PUBG and the Rise of the Online Battle Royale

Hello, fellow steemians! I hope all of you are having a great day.

On to the topic, I want to discuss today, I remember quite fondly at the beginning of last year that the biggest shooter game everybody was waiting for is a shooter in space with zero gravity mechanics and stuff. I wasn't really interested in it as my twitch reflexes have dulled and I don't do very well with shooter games nowadays. Little did I know that 12 months later I would be playing a shooter game. Don't be mistaken, I am still crap at it but it is surprisingly enjoyable. It is not that game that was highly anticipated. It was a concept thought of by just another player whose in-game name is Unknown and he made his own battlegrounds. Yes, I am talking about PUBG or Player Unknown's Battlegrounds.

This is the official closed beta gameplay trailer.

This game was made for quality entertainment. Not only is it fun to play but it is also fun to watch. The objective of the game is simple, be the last surviving player or team in the match. You start at a staging area where the game will try to queue 100 people. At this staging area, you don't feel like you are waiting because you can already explore the surroundings. There are also weapons in the staging area and you can try them out but they will not hurt anybody. The game then puts all of you on a plane that will fly over the arena/ battleground on a random course so it is different every game. You will then have to choose where on the map you want to go and eject yourself from the plane when you judge that you are nearest your destination. Players who are AFK or just leave it too late to decide will be automatically ejected from the plane near the map border. You then freefall or skydive to around 200 meters before the game automatically deploys your chute. Weapons, armors, and supplies are all scattered around mostly inside houses and shacks. There are also vehicles in the game and you will definitely need them.

Sometimes I just play the game to explore the map and see the beauty of the scenery.

Now, how do you stop people from just sitting in one location and just hiding or sniping until the end of the game? Well, every set amount of time the game will alert you that it will restrict the play area. It will then count down to that specific time and the map will then generate a contracting blue zone or "blue circle" as the players call it. Any player caught outside the safe zone and enter the blue zone will take continues damage and that damage increases as the play zone gets smaller and smaller. This mechanic flushes out those campers and snipers and forces them to relocate if they are not inside the play area.

Water is fully traversable in this game and in some situations you will be forced to make your feet wet.

You have to be careful when crossing open spaced as there is surely a sniper just waiting for the kill shot.

As you can imagine, this game is non-stop action from start to finish and even though I am not reaching the very end of the round as I get taken down pretty early to mid-fight, I am amazed at the time it consumes. Choke points and other strategic locations are always heavily contested as well as places that are known to spawn good weapons and armor. The game also adds to the number of things to fight for by dropping either one or two crates every circle from the passing plane which takes the route of the plane you jumped from. These crates contain high-end gear and consumables and players who secure these crates definitely have an edge to the ones who didn't.

Buildings inside the play zone are always heavily contested as it provides secure cover and chances for ambushes.

This game did not even have marketing and it just went by word of mouth and through the game streamers, it gained the popularity to take the number one spot in the shooter genre. And this game is not yet finished! It is still in development and the creator is steadily adding more maps, and more equipment and tweaking the balance and bugs to ensure a great gameplay for everyone.

I will leave you guys with the official "Battle Royale" trailer.

(All videos and images were taken from the official website https://www.playbattlegrounds.com)