at the steam charts? not dead.

[@shreviews6969]

Ye last time I played pubg was 2 and a half years ago, but 2 days ago my friend told me to download it so we can play together, I was like nah, but then I downloaded it and it was so fun, I told my other friends to download it, and now we play it all the time

[@straight_man]

I never got the "boring" point. I used to get this from other people that Miramar was boring. But boy, all I and my squad played was Miramar. It was sniper heaven.

[@TheCursedJudge]

The Win94 from Miramar is still my favorite weapon

[@michaelrains64295]

Only boring people who need someone else to entertain them or only want a twitchy mindless reflex shooter think it’s boring. Miramar is fantastic. Those who can’t discover that fact need too much hand holding and don’t wish to invest the time in learning the mechanics and developing strategies. PUBG has enormous depth. It’s many of the gamers who lack depth themselves who’ve left or complain.

[@cyborgbob1017]

@@TheCursedJudgeI respectfully disagree. I bring up the counterpoint of sawed off.

[@fatluigiproductions]

I liked Miramar too, but my problem with it WAS that it was sniper heaven lol. Sniper heaven is hell to me :D

[@onigumo]

well that means you are a complete scrub at a such low level that couldn't even comprehend why it's a trash map

[@tomfurstyfield]

I've just started playing with my friends, literally 5 days in. I'm 41, my reactions are not what they were, before this I was playing hell let loose, which is pretty slow and then the last FPS I played a lot before that was BF3. I have played some Tarkov but I'm terrible at it and PUBG feels a lot more relaxed. I think the school bullies have gone, I've managed 2 chicken dinners today and one of them was a duo with my friend who literally started yesterday, we didn't see anyone until very near the end and we hid in a shed like cowards then mopped up the rest. Playing solo I managed 5th without killing anyone by being sneaky, then I got 3rd with 6 kills and if I'd been slightly better I think I could have took it. I'm finding it quite slow at the start, I just go to places that others are unlikely to go to. There's some queuing if it's late night but at most it's a few minutes for a game, I've queued for 15 mins for Tarkov.

[@chadocracy]

Those were good days, it was an honor to be there with you gents.

[@kevincastellanos2842]

Still going at it games still the best

[@chadocracy]

@@kevincastellanos2842 I'm mostly on squad these days

[@kevincastellanos2842]

@@chadocracy that’s all I play

[@DEEZ_N4T]

Playing Arma 3 where PUBG was originally a workshop mod really showed me how PUBG would’ve been if it stuck to the milsim like route, the slow paced game, the deafening cracking and snapping sounds of bullets, the nearly unwieldy automatic fire, it just felt right, where the game feels tense

[@Gaelerx]

Real

[@arandomkaz]

Is it still playable? Also what mod is it

[@beracinq]

Even the Arma 2 DayZ PUBG Mod was awesome :D

[@chaimkobylinski1988]

Well PUBG would need mid game content as apart from looting phase and end game there is nothing to do

[@abhilash9918]

I liked fast paced pubg when I played it. It's all about personal preference. The game literally clocks highest concurrent players on steam and people keep saying pubg is ded? Stats are clearly against these claims.

[@rightSye]

5 years later, the gun sound is still 10x louder than footstep

[@NEEDbacon]

I mean, realistically, yeah guns do be like that.

[@Pico141]

@@NEEDbacon yeah, using guns without ear protection can cause hearing damage, I'm not looking to get that from a video game though

[@alfi341]

Get the right Audio setup i hear everbody.

[@rgbjojozahau]

@@Pico141 then adjust your audio by software or use a better headset.

[@Pico141]

Cringe take

[@chriscollins3786]

I started playing PUBG in summer of 2017 and was so amazed and addicted to it. I called into work for two days just so I could play it all day and night. Redownloaded the game few days ago and still have great enjoyment for the game. Fortnite zero build is decent, but not anywhere near as unique as PUBG. 100% felt every thing you mentioned in the video. The atmosphere, the gunshots sounds, the feeling of adrenaline when you hear footsteps coming near you and dopamine high from sending that player back to the lobby is unmatched by any game I’ve ever played. PUBG developers made some mistakes and lost a large player base, but they have fixed a lot of those mistakes and the game is much better than it was when I quit during Sanhok release. Download it and try it again people!

[@chaggle]

I wasn't able to buy this game when it was in its heyday, I wanted it so bad. I watched some of Pewdiepie's first early vids on the game (before the incident) and you really verbalized what I found so intriguing about this game, the vast silence spent alone is so appealing in some weird way. It has the same feeling as the original Apocalypse Rising game on Roblox where you survive alone for like an hour and then finally run into a person and you hope that they didn't see you too.

