PUBG's "Aim Punch" Experiments Continue As The Shooter Strives For More Immersion

Back in January, PUBG introduced their new idea to increase immersion in the F2P shooter, Aim Punch. The idea is kind of simple in concept but, like many things, it's much harder to actually implement in game without ticking everyone off. In the most basic of terms, Aim Punch is the way your character reacts when being hit by a bullet. Most games handle this in a pretty standard way. It isn't often that you recognize different effects or animations based on the weapon that hit you and how far away the shooter was when they took the shot.

Krafton doesn't just want this to be an animation thing, though. The team wants this to add to the immersion in the battle royale. When you're shot at close range by a shotgun, that should have a different animation and shake than if you are plucked by a handgun at max range. One should make immediate recovery a tad more difficult than the other. The first test of the feature, which does vary by weapon class, received mixed feedback. About 2/3rds of the testers thought the Aim Punch felt natural, but that leave a third of the game's players that didn't feel the same.

On the back of that feedback, PUBG held a second test in March after the team reduced some of the visual "shake" and added in the distance factor mentioned above. Other adjustments came to specific weapon classes feeling a tad more "shocking" to get hit by than they probably should. That second test was more well-received, so much so that the feature will leave Gunplay Labs and come to the live servers in Update 35.1.

If you haven't tested the feature, you may want to read up on it so you aren't surprised come update time. In the future, this feature may not be limited to just a class of weapons. You could eventually see each weapon itself having its own "Aim Punch" profile so one handgun may feel different to get hit by than another, but that'll come later.