PUBG DED.NET Preview – New Setting, New Attitude, New PUBG
The official name of Krafton’s upcoming PUBG spinoff has been revealed: PUBG DED.NET. Featuring a much more arcade-style look and feel, the target is clearly Western audiences.
Can PUBG finally attract enough attention away from other games in the genre? We sat down for a private demo with Krafton, and have our impressions ready in our preview, right now.
We’re Not in Erangel Anymore
PUBG DED.NET moves us far away from Erangel, the fictional abandoned Russian island that PUBG calls home. Instead, we are plopped into Cascadia, America. It’s another fictional area, but this time taking place in the heavily forested Pacific Northwest area of the United States. Billboards place us some time in the 1990s, as do the beater trucks and other vehicles strewn about the map. There’s the usual staples to find in any PUBG game: homes and businesses, all abandoned, are free to explore and loot. But there’s also a few things you might not see these days: payphones, outhouses, gas stations with prices below a dollar a gallon…You know, ‘90s shit.
The vibe of PUBG DED.NET, in case you couldn’t tell, is far from serious. While main PUBG isn’t necessarily a serious game, it does tend to feel more grounded than, say, Fortnite. But with this new looser vibe, you’re able to see more outrageous powerups, such as a possessed doll which can hop on your back and help to damage your opponents, or another which turns you into a pig-like monstrosity who becomes completely overpowered, including huge defense reserves, but your location is exposed on the map for literally everyone else to either rush in to ambush, or to avoid.
Smaller Map, Tighter Action
If you’ve played the main PUBG, then you’ll know that it can sometimes be a bit of a slow burn. Depending on your drop location, you may not even see any other players for the first dozen minutes or longer. With about 64 square kilometers and up to 100 players, the large maps encourage lots of exploration, preparing, waiting, watching, and ultimately those matches culminate in a chaotic shootout as the storm slowly draws players towards one another.
PUBG DED.NET flips that concept a bit. For starters, the map is about 5×5 km, so about 25 square kilometers, and there are a maximum of 60 players (trios would mean 20 teams of three). With a storm still raging, it means these fewer players are corralled towards one another in a much quicker time span. Whereas PUBG matches might normally last around 30 minutes, a PUBG DED.NET round might last 20 minutes or less depending on how exactly you play. You CAN probably get away with moving along the edge of the storm and extend things a bit, but that’s not really in the spirit of the game and might even guarantee you lose as other players pick up the juicier upgrades.
Nine Inch Healing
Any game with this much attitude needs a soundtrack to match. PUBG DED.NET includes Nine Inch Nails, Wu-Tang Clan, and others, which is great to hear. That you can heal teammates using a boombox while blasting some choice songs from the era raises the soundtrack from great to awesome. I may be a bit biased, though, as a Nine Inch Nails fan who even saw Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross live at a Tron: Ares screening.
Promising soundtrack aside, PUBG DED.NET includes other unique aspects which separate it from regular PUBG. Rather than starting from scratch each round, you’ll be able to choose from one of nine playable characters, each with their own set of attributes and abilities. Like a Trickster, who can rig payphones which players can use for various upgrades throughout Cascadia. Between matches, you can also pick new abilities to acquire, but you will also gain injuries which will disadvantage you slightly.
PUBG DED.NET is looking like a fresh, fast, different take on the battle royale genre, coming from the developer that some would say started it all to begin with. With a 90s aesthetic which will no doubt resonate with many a Gen X/Millennial gamer, a much faster pace of play, roguelike mechanics, and a killer soundtrack, there is huge potential for PUBG DED.NET.
While there is no timing information quite yet, you can currently sign up for potential beta access on the official website, and we will of course update you with any developments as the game progresses towards release.
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