[@ekki1993]

The comparison to a Roblox map gave me whiplash. Looking forward to video essays about that and feeling old. oof

[@Bruhster27]

Oh god not the bridge

[@Rwhaleyii]

@@ekki1993best part is the roblox map is older than pubg by 5 years😂 the comparison kinda makes sense AR was based on arma2 dayz and pubg was based(loosely) off arma

[@AhmadWahelsa]

I was stuck on Intel HD back in the day so i was stuck playing the mobile version, was fun while it lasted, now i can run literally anything like RDR2 or CP77 but the memories can't be repeated, some of my friends quit gaming, some end up playing Valorant, some end up playing CSGO/CS2, because the BR genre nowadays is not as cool as it was back then

[@randomstupiddude3565]

I can still recommend Hunt showdown it's like early PUBG with gimmicks

[@brickstonesonn9276]

Finally someone that enjoyed PUBG for what it was. That game is like nothing else; it distilled the best out of millsim, there was nothing like it and there'll be nothing like it ever again. Ill miss that thrill and that tension and that very tactical & creative positioning-centric gameplay.

[@icebite9888]

You can still play like that, that's how i play.

[@rhamby3470]

The small dips and hills and boulders all over the ground in Miramar make for the most enjoyable end game experience I could imagine. Being able to hide, move, and flank using the terrain's hills and roughness was so thrilling

[@crashdavis4123]

This whole video is an incredibly accurate read. one banger conclusion after the next. I was a school bully. I was hot dropping back when the buildings wouldnt load, driving through the bottom floor with a buggy. I never realized that as I and my buddy got better, we were ruining the game for others. 66% win rate is a bit too high to be fun for others. Desert map is the best map, but everyone hates it. When sanhok released the game died. Totally correct.

[@thefreakazoid420]

PUBG created such scary gunfights with how the fairly new Battle Royale gamemode worked. Predator-Prey aspect of it was just amazing, I had never dropped into those big hot spots tho

[@Marcoanmoti]

Fr it was so stressful sometimes especially when there where snipers watching you. It was actually hard to win.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

@@Marcoanmoti Personally, winning is not as important as the process and the growth itself. Perhaps it's just my mentality to say that fun does not require victory.

[@عُمیر-ط5ث]

pubg mobile?

[@davidwright8094]

I was someone who got into the game because of my friends before it really blew up on streaming. You talking about how quiet and methodical the game was brought back a lot of memories of how the game would go from us just talking about random shit to all of us freaking out when shit hit the fan. Before your video I definitely had that similar negative connotation with the game, so thanks for resurfacing some of those old memories to remind me of the good times we had.

[@Maelthorn1337]

Great video! I'm also astonished that you put the sponsored section at the end. Because you decided to preserve the flow of your video by doing that, I watched the sponsored segment which I would skip for almost all other channels.

[@MrDogbrain]

I first played PUBG in 2018 and I’ll never forget the fear in my heart when I dropped at Farm which was far from the plane’s flight path and I heard some dude outside the window of the building I was looting

[@madlad5964]

I dont see enough people pointing this out, but this is a whole ass documentary, and a well written, edited, narrated and thought out one too. I dont remember watching something this professional and entertaining thats also gaming related in a while. Great job man, truly amazing piece

[@phalxor]

i doubt you could even summarize "what" is being pointed out

[@dr.berryfx8580]

I knoow I’m surprised most people aren’t pointing it out.This video was an incredibly well presented documentary.This guy is good.

[@quikdraw5203]

​@@phalxor Why the salty attitude? Why is your go to trying to belittle someone? You're part of the problem, ingame and irl.

[@user-sicparvis]

​@@phalxoryou could if you possessed a basic level of comprehension skill. The thesis is right there in the title.

[@Mr.nesser]

Oh I have a few things to say here. First of all, thank you for talking about old PUBG. You brought up some good memories. Second, one thing I am still salty about is the removal of map picking. I don't like most maps in the game (which by all means is a me thing) but it still sucks having to requeue every time I get an undesirable map or one that goes against how I like to play. I miss the days where everyone was just a goober and the guy who got one over the other by using cunning and or strategy won. Nowadays I can have someone ambushed and be sprayed down by said someone who looks at spray patterns every night before bed. The lack of matchmaking in that sense really hurts. I do still enjoy the game sometimes but only cause I play with a good friend. Playing alone just isn't what it once was.

[@hbibbekir]

I've sunk 800 hours into this game, getting addicted to the thrill of the rare encounters that happen but also getting frustrated most of the time by getting killed instantly from miles away after looting for several minutes without having the chance to fight back, it was a mixed bag of feelings but oh boy when you won the match it felt like a true victory, no other game made me feel that way when I won. Now the only players who remain are bots or hardcore veterans.

[@Banjo_Dyed]

For real, there's not a game that gives you the same level of satisfaction when you win. Even just getting a good kill feels glorious, however fleeting that may be.

[@duyvuitton6019]

@@Banjo_Dyed For me what's killing PUBG is the bots, it completely cheapens the experience and "wins". I'm perfectly fine with waiting longer if it means no bots. Also the ability to select maps being removed (for only North American players I've been told) is very annoying.

[@yourdad5799]

​@@Jay_Aargh83 This comment smells

[@tharetsku]

I got into the game quite late, but I loved it from the start. I got ass raped by lvl 500 try hards again, and again, and again. But slowly and surely, I improved. And the thrill of finally out moving, out gunning, and out smarting an actually skilled opponent is unmatched. The only other game with a similar feel is tarkov. PUBG is not for the faint of heart, but now they're trying to make it easier with the reboot and gulag shit. And of course the insane amount of bots. To me, the game is pretty much dead, which makes me sad.

