LOS ANGELES, Calif.—When you hear the name PUBG, you naturally associate it with the hit PUBG: Battlegrounds. However, its publisher, Krafton, is determined to stretch the brand beyond the battle royale genre. At IGN Live, I played a demo of PUBG Blindspot, an upcoming, five-versus-five spin-off best described as a top-down Rainbow Six Siege.
(Credit: Krafton)
A Fresh Perspective on a Familiar Formula
The most unique aspect of PUBG: Blindspot is its point of view. While most multiplayer shooters are first- or third-person games, Blindspot goes the top-down route. The gimmick, of course, is that your view is limited to a cone of vision. So, even if you can see another room on the map, your character won’t know it’s there if a wall obstructs its view. As a result, you won’t know what—or who—is inside.
The controls feel familiar to other twin-stick shooters. I controlled movement with WASD keys and turned, aimed, and shot using a mouse. At first, it felt a little like patting your head and rubbing your stomach, but it quickly became intuitive and twitchy, an ideal combination for a shooter that relies on lightning-fast reflexes.
(Credit: Krafton)
Team Deathmatch and Demolition Modes
The first mode I tried was a traditional Team Deathmatch. You pick your operator, each with a variety of weapons and gadgets, and enter the fray. I liked the fast-paced firefights, despite being picked off by an off-screen character on occasion. True to the game’s title, squad members must communicate with one another to take advantage of the opposition’s blind spots. It adds depth to combat situations.
Next, I sampled Demolition, a mode reminiscent of Rainbow Six Siege’s bomb defusal contest. With just one life, you’re either cast as Attackers or Defense. On defense, I deployed barbed wire and began to set up a trap in front of a destructible window that I was certain the attackers would blow through. However, my plans were foiled by a shot to the back of my head from a teammate. You must watch all your blind spots, teammates included.
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If you want to make it to the end of the round in one piece, you must synchronize your team composition. That was an impossible task at a big event like IGN Live, where anyone can grab a keyboard. When I started my next match, I chose an operator with a big machine gun and barbed wire. I set my trap again, and this time gunned down anyone foolish enough to wander into my web.
PUBG: Blindspot’s Release Date
With a focus on esports, PUBG Blindspot has the potential to carve out a new niche in an exceedingly competitive arena of, well, competitive shooters. Even for someone like me, a person who has long given up on going pro, PUBG Blindspot is an intriguing endeavor. You can get your hands on the team shooter soon, as a beta is planned to launch on PC sometime in August.
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About Zackery Cuevas
Analyst, Hardware
