[2021] In Praise of Taego

I'm usually a pretty harsh critic of PUBG Corp, only because I love the game so much, and want it to be the best game it can be. But I'm kinda compelled to offer some heartfelt kudos for the new map.

I've lived in the southwest of Korea for about 20 years, and the islands and coastline of Taego place it squarely in the southwest. They have done an incredible job of making me feel like I'm playing PUBG literally in my backyard. It's set in the 80s, sure, way before my time, so the clusters of high rise apartments these days aren't there, and the actual forests are denser (and where I live, the mountains higher), but this was clearly a love letter to Korea from a company based in Korea, this map, and I feel it in every detail. The trees, the buildings, the furniture, the signs on the walls, all of it. Hell, I'm not even Korean, but it fills me with a kind of unexpected joy, even at this late date in the life of the game, to be playing on a battlefield that feels so close to home.

Yeah, sure, AEDs are a bad idea and the Comeback BR implementation is weak sauce, and it may not be perfect, but this map, man: I'm really loving this map. For more than three years I've rolled my eyes at smaller and smaller PUBG maps, but Taego takes us right back to the original longform widescreen BR adventure that we fell in love with. I think thanks are in order to Dave Curd (or whoever set this new direction in motion).

Thanks, PUBG!