[@bryan-od3zm]

I only recently started playing the game again and I only have been playing against level 300+ players

[@RelativeRealism]

Great video on what made PUBG so special, you hit the nail on the head. It was very dear to my heart too, thank you for bringing back some of that nostalgia. :)

[@diddyz7]

me and a buddy of mine still play this game to this day, but we are both already mechanically skilled, so gunfights were never an issue. We could jump into a game and 7/10 win school, but we didn't go there. We prefered and still do this, where we try to find an isolated spot, loot of what we want, and play the edge more or less the entire game, enjoying the few gunfights we get in. I have had 20 kill games that were boring, but also had 1 kill games that were awesome because of this. We also change the playstyle depending on the map, we still want to land secluded to have time to loot and enjoy the game, but we play Erangel, Miramar and the other large maps very slowly and methodically, but we play Sanhok and the other small ones semi-fast paced with smgs and dmrs. I think this helps us keep the game fresh to us so that we don't get too bored of playing the same way every time, but have the oppurtinity to switch it up.

[@stACyCA323]

Sounds fun

[@JacksonStorm_EM]

Playing Pubg Mobile in 2020 while in quarantine days with your fiends was one of the best feelings.

[@jaskabb]

pubg mobile was always ass. cool to see someone liked it tho

[@thefreemonk6938]

@@jaskabb It got extremely popular in developing countries like India where owning a gaming PC is still a big deal.

[@phyein4815]

Man I feel you 100 percent. Pretty much every point you made described my love of the game back then as well. I was one of those guys that hated hot dropping and found my own favorite spots, where I could loot relatively peacefully but still had to be alert. The atmosphere of it all, running across a huge quiet landscape, hearing shots farr of in the distance but seeing nobody, constantly scanning for a moving speck, heart pounding moments of searching buildings only to hear footsteps, and best of all, still actually having a chance at finding like minded players as well as winning once in long while. Those quiet, slow stretches WERE the game for me. It seemed like nearly overnight lonely sporadic gunfights in the middle of nowhere stopped happening and I got terrible for some reason, when really the core philosophy and playerbase was rapidly changing. Less and less people were spreading out and more and more were just hot dropping and dominating. Miramar was amazing as well and my favorite.

[@aasimali2715]

I have been watching every video of " how pubg sucks now" but only you have almost same views as me. Those super soldier bully really killed my enthusiasm for game.

[@dax_orion]

"The casual players and the people I like to call the school bullies because I'm a cute little bitch I guess." This line made me cackle.

[@KOTYAR0]

Yes, I play PUBG mobile, and I absolutely despise those M4 laser bullies. The moment they spot you at 200m you're peppered with bullets, it's awful

[@mundanesalad]

One of my favorite streams was Polygon’s weekly PUBG streams a few years ago. They would usually play the game normally but have an extra arbitrary rule like “you can only speak in rhymes” or something. It was great, seeing this silliness contrasting such an otherwise serious game. After a while they gave up on pubg and tried the same thing in Fortnite. It wasn’t the same. RIP Awful Squad.

[@aripo14]

This video hit too close to home. I was a PUBG player ever since early access. Those days of early access Erangel was... the best gaming moments in my whole life (and think it still is). I'm aware of the school hot drop but me and my friends were the type of guy who preferred to play this game tactically. We don't search for hot drop but we sure do search for action when it's good for us. And as the video stated there are a lot of quiet moments with old PUBG (which makes solo plays extremely heart thumping). But because I played it with friends, those moments were just us goofing around. Those moments are the ones I treasured the most. When PUBG 1.0 released (including Miramar), I still had those moments, especially because we were just graduated from college and were waiting for job interviews so we had nothing better to do than play PUBG. That is until we met a group of guys who embraced hot drop, a school bully, a top notch players who seeks constant actions. I do realize that playing like them will make me a better player. And so I started to prefer their calls (to seek constant action, let's call him Mr. A) to my other friends (who prefer camp a spot to win, let's call him Mr. B). Then I fully embraced the hot drop and the actions, but that transition wasn't obvious for me just yet. That is until Shanok arrives. One day, I was playing with a Mr. B in my squad which was full of Mr. As. It was possible to choose which map to queue back then and we were only queuing for Shanok. Mr. B doesn't perform well at all and I don't think he was enjoying his time in-game as much as we do. He then points out the thing that you said in your video: that Shanok is just an overblown deathmatch map. He doesn't like it. He wants that slow time in the game. He needs that slow time. And it occurred to me: I have changed. I no longer prefer to camp a spot and drop smart, I search for action and hot drops. I just realized that the game too has changed and caters more towards us Mr. As. But back then I basically told my Mr. B friend to man up and embrace the action. Wasn't long after that, he no longer played PUBG. Was a shame but to me, it just says more about his lack of skill and willingness to improve. Because it's a fact that PUBG gunplay was just top notch. One of the best ever in a video game. So it's just natural for us to seek gunplay, right? It turns out, as stated in the video, what makes the gameplay more tense and rewarding is the fact that there are moments of waiting and eerie quiet and the fact that death means the end of your game, period. I still think that no respawn in PUBG hurts the game because we players technically want to play video games. And having to die early and watching your team play isn't fun whatsoever. We weren't playing if all we can do was watch our friends playing. It was the deal breaker for me and all of my friends as well and right around that time, Apex Legends arrived for free and they enabled us to respawn our team so for us, it's either migrate to Apex or for some they go back to CS:GO. Apex is a great substitute for PUBG. It's a battle royale with pretty satisfying gunplay and gameplay loop, it runs well on our PC, it's free, and more importantly, it has respawning system. But Apex is no PUBG. There are no peaceful quiet moments in Apex. Apex is a far superior action game to PUBG, but does that make it better than what PUBG was? I don't think so.

