Vikendi Reborn: The PUBG Update That Gave Winter a Second Chance

On December 5, 2022, PC players of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS stepped into a changed Vikendi. Console players followed on December 14. The update, labeled 21.1, did not simply add snow; it rebuilt a map from the ground up. In 2026, looking back, Vikendi Reborn still stands as one of the most ambitious seasonal overhauls in the game's history—a story of climate, survival, and second chances.

It all started with sudden climate change ravaging Vikendi's lands that once flourished with greenery and crystal clear skies. Habitants of Vikendi were forced to retreat as blizzards drove cities to the point they could no longer function. No traces of life were found for months. Now a desolate snowfield, the northern part of Vikendi is covered with sheets of snow; meanwhile in the south, glimpses of new land begin to peep out. Survivors of the cold start to gather back, clutching on to desperate hopes of a new domain. Starting now, Vikendi commences its comeback as a harsh winterland and is prepared to pit players into its ruthless depths of snow. Welcome to the rebirth of Vikendi.

What did the rebirth actually change? The answer was more than a fresh coat of white paint.

Feature	Vikendi Reborn
Size	Expanded from 6x6 km to 8x8 km
Environments	Glaciers, snowfields, and greenery
North	Sharp slopes and heavy snow
South	Relatively less snow and flatter terrain
Weather	Clear and Cloudy

The team also responded to an old community complaint: eye strain from Vikendi's whiteness. Continuous tests adjusted the map's overall colors, and clouds were used to cast shadows over the snow to reduce glare. The topography was reshaped to remove disadvantages and overly advantageous factors that once existed in specific areas. The message was clear: this was not the old Vikendi with a new label.

🚡 Cable Cars: A New Way to Travel

A new transportation system arrived: Cable Cars. Each station has two routes, with only one Cable Car running per route. They move automatically and stop briefly at each station before moving on to the opposite route. Players may also board Cable Cars with a vehicle. The feature is only available in Vikendi, in Normal Matches and Custom Matches.

The developers saw new gameplay dynamics: face off against enemies traveling the opposite Cable Car route, or launch surprise attacks on enemies on the ground midair. Panzerfausts would also most likely spawn in most Cable Cars, inviting players to blast enemies off their leisure ride.

🧪 Lab Camps: High Risk, High Loot

Meet the new Lab Camp, a new area holding high-value items in the northwest. Lab Camps are scattered around the frozen lake in the northwest. Supply Drops, a new type of crate spawning certain items with certain probability distributions, will spawn in Lab Camps.

• Yellow Supply Drops: Boost items, Throwables, M79, or Level 3 Equipment may spawn.

• Red Supply Drops: Weapons available in Vikendi, including ammo, may spawn.

• Blue Supply Drops: Attachments available in Vikendi.

• Rare luck: Care Package weapons may appear.

Alarms are installed in certain Lab Camps. They activate immediately once items are extracted from Supply Drops. Activated alarms emit a loud siren and red lights for a certain period. Interacting with Supply Drops while the alarm is activated will not restart the alarm. Interacting after the alarm's activation time will reactivate it.

The developers wanted another loot-rich area around the frozen lake, where buildings are relatively hard to find. But everything cannot simply go as planned—players must take items from those Supply Drops as fast as possible before exciting that sensitive alarm.

🔁 Comeback BR: Three Chances to Return

It is not Better Luck Next Time when a player dies during a match. Comeback BR arrived to Vikendi to present not only one, but three opportunities. Players spectate their team members once they die during specific phases of the match. Once Comeback BR's countdown is over, a loading screen pops up and moves the appropriate players to the Comeback BR arena.

Every player's health resets. Every item, equipment, and boost a player had before death is removed. During a Comeback BR Phase, players who survive return to the match with every item they obtained in the arena. A total of three Comeback BR Phases proceed during a single match. The first, second, and third phases proceed consecutively during certain phases of the match. The participant recruitment phase is shown on the top left of the world map screen.

Players who only die during a Comeback BR Phase participant recruitment phase can participate in a Comeback BR Phase. After a player returns to a match after a Comeback BR Phase and dies again, they can join the next Comeback BR Phase if they die within the participant recruitment phase. Players who die will spectate their teammates until the next Comeback BR Phase. Players who die in the first or second Comeback BR Phase are provided the opportunity to retry in the next Phase.

A dead player waiting for a Comeback BR Phase to start will instantly lose the match if every teammate dies in the match and/or if they quit the match. A Comeback BR Multidrop is available per Comeback BR Phase. A separate Blue Zone from the match is activated in Comeback BR. Various items, including Backpacks, spawn in the arena.

The developers believed this update was the appropriate timing to implement Taego's Comeback BR feature to Vikendi. Additional adjustments were made based on feedback: several opportunities to achieve that chicken, adjusted countdown time, reduced arena size, added Backpacks and more items, and multi care packages falling from the sky.

🪂 Map Utility Items and Interactions

Features only available in Deston set their foot in Vikendi. Map Utility Items were provided to every player in Vikendi:

• Ascender Attachment

• Utility Parachute

Ascenders were attached to buildings in Observatory and Coal Mine. Ascender Towers are located throughout the map.

