PUBG Mobile Vikendi Map Is PUBG at Its Best

PUBG Mobile Vikendi map for Android and iOS is finally here. Vikendi was initially teased at E3 2018 and was followed by numerous leaks across the PC and PS4 versions of the game. Tencent eventually revealed what expect from the Vikendi map for PUBG Mobile with the 0.10.0 update. Now everyone can finally play the newest map in PUBG Mobile. The PUBG Mobile Vikendi snow map size is 6x6 km. It's smaller than the 8x8 km of previous maps, Erangel and Miramar, but bigger than Sanhok which is 4x4 km. However our time with the PUBG Mobile Vikendi map on an Asus ZenFone Max M2 4GB RAM/ 64GB storage variant shows that size doesn't really matter. Here's why.

PUBG Vikendi map: What's new

For one, presence of snow in Vikendi for PUBG Mobile complements the tropical forest of Sanhok, the desert of Miramar, and the urban landscape of Erangel. It's not just a cosmetic change either. Footsteps sound muted over snow, making it a bit tougher to figure out if an opponent is creeping up on you until they fire. And although it's smaller than Erangel or Miramar, PUBG Vikendi snow map packs in just as much detail if not more.

This is because its terrain is varied. There are mountains, open fields, and frozen lakes. There's even a giant cosmodrome with towers and satellites, a dino park, and a castle too.

The sheer number of structures crammed in gives players different ways to adapt and play. For instance, we found ourselves relying on both long and short range weapons depending where we were on Vikendi, using a shotgun in the close confines of cosmodrome buildings and swapping to a rifle like the SCAR-L for medium to long-range encounters in the field. Snowmobiles are scattered across it too, allowing for quick getaways at high speed. They don't feel as clunky as other vehicles in-game, though turning could be a bit more responsive.

Nonetheless, the PUBG Mobile Vikendi map feels a lot more cohesive compared to earlier maps. Moving across frozen lakes to rocket towers to mountains isn't jarring or odd. The conceit of Vikendi being a singular, realistic entity works. More so when you compare it to Erangel, which for the lack of a better term, seems like a bunch of buildings randomly strung together by long, boring stretches of empty roads and grass where you're likely to be sniped dead when you least expect it. With Vikendi it appears that PUBG Corp and Tencent have struck a balance between the variety of Erangel and quick encounters of Sanhok all while appearing distinctive.

PUBG Vikendi map has generous draw distances

PUBG Vikendi map on Asus ZenFone Max M2

As for the experience of playing the PUBG Mobile Vikendi map on the Asus ZenFone Max M2, the game defaulted to the Medium frame rate setting with Balanced graphics. Though anti-aliasing defaulted to off and there were jagged edges aplenty, it didn't look too bad and sported generous draw distances. This allowed us to see towers and satellites from afar, which is always a neat touch. Gunning down enemies felt responsive with no lag or slow down. We saw minor albeit perceptible dips in performance in hilly locations on Vikendi, but there was nothing that rendered it unplayable or made us feel the need to lower its settings even further.

In two Vikendi matches back to back, which is around an hour's worth of play time indoors, the phone got slightly warm at best. No complaints when you consider that the 4GB variant of the Asus Zenfone Max M2 has a price of Rs. 11,999. While initial performance results for the PUBG Mobile Vikendi snow map are encouraging, they're bound to get better considering how quick Tencent developer Lightspeed and Quantum is to fix any issues the community might bring up.

All in all, the PUBG Mobile Vikendi map appears to be a solid addition to the game with its distinctive look and intriguing structures. While PUBG detractors might call the game an asset flip, Vikendi seemingly exists to prove them wrong.

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