[@watersnortmoment3734]

I think it died when they got rid of the server selector. Switching over to a random choice ruined the game for me because a lot of the newer maps just weren’t as fun.

[@vilkku792]

PUBG also has a respawn system now. It works differently on different maps but it's there.

[@tobiasgreeeen]

I started in early 2018 and would like to give my own two cents on this. Back then Miramar was brand new and one of the reasons people hated it was because literally 90% of the matches you queued into ended up in Miramar. People quickly grew sick of that. While I agree with most of what this video is saying, I personally think Sanhok was a good addition to the game. Sure it rewarded the school bullies, but it sure as hell didn't stop casual players from winning. I myself am an example of that. To me it feels like a hybrid map, lots of school bully places to drop, but once you are in the forest the casuals have the upper hand. And don't forget the OG Vikendi, a fucking masterpiece. I felt that it was exactly what the game needed. Especially when the updated version came along, with night mode, more new weapons, the snow bikes (RIP), the carepackage cave, the list goes on. A whole bunch of new mechanics that kept the game interesting. This was the type of new content that I loved. After this it's pretty much all downhill though. This is where the absolute VIOLATION of Vikendi started. Look how they massacred my boy. They temporarily removed the map (never done before) and released Karakin. Karakin wasn't too bad of a map though, but it definitely didn't have the silence and peace of the 8x8 maps, that's for sure. They then re-released Vikendi, and in short just made it way less interesting. But it doesn't stop there. Vikendi today has been turned from a 6x6 to an 8x8, which if you want the slow gameplay is a good thing, if the map would have had ANY character to it left. They really just sucked all the life out of Vikendi. Paramo is one of my favourite map releases. I really liked the fresh concept of randomizing the 3 biggest locations positions on the map. It's definitely my favourite duo map along with Sanhok. Now if we fast forward a little, i don't know what to feel about the whole blue chip thing. And we don't have to talk about Deston and Rondo. Despite them being 8x8 they are easily my least favourite maps. Even playing on the good 8x8 maps isn't the same anymore. You have the peace and quiet until a school bully zooms along and does a drive-by on you. But for me, the worst part is how BLOATED this game has become, full of a bunch of weird shit it doesn't need. Weird skins, weird emotes, TONS of microtransactions. It's like it's trying to be Fortnite. But PUBG doesn't work that way. You can't take a game that isn't built for great drastic changes and then do exactly that. That is precisely what kills the game. PUBG in my opinion has lost the character it had back in 2017-2019 and has become a Chinese money-grab. Shame.

[@srbelnap]

You made some good points, and there's so much more I want to talk about. I don't blame the school bullies either: in fact, they (accidentally?) utilized an important training paradigm when developing a new skill: fail early and fail fast. This feedback loop teaches so much. If there's a game (or anything) you want to get better at, make your feedback loops as short as possible. I wanted to jump back into PUBG recently, but found out it's an entirely different game today. It's no longer the psychological battle royale it once was.

[@nathangothan601]

It’s riddled with cheaters also.

[@VValkyr]

@@nathangothan601 Correct me if I am wrong, but every multiplayer game seems to be "riddled with cheaters" these days.

[@lukenardoni2454]

While I don't totally disagree, there is so much more to the game that you will never learn simply by hot dropping over and over. There are also now way better ways of becoming good at shooting such as tdm and various training modes.

[@kevincastellanos2842]

DOWNLOAD IT AND TRY IT AGAIN ITS AMAZING

[@SometimesHappy]

@@VValkyrexcept valorant

[@awpawle]

you are NOT.. a video bame

[@XxX-ww]

tbh PUBG is truly amazing...

[@Rightchickenwing]

Huh?😮

[@icantthinkofagoodusername123]

Vineo bame

[@EspeonMistress00]

Bames are my favourite pass time

[@cool_bug_facts]

vibeo gane,,,,

[@insertdead]

Very well made video. I was very interested despite the topic being something i frankly do not care about. Also great music choice, though maybe i only just noticed it cos i dont usually wear headphones when watching your videos, but I feel the music complemented the video very well this time. ron says hi

[@TheCursedJudge]

hi ron

[@ShadoSpartan44]

that's why I loved PUBG so much back in the day. It was intense running around not knowing if I was about to get shot. If my squad saw another player we had to think if it was worth trying to shoot at them. We would be revealing our position whether or not we kill this player. We had to strategize like: do we run through a town, do we search for more supplies? Do we even have the time? Or do we run towards a hill or forest for cover. If we want cover it'll take longer to run around and maybe take some damage from the blue zone, or we run through this open field and pray we don't get shot at. Everything depended on where the circle was going, sometimes we got lucky, other times not so much. I think the RNG was what kept my friends and I wanting to play, but i understand it was frustrating when RNJesus wasn't on your side, or you had to be the one to expose yourself first simply because the zone wasn't near you. Nowadays i understand that those "boring moments" sucked. However, it was important to have that down time, to listen and look everywhere. It made the action parts so much more exciting. Now that everything got faster, and forcing players to fight more often, seems to happen so much it's like a deathmatch from COD.

