PUBG Blindspot is a close reinterpretation of Rainbow Six Siege, but with an isometric view, forcing the developers at Krafton to completely rethink tactical scenarios that are seen from historic FPS titles.
With early access launched on February 5th, Esports Insider breaks down the game and also assesses the title’s competitive potential.
PUBG Blindspot is a free-to-play PC game that has a simple round-based structure, with attackers and defenders (five vs five) alternating between holding or taking control of sites on each map to detonate a ‘bomb’. The gameplay is that of a hero shooter, with fixed weapons and selectable gadgets. The fun lies in its unique way of perceiving space and gathering information.
PUBG Blindspot First Impressions
PUBG Blindspot has just been released in early access, and at first glance, it’s a project that looks different from other games in the genre. The isometric point of view goes well beyond third-person, pushing the camera further away. The maps are a maze of rooms and corridors, similar to those in Rainbow Six.
In addition to implementing a transparent roof for all rooms, Krafton are playing with the concept of vision to shake up the tactical shooter space.
When players aim a rifle, a cone of ‘light’ appears in front of their character. This vision is a space on the map where an enemy is revealed if they’re within it. Vision is shared between all players on each team, so it’s possible to see an enemy appear in the corner of the screen, outside one’s vision, because it passed into the vision of a teammate. This information helps to plan rotations, assaults, and other manoeuvres.
The name Blindspot refers precisely to this dynamic: staying out of sight and organising movements to stay in the enemy’s blind spot. The strategy provides an advantage that contributes significantly to victory.
It takes relatively little time for a tactical FPS veteran to adjust to this game’s unique way of managing the camera and shooting, but a few games are enough to realise that the learning curve is truly steep.
Rounds, Agents and Game Pacing
A PUBG Blindspot match lasts a maximum of seven rounds, with victory going to the first team to reach four wins. After three rounds, attackers and defenders swap roles and change characters. Not all characters are exclusively attackers or defenders.
However, Apex, for example, who has an assault rifle and a grenade that negates an area and deals damage over time, is only available in attack mode.
Others, like Patch, armed with a different assault rifle and a grenade that creates a wall of foam, are available for both attack and defence.
Weapons are fixed for each agent, like in R6 Siege, and differ in range, rate of fire, and recoil pattern. Each agent can also choose from a list of universal secondary gadgets, such as barbed wire or a deployable shield for defence and three types of grenades (fragmentation, smoke, or stun) in attack.
Being in Early Access, there are still several details to iron out, especially on the balancing side. Agent Whistle’s Blue Chip Tracker, for example, is incredibly overpowered, while Clarice’s motion sensor doesn’t provide enough useful information to justify choosing her.
PUBG Blindspot’s Esports Potential?
Despite typical flaws that are expected from a game at this stage of development, the game is fun for tactical shooter fans. Its main problem is the uncertainty that all new live services face once it hits the market. Will the innovative aspects and the remixing of ideas from previous releases be enough to retain players in the long run?
PUBG can count on a global promotional network and loyal users, so there’s no doubt Blindspot will receive a major push from its parent company. As a game with limited agents or settings, the gameplay will have to carry the brunt of breaking through in an oversaturated genre.
Competitionally, the game has its appeal as an entertainment product. It benefits from the isometric view of each character, providing much more information than the personal perspective of a first-person shooter. On the other hand, the action is much more distant from the viewer than seeing the match through the eyes of the competitor.
PUBG Blindspot’s uniqueness lies in its ability to express player skill more tactically and less mechanically than competitors like CS2 or VALORANT. Only the public response (SteamDB recorded a peak attendance of just over 3,000 at its early access launch) and Krafton’s decisions, however, will dictate whether the game has a competitive future.
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