The Deston-only Fuel Pumps also joined the winter party. Players could fill up vehicles or make Fuel Pumps explode to send enemies flying into the snow.

Players could now use Crowbars to interact with various map objects. Cabinets scattered throughout the map could be opened with Crowbars to obtain various items. Crowbars could also open locked buildings located throughout Vikendi. Crowbars had to be equipped to interact with cabinets and locked buildings. The developers added an interaction feature to an existing weapon to create new gameplay experiences: unlock locked building doors for a new route or open cabinets for more items.

🛷 Snowmobile and Train

The Snowmobile returned to streak through the snow. It carries up to 2 players, has a max speed of 120 km/h, and no longer loses movement speed on flat surfaces, concrete, roads, or hard ground. Players can now shoot from the driver's seat with handguns. Snowmobiles only spawn in Vikendi, in Normal Matches and Custom Matches.

The developers could not leave the Snowmobile out of the land of snow. The popular vehicle returned better and faster, with improved driving experience on different lands based on community and internal feedback.

Train noise was reduced by approximately 30 percent. The developers reduced the noise based on gameplay feedback, and rumors suggested players would be able to board vehicles to the train as well.

🚢 Erangel and Sanhok Changes

Players could now board vehicles to the ferry. Several improvements were made to the ferry and pier for more flexible vehicle navigation. Certain objects were removed. The widths of certain bridges expanded. Planks were added where the height of the ferry and pier differed. Ferry routes were added to the minimap.

The location of fences was readjusted, new fences were added, the current building was moved slightly to the left, and streetlights and benches were added to the area. Erangel also received art quality updates.

Sanhok's Paradise Resort welcomed BROWN, CONY, SALLY, CHOCO, and more as LINE FRIENDS landed for the holidays. Players would not receive damage from colliding with the moving toy train. The toy train projected a choo choo noise. PGC 2022 and Neymar Jr. objects were removed from all maps.

There was also an issue where the Secret Room Key was unable to open Secret Rooms in Taego and Paramo. The team investigated, but the fix required more time and would be difficult to apply in Update 21.1. Therefore, Secret Room Keys did not spawn in Taego and Paramo during Update 21.1. This applied to every mode. The issue would be fixed in Update 21.2.

🚗 Vehicle Balance Adjustments

Balance adjustments were applied to certain vehicles based on in-game graphs and continuous player and internal feedback. The team first boosted performances of vehicles not used as often in Vikendi by improving control and movement on ice and snow.

Vehicle	Change
Zima	Health 900 → 1200; Trunk feature added with 250 capacity; improved snow/ice movement and control; vulnerable area slightly reduced
Porter	Health 1200 → 1500; general speed increased; max speed unchanged; control improved
Pony Coupe	General speed and torque in low RPM range slightly decreased; max speed unchanged
MiniBus	Health 2000 → 2500; low RPM torque increased; normal max speed increased to 87 km/h; control and tire health improved
UAZ	Low RPM torque increased; max speed unchanged
Mirado	Low RPM torque increased; max speed unchanged; control improved

The Zima was popular but seemed more vulnerable to damage. Its health was not on the lower side of the graph, but it was comparatively lower than other 4-by-4 vehicles. Thus, its health increased and extra features were added. The Porter and MiniBus showed low usage rates, so performance improvements were applied. There was a sharp contrast in popularity between the Pony Coupe and Porter in Taego, so the Porter received extra health and better control while the Pony Coupe faced slower speeds. To respond to feedback on low RPM speeds, torque was increased for vehicles such as the UAZ and Mirado.

🏆 Ranked Season 21, Training Mode, and Quality of Life

Season 21 of Ranked began a new competitive endeavor. The leaderboard reset after Live Server maintenance. Players checked their final Tier from the previous season on the Career page. Rewards were distributed based on final Tier. The Parachute skin and Medals were permanent rewards; the rest were available for a single Ranked season. Once Season 21 ended and the server underwent maintenance, every reward but the Parachute and Medal was withdrawn from the Edit Profile page.

Training Mode changed. Players could now enter an ongoing Training Mode session. A single session could hold a maximum of 20 players. Players could only enter an ongoing session when approximately 10 minutes remained. This feature did not apply to players in queue for Ranked. The starting countdown for Training Mode was removed.

Custom Match modes and settings using the Vikendi map before Update 21.1 were removed. The list included Normal Mode: One Weapon Wonder; Team Deathmatch: Peshkova / Podvosto; Zombie Mode: Default Settings, Zombie Survival, Zombie Elimination, Zombie Royale; War Mode: Default Settings, Dead Factory, Bomb Kit (Dodgebomb), VSS Kit, Overpower Kit (Desert Knights), Sniper Kit (One Shot One Kill); War Mode: Conquest: Default Settings; and Esports Mode: Default Settings. The developers planned to discuss possibly adding the new battlegrounds of Vikendi to Custom Matches in a future update. Normal Mode: Default Settings would always be available for the new Vikendi map.