[@Lenitas]

At one point playing PUBG I finally got why people like horror games. No game before or since has made me feel that same tension. As someone who was terrible at PUBG this is video 100% hit how I felt about it. I honestly think the split between heterogeneity and homogeneity mentioned in this video is something that happens a lot. Another large example it reminds me of is the "loudness war" in music. And I see similar things cropping up in many places. All highs no lows, always full energy, not space for contrast that really makes it hit.

[@PoopShitz]

DayZ would have the same effect on me: deep inland after 30min and not wanting to use my headlamp while clearing a quiet neighborhood only to hear frantic footsteps outside while my heart begins pumping

[@tbotalpha8133]

The scrambling chaos, the sense of being inside a deadly ecosystem, the constantly shifting power-dynamics among players - that's the magic trick of Battle Royale. These games are not really meant to be about absolute skill. They're not meant to be games of competitive dominance. They're meant to be story generators, where you and every other player strive for a goal while buffeted by the fickle winds of fate. Everyone gets to be the protagonist, and everyone gets their own story. Battle Royale games aren't about winning - they're about the journey to that win (or more usually, loss). The tantalizing hope of victory, and the looming threat of failure, exist more to contextualize the micro-dramas that players stumble into. If players want competition and domination to be the focus, there are a million other games that already offer that. Let Battle Royale be slow, quiet, and brutally, fascinatingly unfair.

[@Amalia19]

Yeah BR games are actually amazing when it comes to making stories, i'm more of an Apex player but the amount of battle scenarios BR games can make out of thin air is mindblowing as a story writer (especially in competitive/ranked setting). You can create battle stories with multiple perspective using your games as the reference, like sometimes your team is happily looting while other squads are fighting constant 3rd party to their death, and at some point you meet that squad and you win because that squad run out of ammo after fighting too many squads on previous encounters, the contrast between different perspective of your squad just casually wiping them, and their squad eventually dies after putting so much effort surviving the onslaught is just fascinating, and all of this happens in every single BR match

[@Recolor_Dude]

your right but , "slow, quiet, and brutally, fascinatingly unfair." is a genre that keeps dedicated players loyal but new players far, ultimately every other gaming studio took aspect of that and expanded on normal or fast paced shooters

[@tbotalpha8133]

@@Amalia19 It's much the same reason why Among Us got so popular, a while back. The idea behind Among Us isn't new - "hidden role" games have existed as party games dating back to the 60s, with Mafia being the originator. What worked with a group of people sat around a table, lying to each others' faces, works just as well in a virtual space. And the thing that works is the limited perspective that every player has on the state of the game. Players don't know everything that happens, and instead have to act on very limited information, frequently relayed to them by unreliable sources (other players). This means every player can end up having a wildly different experience of the game's arc. Again, every player is the protagonist of their own story. Sometimes they get to be the hero, sometimes they get to be the villain. Though most of the time they're an innocent bystander who gets shanked by the villain, or executed by their paranoid peers. Though what makes hidden role games kinda superior to Battle Royale in this storytelling regard (at least in my opinion), is the cool-off period at the end of a game, where everyone is allowed to drop character and talk to each other freely. At which point players get to compare their stories, and realise what other hi-jinks were going on in the match that they simply weren't present for. Or what things they straight-up missed because of inattention or assumption. Battle Royale doesn't really have that. Most enemy players are strangers, who leave the match once they die. So you rarely, if ever, get to hear their side of the story. You don't get to hear their perspective, to provide that last bit of context to your own struggle.

[@idavid8391]

There used to be a 2v2 beef amongst my friends over if Fortnite or PubG was better. This was mainly when we were teens and Fortnite was exploding and setup as the rival of the BR giant that was PubG. It's... interesting to look back on, to see not only how the games have changed but how we have to.

[@NKiwi2903]

I HATED Fortnite as a Teen because I was an avid PUBG player and I feared that Fortnite would drive all the players away from it and I could no longer enjoy PUBG. My friends moved more towards Fortnite and I just refused to even play it once. Eventually I caved and also played Fortnite for a while until we all became bored of that game too and just played other games instead. But whenever me and my friends want to play a Battle Royale game now, we choose PUBG because kills and wins actually feel satisfying, despite or maybe even because so many good people stand in the way of it. PUBG still has a different Identity and feel to Fortnite, which is why both games still have their own playerbases, but I think PUBG should have done a better job at doubling down on its initial design philosophy.

[@musacajelly2941]

Well said. The tense atmosphere was my favorite part of the game. You could be joking around with your friends having fun then a single shot rings out and everyone scatters like cockroaches just to find out someone ND'ed in to a wall and you were never in danger. Looting an area and finding an open door that no one remembers opening and then trying to loot not knowing if you were gonna turn the corner in to a shotgun nest was scarier then any horror game Ive ever played.

