A new major update for Pavlov adds a new game mode along with new weapons, vehicles and a Search and Destroy map.
The new game mode, Push, is currently running on community servers — you can use the server browser filter to search for Push games specifically. Here’s a description of the new mode from the patch notes:
Push is a class-based, progressively changing objective game mode. The respawn locations will focus on the following objectives when the attacking team captures a set of capture points. TNT will be primed and placed on the capture point to trigger a fuse countdown that the defending team will need to defuse in the allotted time. The attacking team will have a limited number of reinforcements and must complete the objectives before the round or tickets run out.
Push has been added to six official maps — Stalingrad, Santorini, Bridge, Container Yard, Siberia and the new map in this patch, Bunker.
Bunker is a new official Search and Destroy map that is set in an abandoned Soviet missile silo, featuring “a reasonably large layout with several intricate pathways to develop exciting strategies.”
In terms of other new content, there’s some weapons and vehicles. The hunting rifle has been brought back, pictured above. It’s useful for long-range shooters and comes without any detachable magazine, requiring you to load one round at a time.
In terms of vehicles, the “most formidable and feared tank of WWII”, the Tiger Tank, pictured below, is now available, alongside new 4×4 Kubelwagen and Willys MB vehicles.
The scoreboard has also been updated, to support up to 32 players at once.
In terms of ongoing content in 2022, the developer states that the update cycle might slow next year while the team progresses over to a new version of Unreal Engine. This transition will also render all current Steam Workshop maps incompatible, but the team says the upgrade is “absolutely essential” to improve performance and update some of the game’s systems. Fortunately, upgrading the maps will be “about as simple as drag and drop”.
Beyond the engine upgrade, the developers also plan to implement a faction system for Search and Destroy, therefore restricting attacking and defending teams to different selections of weapons.
Pavlov update 28 is available now for PC VR via Steam. You can read the full patch notes here.
