PUBG update adds emotes, achievements, and an in-game friends list

The next major update to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is here, and that means new Steam achievements, a PUBG friends list, and, yes, emotes have arrived. As usual, more than a fair share of bug-fixes are included, too.

The update was a whopping nine gigabytes, so it might take some time to actually finish patching—but that’s only because there’s so much included.

Emotes

Emotes are new to PUBG, but they’re not new to the battle royale genre. PUBG’s number one competitor, Fortnite, has included emotes from the get-go, and now PUBG’s players will also be able to BM their slain enemies. There are 12 emotes included in this update, but PUBG Corporation has promised more in future updates.

To use them, hold down the emote menu key (defaulted to ~) and then activate your emote by left-clicking the emote you want to use or by using the emote’s hotkey.

37 unique Steam achievements were added in this update, too, although the official patch notes didn’t mention what they were specifically.

Friends List

The friends list added in today’s patch is different than the one already included in the game. With this new PUBG-only friends list, you can add up to 50 friends by searching and adding them regardless of their platform. This means you can search for friends using Steam, Mail.ru, or DMM credentials all from the same list. You don’t have to be friends on Steam in order to be friends in PUBG.

This friends list isn’t your typical two-way list, where you have to send a request to another player, and they’re only added when they accept it. This list is a one-way list, where a player is added to your friends when you choose to add them, and not when they accept any sort of invitation.

Improvements and Optimization

It wouldn’t be a PUBG update without a truckload of bug-fixes. There are upwards of 26 bug-fixes in this patch alone. Highlighting the list are fixes to vaulting and climbing (which means you’ll no longer die when trying to vault), character spasms, and sound effect bugs for vehicles and footsteps alike.

There were also several improvements made to further optimize the game. According to the notes, this patch will increase your responses by reducing input lag, mitigate framerate crashes when loading the map, and optimize vehicle physics. This patch should also reduce stress on GPUs through a new optimization applied to rendered buildings, which, while a bit ambiguous, is great news.

These are just the highlights and most important aspects of today’s patch. The full patch notes are available here.