[@oakenmethod]

I have never played a battle royale game, and I've probably consumed less than 2 hours total of content about the genre as a whole. That said I really enjoy your thoughtful approach in your videos. It reminds me of my own inner voice when I am being the most open-minded to new perspectives. I am not anymore interested in battle royales after having watched this, but it's always a nice time being able to step away from whatever else I have going on and hear some well laid-out thoughts.

[@rolgolding]

I recently started playing and tbh what annoys me the most is how unfair the game can be. How I am paired against people who clearly have been playing for years and they can just one shot you anytime. There’s no feeling of strategy, just someone who knows they’re better than you, peak and headshot you. There’s is no occasion for a learning curve, you just dive in there for many matches until you get sort of the right technique, or you just quit. That’s how I feel.

[@mcnetwork3358]

Thats part of the reason its dogshit now. It was only amazing in 2017-2018 after that everything that was good about the game is gone.

[@trapway666]

@@mcnetwork3358 facts

[@codmfan9217]

When he said "player unknown battleground is a game very close to my heart, it's dead now" I felt that in my heart

[@kmn9568]

Wow, you captured everything I felt about the game. I almost feel bad for discovering this video this late. Even now PUBG is a mess but it still has a special place in my head so I'll revisit it once in a while chasing that same high

[@Ireee702]

The reason why I loved PUBG so much it's because I could chat with a friend, and also sometimes random squad teammates. The amount of "dead" time this game has made it feel like you're in an actual war. You're just marching with your teammates, talking to them, and moving and moving. But as soon as you hear gunshots, the game gets insanely intense. The tension of being able to die in just a couple seconds after being like 10 minutes of just looting and driving makes it feel so rewarding when you survive, and your teammates also survive. This doesn't happen with games like cod because it's so frenzy, the action never ends. So your brain is just too busy on fighting. So there's no time to chill and talk with your buddies

[@majorpaintx]

One of my favorite parts of this game was the random chats, and not only with friends and squadmates, but even enemies. Sure a lot of it was just trash talk, but every now and then there would be that conversation you have with an enemy in the building next to you. Probably my most memorable moment of this game was playing duos with my buddy. We see another squad in a house so we stack up and get ready to breach, but then we hear him talking about how he's afraid his gf is cheating on him. I then speak up and tell him I heard what was going on, we felt sorry for him, and so we made a truce where me and my buddy just walked away. I'll never know what happened to that guy, in the game or irl, but I wish him the best.

[@newjersey973]

@@majorpaintx she was definitely cheating

[@augustokonrad3572]

Funny how you compare the game to a "war" because it did start as an Arma 3 mod. And Arma is just like that, move for minutes without action, talking with teamates, scanning the horizon until action starts and you know one wrong move might get you killed.

[@kanroji6447]

glazing pubg so hard

[@supra_enjoyer]

Is there even a game that allows this nowadays? I think I tried every single multiplayer and it all seems so dopamine-centered, constant rushing at 100mph, shooting 50 bullets per second, dying and respawning - rinse repeat. I just switched back to tactical shooters, because while there is not much time to talk or fuck around at least there's no bullshit and I'm playing competitively taking turns focusing for a minute when I play and chilling for a minute after I am dead. I'd probably say Tarkov, but the thing with Tarkov is that it's hardly playable after a month into the wipe and also there are so many cheaters that it's just *sigh*

[@yaskobg5656]

"The two most famous bridges and not only because of the incident."

[@Outcast3r]

I have been feeling all you said for a long time but I never said it because at that moment nobody was willing to accept and I wasn't much confident. . . . I closed my eyes in the end while the music was playing and I was listening to you. I had goosebumps.

[@greggen4033]

As a player who mained the game the last 5 years, and plays it competetivly, i gotta say. What a masterpeice of a video, soo good. Very well structured, articulated and a good dive into fundamental game design, but also the mentallity of the players and how it divided them.

[@Android_ELITE]

honestly the best new thing they added (specifically for me) was the tutorial bot matches. when I logged back in for the first time in years, it locked me out of regular matches until I completed the new player objectives against bots. as someone who loves casual PvE experiences, those bot matches were honestly some of the most fun I ever had playing the game. I have no idea why they then remove those matches once you finish the tutorial period and replace them with the hybrid bot/player games. I’d literally pay for a dlc that added it in as a permanent mode.

[@syfyjoe86]

This was a great explanation that's happened with several games my friends and i loved to play, Siege comes to mind. It became so complex and competitive that you HAD to stay on the meta or just fall behind. Thus leaving many casual players.

[@alet1934]

God I miss tactical siege

[@ibnu-8645]

Oh siege, i used to love that game. I love the the fact that if i memorized how people tended to play, i can just shoot somewhere or grenade people from downstrairs for a free kill. I love the fact that you do not have to be alive to help the team win. But now just like PUBG it has lost it soul sometime and somewhere i do not know. I'm no slouch at learning how to play contemporary siege but there's just no way keeping up pace with the dedicated run n gun players that spawnpeek and aggressively roams every round. Seems like it's just the way games die, changed far too much to be recognizable to those that used to play it

[@aymanbenbaha]

Although it’s not used to describe video games, but I find this phenomenon eerily similar to a process called enshittification. It happens to Social Media as when they grow large and big they make their content "shittier" to cater to advertising and monetizing needs.

