Fortnite's increasingly bizarre narrative notwithstanding, battle royale games have generally shied away from trying to tell coherent stories. Here are the rules, jump in and play, they usually say. Now, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is taking a stab at some worldbuilding with a new cinematic trailer for Season 4.
The video provides some hints at the backstory of Erangel, the original PUBG map. The island was invaded at some time in the past, and the narrator, a boy at the time, was the sole survivor of the carnage. Now, it seems he's taken this formative trauma and turned it into a recurring event—the chance to show someone they can be a survivor.
A noble idea, were it not for the fact that it comes at the expense of 99 other lives, I guess.
The cinematic serves as an introduction to PUBG Season 4, which looks to be kicking off next week. That will come with another big patch and a major overhaul for the Erangel map that updates visuals and changes up some of the building complexes that have become familiar over the last couple years. There are key changes included that help illustrate Erangel's history, and those ought to be interesting to discover and decipher. PUBG's vehicles and weapons are all getting a balancing and tuning pass as well.
The full patch notes are available on the official PUBG blog, and you can try them out now—the changes are live on the test server. There are a lot of them, so read up before you head out for your next chicken dinner.
