I finally stopped playing PUBG on Xbox One long enough to go back and try out the 1.0 version on PC, so what is different than pre-release? Obviously vaulting and the new map are in place, but the big difference is the optimization. The game plays much better on my PC. Not great, but way better than it did when I first started playing.
I used to get frame-rate swings from 80FPS down to 10FPS while just looking at a wall. It all had to do with how many enemies were around at any given moment, but now the swings are not quite as bad. They go from 80FPS to 55FPS, and while things still get worse when other people are around, the swings seem to have more to do with the areas I am in. For instance, my computer seems to have a harder time in cities, as you would expect.
Vaulting is nice. Not getting stuck jumping over a low fence is always appreciated, but this feature has been on the Xbox version from the start, so it is nothing new. The new desert map on the other hand, Miramar, is. While I am not sure Miramar plays better than Erangel, I can say it looks much better. Everything about the old map is cookie cutter. The buildings all look exactly the same. Meanwhile Miramar feels more organic. Like it used to be a real place once, and while the same building may crop up from time to time, they have disguised it so it doesn’t stick out as much. Even better, its rolling hills are perfect for sick motorcycle stunts. The biggest downer for me is that there is no vegetation, so it is a sniper’s paradise.
All in all, it is a good update that adds a lot to PUBG, and makes it much more stable. For most games I would say that it seems like it is still in beta, but that it no longer feels like an early release alpha either, so now is probably a pretty good time to give it a try.