On June 9th, game developer DICE finally revealed the newest entry into their much-beloved Battlefield franchise: Battlefield 2042. Before now, it was unofficially known as Battlefield 6. Even though all we got on the 9th was a reveal trailer, we do actually have a surprising amount of information about the game at this time, all of which we’ll share with you now.
First off is a kind of odd detail, that being, that Battlefield 2042 will be completely multiplayer, with no traditional campaign element whatsoever, which is something that has been in most Battlefield games in some capacity. The game will release for both current and next-gen consoles, so that includes PS4 and PS5, as well as Xbox One and the Series X|S. Naturally, PC is included as well. The current release date is October 22, 2021, though considering how game releases have been going in the past year or so, we’d take that with a grain of salt.
The reveal trailer was purely cinematic and didn’t show any actual gameplay, but it did still give players a look at some of the weapons, vehicles, and gadgets we’ll get to use when the game does release. This includes but is not limited to: helicopters, modern jet fighters, robotic quadruped dogs with guns, and wingsuits. With all of that taken into consideration, it’s easy to see how Battlefield 2042 is shaping up to be a more classic Battlefield experience: the trailer even had a guy jump out of a plane to shoot another plane with a missile launcher, then land back in his own plane and keep flying. You can’t get much more ‘Battlefield’ than that.
As for actual gameplay, we’ll get to see some of that on June 13th during the Xbox E3 Press Conference. Still, we do actually know some extra details about the game, though it may come as bad news to some people, depending on your hardware. Everyone knows that, for most games, 64 players is the max for multiplayer matches on PS4 and Xbox One. The same is true for Battlefield 2024. However, the game will support huge matches with as many as 128 players on the Series X|S and PS5. To go along with this, the game’s maps are several times larger than those in past games: up to four times the size of some of the maps in BF5.
The setting is the near future, in which weather catastrophes have crippled dozens of nations and created many soldiers of fortune with no country to call their own. Even so, they somehow manage to get pulled into a conflict between the U.S. and Russia: because who else, right? The conflict will take place in many places around the world, some of which we saw in the trailer: South Korea, Qatar, Antarctica, and more.
Of particular note is a new feature that has to do with the cataclysmic weather: in the middle of matches, horrific weather catastrophes can take place. In the trailer, we saw a powerful tornado that threw around everything, including players and vehicles. Such weather events will add to the utter chaos that Battlefield games are known for.
Hopefully, this all means a return to form for DICE and Battlefield. While Battlefield 5 shaped up to be a good game, in the long run, it had its fair share of haters, and its initial reception did not go over well. Whether or not Battlefield 2042 hits the mark, however, remains to be seen.
