I’m a big fan of PUBG on Xbox One. In fact, it’s the one game that you’ll find me whiling the time away into the wee hours, all as I go in search of that elusive Chicken Dinner.
Whether alone, with mates, or running alongside strangers, it is PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds which has kept my gaming sessions alive since before full release and the time the game spent in Xbox Preview.
It could therefore be said that no other Battle Royale game will do. In fact, I’ve never played Fortnite – and one watch of my kids taking in the craziness that entails was enough to put me off for life.
But throughout my time with PUBG I’ve always wanted more; more reason to play, more reason to go in search of that loot, and more reason to head off on a killing spree. And with the PUBG Survivor Pass 4, the Aftermath Pack and the Supply Pack: Season 4, I’ve found that reason.
Running from August 27th until October 21st, Survivor Pass 4: Aftermath for PUBG includes a whole host of extra content for the game, giving both rhyme and reason to why we keep parachuting in to the likes of Miramar, Vikendi, and the newly enhanced Erangel in search of a kill.
With that latter map having had a brilliant visual makeover, if you haven’t dipped into PUBG in a while then you will notice massive differences. Not only are the visuals crisper and cleaner, but detail is high with reworked interiors and exteriors of buildings providing plenty of things to look at. And if you play PUBG anything like me – locking yourself into a single room in the hope you can see out the blue line of death without anyone stumbling upon you… I mean, stealthily – then you’ll get multiple opportunities to take in these new graphics. They are a hugely welcome sight, with freaky dolls sitting on chairs and graffiti adorning walls everywhere you look.
But the real draw of the Survivor Pass 4: Aftermath just has to be the extra rewards and challenges which are in place. While the Daily Missions that reset every 24 hours are open to all players, once you start moving into the Weekly, Season, Premium and Challenge options, a whole new world of challenge opens up.
I can’t for one minute claim to be the world’s greatest PUBG player – my constant failure to reach a Chicken Dinner across the years of playing attests to this – but still the challenges have brought a new light on proceedings, giving something more to aim for instead of just sitting around and crossing my fingers that I’ll get lucky.
It’s made me go out and hunt, it’s made me drive a boat for longer than I’d like, and thanks to the Supply Pack Season 4, it’s made me go kitted out in a delightful yellow cheerleading micro-skirt and blue tank-top combo. You know, the kind of attire that any serious war veteran would wear.
The increased amount of XP earned from taking part in the gameplay and completing missions is a welcome one too, and whilst I’ve struggled with little in the way of G Points and BP in the past, this Survivor Pass has given those a lovely boost too. And yes, they may only be good for purchasing strange items like the gear found in the Rabbit Season Set, or sticking some gold plating on your favourite gun, but it’s the little things like these that ensure that PUBG continues to be my go-to Battle Royale fare.
So the big question… are the PUBG Survivor Pass, the Aftermath Pack (£12.49) and the Supply Pack (£8.39) worth the asking prices? Well, let me put it this way – unless PUBG was to suddenly end the day before the fifth season of these content add-ons arrives, there will be no way on this earth I’d want to miss out on the fun that the additions bring. In fact, these new rewards, the extra challenges, and the updated visuals to Erangel have breathed new life into PUBG on Xbox One, and so if you play on a daily basis, purchasing the add-ons is a no-brainer. Of course, they aren’t going to change the very gameplay within, but they make the whole thing a hell of a lot more enjoyable.
Massive thanks go out to PUBG Corporation for providing access to the Aftermath and Supply Pack DLC packs. You can grab them from the Xbox Store by hitting the links above right now.