Sanhok, a tropical 4x4km map, has been in testing in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for some time. Now, after four rounds of testing, the map has been released to the public on the PC version of the game.
Originally named ‘Project Savage,’ Sanhok is a map consisting of three isles separated by a central river. Inspired by Thailand, Sanhok boasts a cave system and tropical aesthetic. It’s currently the smallest map in PUBG, measuring a relatively small 4x4km. Despite the smaller size, it still can handle 100 different players. The map has gone through four rounds of testing, and it has officially gone live June 22.
As part of Sanhok’s release, PUBG Corp released the ‘Event Pass,’ which they bill as “trackable progression-related system.” A microsite released along with the new map has more details on the event pass system.
Early impressions of the Sanhok map are pretty good. In a preview for the map, three of PC Gamer’s writers talked about how the smaller map size makes the games feel quicker and helps avoid the mid-round lulls in the action. They also remarked on how the red zones, randomly appearing spots on the map that get carpet bombed, feel like a real factor for the first time.
Sanhok’s release isn’t all cherries and corgis, however. The map selection system, which was originally introduced in April, has been scaled back with the map’s release. In the map selection system’s release, they said they would have to keep a close eye on it since problems could arise as more maps are added. With Sanhok’s release, a Steam Announcement was made:
It’s now become clear to us that these concerns were justified, and we’ve decided that we can’t support individual map selection for more than two maps. This is because map selection creates an essentially exponential increase in the number of total separate queues when combined with other queue options like party size and perspective. That means the matchmaking pool gets split into many small sections, making it nearly impossible to put together a match in at least some of those queues.
We still want to make sure that players can play on Sanhok without any hassle, especially given that it’s an exciting new map. So, at least for now, we’re going to launch Sanhok as its own queue, with Miramar and Erangel bundled together in a separate queue. That means that in the new UI, you’ll be able to queue up for Sanhok by itself, or Erangel + Miramar together. Choosing both queues means you’ll randomly be dropped into one of the three maps currently in the game.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is currently on sale on Steam for $20.