Battlefield 6 Season 1 is upon us, but not everyone is happy about it.
Electronic Arts’ Battlefield franchise has had its ups and downs in recent times, to say the least. Battlefield 1 gave the series new life by pivoting to World War 1 for its refreshed setting, weapons, and vehicles. Battlefield V attempted to replicate that magic, but numerous controversies and a perceived lack of innovation caused it to fall just short. Battlefield 2042’s numerous tech issues left the game rudderless from the off, leaving the franchise once again in dire need of revitalisation.
Enter Battlefield 6, EA’s most content-rich launch in the franchise in quite a while. The modern-day first-person shooter not only features a campaign and several returning multiplayer modes, but also the sandbox creation mode Battlefield Portal. On top of that, EA also tacked on an entire battle royale mode to the title this week, called Battlefield: REDSEC.
Season 1 of Battlefield 6 already feels like a different game than it did at launch. All of a sudden, new battle royale challenges, battle pass tiers, and a microtransaction-laden store page have sprung up in the main menu. The game's opening cinematic pushes players into REDSEC, with the campaign now all but forgotten.
Battlefield 6's thrilling gameplay has earned it plenty of goodwill leading into this controversial first season of content, though that might not be enough to satiate a playerbase that is now growing displeased with recent changes.
Battlefield 6's big multiplayer changes aren't all for the better
Battlefield 2042 saw the franchise bite off a little more than it could chew with 128-player maps, a mistake which Battlefield 6 arguably overcorrects in its Multiplayer. The new title has a colourful mix of large-scale and small-scale game modes, ranging from 6v6 to 32v32 PvP formats. Classics like Conquest and Rush are present, along with newcomers like CQB: Lockdown and Escalation.
The new game modes can feel like a spin on existing modes rather than innovations on their own, however. For example, Escalation–one of the more promising new modes–has players capture objectives like in Conquest, but with objective also being removed from the map entirely upon capture. Each team must capture three objectives in total, which ultimately leads to an increasingly fast pace of combat, as fewer and fewer objectives remain on the map for players to rush towards.
The smaller-scale modes, however, are emblematic of Battlefield 6’s more dynamic style of gameplay compared to previous titles. I can only speak for myself here, but I enjoy this franchise for the slower-paced sandbox-like multiplayer experience it offers. Conversely, 6v6 Call of Duty and Marvel Rivals modes offer shorter match times and rapid-fast gameplay loops, with fast respawns and tons of tools to keep skirmishes flashy and intense. Battlefield 6 appears to be aiming for a middle point between these two opposites, giving players a sharper and more to-the-point iteration of the gameplay format it’s known for.
Small changes to core multiplayer gameplay have major consequences: smaller maps, tighter map boundaries, more cover, and less spread-out objectives, to name a few. Maps in this game are designed to keep encounters flowing constantly, with a skirmish always ready to be found around the corner. It almost feels like a direct answer to Battlefield 2042’s long runback criticisms–where players would have to make a long commute from spawn only to get sniped on the way to their objective. In Battlefield 6, you can get sniped a lot sooner; I’m only half-joking.
Less than two weeks after launch, EA made its design intentions for Battlefield 6 clear with a proposed reduction to Conquest tickets, shortening the length of matches and speeding up their pace in doing so. After encountering community backlash from the change, EA reversed it; it also warned players that “on larger maps such as Mirak Valley and Firestorm, this change may lead to longer match durations.” A rather tone-deaf response, considering plenty of players prefer Conquest as a longer-length game mode.
This proposed change makes a little more sense when you factor in the game’s smaller 6v6 and 8v8 modes, which are the only new modes available in Season 1. It’s clear that Battlefield 6 is meant to give the franchise a shot in the arm, in order to more closely resemble its upcoming competitor–Call of Duty: Black Ops 7–with shorter matches and sweaty gameplay.
This is not to say that the new small-scale modes are bad. They’re fun in small doses, with short TTK (time-to-kill) and varied gadgets providing a layer of chaos to these slimmed-down maps. Quick match times and fast kills are a good way to get challenges done, and provide the kind of dopamine hit I generally prefer getting from other, non-Battlefield video games. Gadgets feels surprisingly balanced in these modes, considering that they're meant for use in much larger maps.
Taking all of this into account, it seems to me that Battlefield Studios is attempting to lend the franchise’s sandbox-y gameplay some structure. Smaller maps, fewer tickets, and narrow map boundaries keep players on the objective and in constant battle, consequently lowering the frequency of organic Battlefield moments. After all, things like rendezooks and C4 tricks only happen when players have a little too much freedom for improvisation on their hands.
