Summary
PUBGplayers looking for a change of pace from traditional urban battle royales can always count on Miramar to provide a more unique tactical experience. Boasting open spaces, brighter landscapes, and a general preference for wider areas, Miramar becomes a haven for snipers and vehicle specialists enjoyingPUBGstrategies that involve more aggressive gunplay.
These general traits remain a significant part of theMiramar revamp in Update 25.1, with the new iteration of the map now featuring new mechanics and tighter areas that highlight Miramar’s hardcore appeal. In a recent Game Rantinterview, In-Game Production Director Taehyun Kim of thePUBGteam spoke to how new mechanics combined with a map overhaul has evolved Miramar without impacting its key draws.
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PUBG Wanted to Break the Meta with the Miramar Revamp
According to Kim,PUBGmaps like Miramarretain their charm through familiarity. However, when familiarity with a map’s ideal playstyle becomes more apparent, gameplay can quickly get boring. When designing the updated Miramar map, the team didn’t just aim for a visually-better familiar location, but rather a familiar map more suitable for new strategies.
Our goal is to break the routinized meta and make Miramar more accessible to all players. The updated Miramar offers players more early-game loot opportunities, various movement paths, and strategic choices without compromising the map’s original concept and unique gameplay.
Chief among the newest additions to the Miramar revamp is the Sandstorm, a rehash of Vikendi’s Blizzard Zone adapted to meet the map’s desert geography separate from Dynamic Weather. Kim said the idea for the Sandstorm came up when thinking of a natural phenomenon suitable to Miramar’s desert landscape, with the Blizzard Zone in Vikendi’s snow map being the perfect inspiration for such a feature.
Like the Blizzard Zone, the Sandstorm also has a familiar slate of effects such as vision obstruction, slowed movement, and gradual damage. However, this new addition toPUBGgameplay ups the ante as the Sandstorm switches up combat, extinguishing Molotovs and Smoke Grenades while disabling most electronic equipment, forcing players to make more tactical decisions such asusing aPUBGvehicleor opting for other paths.
Zipline Adds Combat Flexibility
Moving around the Sandstorm in classic Miramar means being exposed to the map’s open terrain, a problem that the revamped location also remedies with Ziplines. Instead of being left wide open to snipers on ridges, Ziplines help players move locations much faster with less risk of detection. And to avoid trigger-happy players from abusing the Zipline’s speed, devs also limited zipline-availablePUBGweapons to SMGsand Handguns while disabling reloads mid-travel.
In Miramar, mid-to-long-ranged engagements take place frequently, and it is difficult to push downed enemies quickly due to the rugged terrain. In addition, those who have no vehicle are often killed while moving to another location by an enemy on the opposite ridge. The Zipline feature not only adds an exciting layer to combat dynamics but also aims to mitigate the challenging terrain of Miramar.
However, players without immediate access to Ziplines aren’t left out, as the Miramar revamp offers noticeable geographical changes to encourage ground travel. A prime example would be the revamped Miramar’s southern locations, now transformed into the abandoned (yet loot-packed) Resort overlooking the seas. Los Higos also replaces new residential areas, with the addition of the festive Partona area offering a more colorful alternative to Miramar’s usual desolate look.
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Flexibility Leads To More Unique Experiences
According to Kim,PUBGgameplay data accumulated by the team showed remote areas with low looting efficiency were some of the least-picked drop locations on the game map. Not to mention, the frequency of the circle appearing at the center of the original Miramar motivated players to land in towns around it. An integral part of the Miramar revamp was to reposition certain areas of the map to improve engagement, especially when the aforementioned patterns start to emerge during gameplay.
Players experience different types of gameplay and new changes through maps, so maps play a crucial role in the game. However, it is impossible to develop a specific location that makes players experience a type of gameplay intended by the dev team.
To alleviate the commonality of how players approach Miramar, the dev team decided to incentivize exploring the map. On top of visually-enticing areas like the Resort and Partona, the Miramar revamp transfers remote locations closer to the center while improving their looting efficiency. This small change challenges the long-distance meta in Miramar’s originally-wide landscapes, especially now that players are more encouraged todrop into clustered areas within thePUBGmap.
The Miramar map revamp went live on Jul 11, 2025, alongside Update 25.1 ofPlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