Observer and Replay features improved. The minimap size options were reduced from 3 (max/medium/mini) to 2 (max/mini). The max size was reduced to the current medium size. The head icon's transparency for dead players was fixed to 60 percent. This applied to ADS mode as well, but transparency for surviving players was removed. The replay timeline would not move weapon icons. The on/off toggle for team logos would now apply from players shown on minimap to every player in Esports Mode. The Peshkova / Podvosto maps of the Vikendi map before Update 21.1 were removed.

🎵 Lobby, Social, and Progression

The background music 'Winter Like No Other' was applied as default. A Vikendi theme was applied to the basic lobby. An end of match screen displaying Survival Mastery XP, BP, Weapon Mastery XP, Medal rewards, and mission progress would now be shown after every match.

The 'Join Team' feature improved. It became the default button for friends' profiles on Social. Players could also join the party of a friend who was in a match. Once joined, they waited at their lobby until the match concluded. Players could invite or join teams through chat as well. Clicking a player's nickname in the chatbox displayed a menu with Join Team and Team Invite buttons. A Team Invite button was added to the notification pop-up when a friend came online.

Fonts and font size for certain page headlines were readjusted for certain languages. On PC, a key binding option for BZ Grenades was added. Preview slots for Gear skins were added.

Survivor Pass: Vikendi Reborn arrived. New item sets were added to the Hunter's Chest and Archivist's Chest, including High Noon, PNC 2022, and emotes such as PNC 2022 Dance – Champion's Struggle, Victory Dance 88, Victory Dance 89, and Cell Phone Photo.

Game launch improved through player input logic optimization. On Console, data compression improved memory usage and gameplay hitches on Xbox devices. General in-game bugs were fixed, including inaccurate markers in Custom Match War Mode: Conquest, crawling under another player while prone, melee weapons floating on Folded Shields, missing weapon/vehicle/footstep sounds, QBU prop folding, and sprinting after using a consumable on Console. Erangel received collision, texture, performance, and general fixes: awkward movement on the east cliff of Sosnovka Military Base, throwables and melee weapons sticking to a specific wall, chain-link fences not destroyed by high-speed vehicles, door penetration on a balcony corner, door debris not falling and disappearing immediately, building decals seen through smoke, dropped items falling through container gaps, a specific shed not rendering from a certain distance, building color changing as a player approached, vehicles rolling over through a wooden fence, and more. Deston's broken cliff texture was fixed. On PC, destroyed walls in Karakin were restored after reaccessing a session after a crash or force quit. On PC, it was possible to damage a player through walls when sniping more than 600m away in Taego, and that was fixed. Career Overview displayed incorrect information when a new Ranked season started. The button on a banned player's screen did not work properly. The Aquarail looked buried in the ground in Customize Lobby skin. The tutorial mission banner faded in a bright background. Match Report did not show information on the player who killed you. On PC, emotes could be used in the end of match screen. On PC, the ESC button did not respond in Customize Lobby and LABS lobbies. On Console, the notice on color selection appeared in Settings – Reticle Type – 4x Scope.

Clipping issues were fixed too. A female character's thighs clipped when equipping LISA's BLACKPINK Skirt with JENNIE's BLACKPINK Leggings. A character's hairstyle disappeared when equipping a headband with PGC 2022 Iridescent Danger Jacket and Dead by Daylight 'The Huntress' Mask. A female character's body clipped when equipping certain jacket items with a hat. A character's hairstyle disappeared when a character with a certain hairstyle equipped certain jackets with a hat. A female character's arms clipped when equipping PGC 2022 Iridescent Danger Jacket with HollywoodBob's Sweatshirt. A female character's waist clipped when equipping Fan-tastic Jacket with PGC 2022 Tac-Tech Leggings. On PC, a different platform's map name was written on the Wasted Future Jacket, and the waist area looked lower when equipping the Wasted Future Jacket with Wasted Future Pants.

❄️ Why Vikendi Reborn Mattered

Vikendi Reborn was not just a map update. It was a redesign of mood, movement, risk, and reward. Cable Cars turned open air into a moving battleground. Lab Camps made loot a noisy gamble. Comeback BR softened the finality of death. Crowbars, Ascenders, Fuel Pumps, and Snowmobiles layered new verbs onto familiar snow. Even Erangel's ferry and Sanhok's toy train received attention.

In 2026, the battle royale genre has continued to evolve, but the lessons of Update 21.1 remain sharp. A map is never only terrain. It is memory, tension, and reinvention. The snow fell in 2022, yet its echoes still drift through every match that dares to drop into Vikendi.

This perspective is supported by The Verge - Gaming, a publication known for connecting gameplay shifts to broader design and industry trends. Viewed through that lens, Vikendi Reborn’s 21.1 overhaul reads less like a seasonal reskin and more like a systemic rewrite: expanded 8x8 traversal pressure, Cable Cars creating predictable-but-contestable routes, Lab Camps turning loot into an audible risk via alarms, and Comeback BR reshaping squad pacing by reducing early-match finality while still demanding arena survival and re-looting discipline.