Pivoting to a more focused multiplayer experience following the disastrous launch of Battlefield 2042 is certainly understandable, but Battlefield Studios has oversteered in the right direction here. These maps are solid–even if some of the capture points could use tweaking–and the new game modes show promise. If players had been given more room in the playground to make their own fun, Battlefield 6 could have been an all-time high for the franchise.
Still, a peak is a peak, and this remains some of the most fun I've had playing Battlefield in some time.
Battlefield 6 remains relentless fun, despite its faults
Questionable design choices aside, this is the most compelling Battlefield has been to me in a long time. I’ll defend Battlefield V to my last breath, but even I can’t argue that this is the most polished launch the series has enjoyed since Battlefield 1. The bevy of game modes, attachments, weapons, and class gadgets have kept me coming back day after day since launch, though I will admit–I still wind up playing Conquest more often than anything else.
There’s a solid level of destruction for players to have fun with here, giving Engineers more functionality on maps that lack vehicles to blow up. Are too many players camping in the buildings on capture points? Simply remove their cover by obliterating it utterly. Do you hear footsteps on the floor beneath you? A sledgehammer is an easy way to create a new stairwell anytime. While the buildings aren’t fully destructible, the mechanic sees a marked upgrade here from Battlefield 2042.
Gunplay feels fantastic here as well, with fantastic weapon audio and visual feedback giving the game’s arsenal of guns satisfying heft and impact. Extremely low TTK can limit the options players have at hand, however. When you go down so easily every match, it becomes less about which weapon feels better to use, and more about which weapon gets the job done quicker. Of course, the game’s attachment system also exists to customise weapons to your preference, but they can be slow to unlock and often only offer minimal upgrades.
Vehicles are off to a great start here, as well. Tanks and helicopters can dominate a match if they’re not dealt with quickly, though players are given plenty of tools to that end. A few of the maps are infantry-only, however, which can make Engineers nothing more than walking bombs to be thrown at buildings. I’m not against the idea of a map without tanks, but it does feel like there was an opportunity here to include different kinds of vehicles, rather than only offer players access to a jeep.
Battlefield 6's future will depend on its live-service finesse
In just three weeks, Battlefield Studios has shown that it’s quick to act on some of the game’s biggest issues. Finding newly-unlocked items is a little easier thanks to little dots which now highlight specific categories in the Loadouts menu, which is a small step in correcting the game’s needlessly labyrinthian menus. Unpredictable weapon dispersion and audio issues have also been fixed in the recent Season 1 drop, showing that the developer is listening to its community and making changes.
That’s a good sign, considering that the community is now louder than ever. Battlefield: REDSEC's sudden arrival reminds me of Call of Duty: Warzone dropping in the midst of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)’s content cycle. All of a sudden, the playerbase found itself torn between two similar video games, and grudges coalesced due to a perceived shift in development priority towards battle royale.
Battlefield 6 players resent REDSEC’s bigger map, fully-destructible buildings, and water-based zones, because the main game lack all of those elements as of right now. Its inclusion in Season 1 has also changed the game’s user experience, with new menu tabs and advertisements opening up to push players to buy the battle pass and play REDSEC. Even the game’s challenges now involve REDSEC, making the client feel like a Frankenstein’s Monster of sorts; a hodgepodge of two competing entities.
It’s a shame that the discourse around REDSEC’s in-game presentation has tainted opinions of the mode itself, however. I can only offer early impressions here, as the mode has only been out for a day, but it does hold a lot of promise. All in-game weapons feel adaptable thanks to a constant stream of pick-ups and attachments, and chasing after in-game missions for special drops feels fun and engaging. Even the game’s POIs–like one set in a shooting gallery–feel inspired for an otherwise grounded military shooter.
Verdict
Battlefield 6 has not had the most auspicious start to its live-service era of content updates. Season 1 has left players thoroughly divided over issues that seem more and more prominent with every passing week; namely the overly-restrictive maps and quicker pace of gameplay compared to previous Battlefield titles. The addition of a free-to-play battle royale mode in REDSEC, a battle pass, and an in-game cosmetics shop has not helped matters, either.
That being said, there is much that stands in this game’s favour. Battlefield Studios has been quick to make positive changes in the weeks leading up to Season 1 (Portal XP changes aside), and the base game already boasts an addictive loop of large-scale multiplayer chaos and weapon upgrades.
There’s room for improvement; in fact, more room than there might be in these maps.
Battlefield 6 is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC for US$69.99. We received a copy of the game for this review. This is a Multiplayer review; you can read our Campaign review here.