[@hagostaeldmann]

My take as a player who was top 20 in NA for about a year, played the game 8 hours a day, and now its been 2 years since I played it: The game used to highly reward skill, and looting was somewhat secondary. The game balance slowly but surely crept toward making you need to play loot Sim, gun recoil became so bad you started to have to farm attachments, or like now it seems most people do, use recoil macros. Because gun balance started making it impossible or nearly so for a skilled player to solo wipe a squad, the game devolved in Apex style mob swarming and tactics began going out the window. The map design started to force all gameplay into the same close range full auto spam almost all over most of the newer maps in an attempt to make thr game more action packed, OR a snipefest with open terrain for miles. Erangel remained the only truly good map where multiple playstyles and load outs could work. And the fact that if you lived to top 20, half the players left alive were cheaters....well that didn't help. The percent of games you'd get with both a good map and no cheaters became less than 10 percent of the games played. Miramar was a bad map because the end zones were consistently terrible. I'll say the mid game of Miramar was really good, better than Erangel even. But pubg was so salty people hated on Miramar they went and legitimately killed their game via whiplash game design.

[@rogercls]

This video is impressive. One of the best game analysis I've seen. I love PUBG, but never had the opportunity to play the main game. Instead, I played a lot of Mobile and Lite. Even so, I experienced the same feeling you described. It seems the greatest sin of developers was not realizing they had something great but different from the competition. Instead of doubling down on that difference, they copied the competition, resulting in a weak game overall. There are a few games that I really enjoyed. PUBG was definitely one of them. Great to remember why with this video

[@icebite9888]

Best game analysis you've ever seen? it's a personal bias mouthpiece, very minute aspects of this video can be considered analytical, and more than half the takes are straight up wrong. There's a lot wrong with PUBG, and some of them were brought up in this video, but for the wrong reasons.

[@Ghstkng123]

​@@icebite9888well, tell us what's wrong with the video then, instead of leaving brain dead comments like this without telling us why.

[@icebite9888]

@@Ghstkng123 maybe learn how to communicate without immediately throwing insults first.

[@Ghstkng123]

@@icebite9888 you still havent answer my question

[@lukky6648]

​@icebite9888 how so? He presented his opinions , explained why he felt such way and even gave us an idea of what he's trying to convey.

[@Titax69]

never played the PC version but i still remember the days when PUBG MOBILE dropped the whole world was crazy for that game i made online friends i used to play with for hours but not so long ago everyone was gone . the name,the fame and the days

[@ArcIsConfused]

Pubg mobile died for a whole different reason, pubg mobile was always more fast paced and there was lot of fighting, what ruined pubg is their crappy updates, absolutely garbage events and stuff like that

[@esportsfever9318]

⁠@@ArcIsConfusedi agree with u..as a season 1 player i love the realisticness of pubg…but there kater updates make it more and more unrealistic….like respawning 2 3 times in a single games

[@shahan1465]

More like indians went crazy lol. Pubg mobile is nothing like the PC feel

[@esportsfever9318]

@@shahan1465 so if a game doesn’t feel like pubg pc that means its is bad😅😅 i can bet you re a teenager

[@amogoose2971]

@@esportsfever9318 it is true though, pubg mobile is nothing like the pc version

[@Incog-e1z]

As an indie developer heading his own tiny studio, I like watching videos like this. Helps build the game design part of my brain.

[@visheshsux]

good luck :)

[@mOOOp42]

PUBG on console was a struggle but a struggle I enjoyed. Honestly, I felt that PUBG encapsulated what I love about games most. High tension and fun memorable moments that I could share with a group of friends through in game microphone chat. It reminded me of the best times playing Halo and being on the mic with a bunch of friends laughing till you couldn't breathe anymore. There were many times my friends would start screaming after hearing a shot go over their head in PUBG as if it was real life and that's what kept me coming back for more and is woefully missing in many modern online games.

[@kevincastellanos2842]

Still playing it till this day it’s amazing!!

[@FayeHunter]

I miss Northernlion and Dan Gheesling and co yelling C DOT.... good days .. bad days .. fun content .. ahh.. thank you for another video on a rainy Sunday, Judge.

[@canadianfox1713]

CEEEEEEEEEEEE DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT

[@m97x51]

Oh shoot, knowing that video games essayist is on Nebula legit tempts me to go there

[@lordheadaech]

I never was a fan of Battle Royale games, but this video explained to me really well of why you, maybe even most people at the time, were in love with the game. That's something that requires real passion and understanding to be able to communicate to the audience. Amazing video, sad to see that your favorite game is a husk of its former self though : ( but I'm eager to check more of your videos

[@kanjo4976]

7:19 “Even the ones that left school alive” broke me 😂😂😂😂😂

[@plastiquemonk]

ive never seen someone so casually and coldly put down a dunkey critique (at 2:20 for those who are curious) without even acknowledging them by name, and also be 100% right about it on a side note, ive played pubg since 2017, stuck with it all these years, and this video hits everything right on the nose

[@saber2802]

That's also the reason why I don't watch Dunkey

[@XRagnarookieX]

Ever since the guy justified his behaviour of wishing dead to someone in some of the most horrendous way possible was the day I could no longer watch him.

