It’s being touted, naturally, as the most ambitious Battlefield yet, and perhaps the biggest generational leap the series has seen to date with dynamic 128-player matches (on new-gen and PC at least – last-gen players will have to make do with 64 players) and a near future canvas that’s brimming with all sorts of exciting tech.
Battlefield 2042 previewPublisher: EADeveloper: DICEAvailability: Out 22nd October on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X
Really, though, what could make this Battlefield stand apart isn’t so much how it’s moving forwards and more about how it’s going back to what DICE does best and doubling down on it. There’s no single-player campaign. There will be no battle royale. What there is, at first glimpse, is all the chaos, unpredictability and unprecedented scale that’s at the heart of the series’ appeal, dialled up to a new degree of intensity.
The set-up is hokey, if unnervingly close to home at its foundation – climate crisis and the second great depression in 2032 leads to the rise of stateless soldiers with no allegiance, and when a global blackout takes out all satellites and cripples intelligence systems the world reverts to type and sees the United States and Russia engage in all-out war, with the no-pat soldiers taking up arms for both sides.
Battlefield 2042 Official Reveal Trailer (ft. 2WEI) Watch on YouTube
All of which is a po-faced excuse for some out there action that would do the Fast & Furious franchise proud; there are robot dogs, angry tesla tanks, hovercraft and wingsuits, with the destruction pushed that little bit further, the evolution of each stage across a single skirmish that bit more dramatic. In Orbital, a new map set in French Guana, there’s a rocket launch you can sabotage, unleashing all sorts of havoc as it comes tumbling down onto the battlefield; in Discarded, changing water levels impact the playfield as both teams dance around a Colossus at the centre of the map; in Hourglass, a sprawling map set across a windswept Qatar, the high winds can even pick up your vehicle and toss it elsewhere.