[@ultimaxkom8728]

It's a high-level play, as _"hilarity by punching down"_ requires the *[Comedian Class]* and *[Joker Deniability]* skill, which waives off any mockery regardless of its influence.

[@plastiquemonk]

@@XRagnarookieX ngl i have no idea what ur referencing and i couldn't find anything online can u elaborate

[@XRagnarookieX]

@@plastiquemonkHis "I'm done with league of legends." Pretty much the first minute he elaborates how it was justified. I am not gonna repeat it here.

[@hyruled3g]

Great video. I miss my high school days where I would log hours and hours after school on Erangel. Even if I wanted to play, I can’t because of the optimization of the game is terrible. It really is one of those games that will always just be a memory

[@Ikcatcher]

I have to admit the many tense games I’ve had just laying still in the open field with a ghilie suit and a sniper have been real heart pounders

[@Gigzause]

Ah yes, still remember when kar98, rainy and foggy was something.

[@Cyfrik]

This explains a lot. I have only tried two Battle Royales - Fortnite and Apex Legends - and bounced away from both of them feeling very dissatisfied, because I felt that their design was antithetical to the gamemode they were built around. The basic structure of a Battle Royale feels like something that should encourage and reward caution. A stealth game, where people try to avoid conflict as best they can, until they're either forced into it or find themselves with a very good opportunity for a surprise attack. Hiding and sneaking, terrified of running into another player. A gamemode where the sound of gunshots is something you run away from. As someone who likes stealth games, that sounded awesome! What I instead found was games designed to encourage the same kind of aggressive fast-paced deathmatch-style gameplay as CoD or Unreal Tournament, but in a gamemode framework that was a terribly bad fit for that kind of gameplay. This video provides context that makes me understand how things ended up that way.

[@MaxSchmidGame]

If you are still looking for a battle royale type game that has that kind of design philosophy id reccomend Hunt: Showdown. It's more of an extraction shooter like Tarkov than a battle royale but it shares a lot of the genre's DNA. PUBG and Hunt are the only 2 shooter games that made me feel fear towards the other players.

[@Cyfrik]

@@MaxSchmidGame I've tried Hunt, and though I will admit it is very well designed and excellent at making me fear other players, it has some other design aspects that makes it not provide the kind of experience I'm looking for.

[@zainiftekhar]

For me, PUBG was fun because of the friends I made along the way. We used to play together all the time and waited for each friend to join us every day before starting. We had so much fun together and would not start any match if one of us was absent. The talks and jokes in between the matches are something I miss to this day. We never cared if we died early or late. Starting over was always an option. I miss PUBG's golden era. No other game will ever replace those fun moments in PUBG with my friends I had.

[@maestromarat6195]

16:43 This is the exact reason why I think side quests in and multiplayer game are a bad things, not only does it blur the main point of the game in the first place, but they can also turn the game from something you do for entertainment to what can only be described as a second job. They are the death of fun

[@mryhatzik]

This vid came by my recommended. I remember borrowing my older brother's steam to play this first hand in the early days. My god i shat myself multiple times on how intense it is, like "in your face" type of surprises everytime. Up to the point that i was scared to play again. But as time passed by i got my own copy and it is such a treat just to play. Better with friends, dont even have to win. Fortunately it is still the case for me. It's one of those games that's so good it ruined any other game for me. Love this game to bits

[@ThaetusZain]

Wow your description of how the game was kinda got me excited. I like those slow, methodical games.

[@GreensWay]

My man this video has been the best thing I've seen on KZbin in Awhile. I could not have said this any better. You Have A New Fan.

[@gattzflappa6306]

By the way, it was Arma 3 that kicked off the battle royal genre. PUBG was just a standalone version of the hunger games mod for Arma 3, very similar to the game dayZ that started as a mod for arma 2. The heterogeneous nature of the maps are because Arma maps are based on real locations and the slow quiet nature is because the Arma maps are enormous and the mod also had a 100 player cap. Great video, I just wanted to bring that info to ya.

[@casedistorted]

Surprised they didn’t know that. I played a lot of arma 2 and arma 3 dayz mods before pubg came out but never played the battle royale modes but knew about them.

[@contra7631]

Not Arma-3.More like Arma-2 dayz mod made battleroyal concept more possible.Dayz these days is basically a battleroyal with no time limit only in dayz it takes way longer to find loot.

[@beertlont776]

The very fist battleroyal mode you are talking about for arma 3 was based on the battleroyal mode made for arma 2. Arma 2 battleroyal was first on the scene.

[@johnweak6788]

Its hunger games started all this shit

[@Hecke_01]

actualy it was H1Z1 that pushed battle royale more to main stream mostly through streamers and yt but i agree arma 2 was earlies as br

[@onefailatatime]

My fondest memory was playing this game with my husband and his group of buddies. We would play for hours every day. It still is one of my favorite times playing a game.