Mode

Some raw footage has leaked of a cinematic moment in Battlefield 6 (or Battlefield Now, or Battlefield Big War, or whatever Electronic Arts are planning to call their next western military interventionism sim). The video sees the player escaping from a collapsing dam at the last minute as bomber jets launch a payload at the big concrete waterstopper. The footage is silent, but you can insert the manly yells of “Go! Go! Go!” easily enough yourself. Perhaps more interestingly, the same leaker also provides evidence of a battle royale mode.

The footage was posted on social media by data miner “temporyal”, who has been going through the files of the Battlefield Labs playtest client, uncovering various details. It’s a very early block-out of what may become a more detailed escapade during a campaign mission, or perhaps the early workings of a trailer – who knows. Either way, there’s lots of greybox geometry, placeholder props, and unfinished animations. Kind of like watching theatre actors perform a rehearsal wearing their jogger bottoms, script in hand. But it does give you a sense of scale, and it’s a reminder that EA remain obsessed with big chunks of world infrastructure falling on top of people.

It’s not the only thing the leaker claims to have uncovered in their spelunk down the data mines. They’ve also posted images and blurbs which suggest there will be a battle royale mode. Battlefield V had a battle royale mode called “Firestorm” and Battlefield 2042 had a not-quite-battle-royale mode called “Hazard Zone”. I’m curious to see if they go trad royale with this one or add some sort of battlespice, if this mode does materialise.

There are also lore tidbits that could mean maps set in New York and Turkmenistan. As for the campaign, the miner is convinced we’ll see missions taking place in various countries “including Egypt, Tajikistan, the USA, and Gibraltar”.

But of course, all this comes deep from the guts of the game’s current playtesting client. There’s no guarantee such things will surface in the finished game. Bits of lore and other narrative text can be easily misinterpreted, and none of it is officially confirmed by EA, who have yet to reveal more details about the game. They are planning to show off a no doubt explodey trailer with more information sometime this summer, according to EA comms director Andy McNamara.

This isn’t the first leak of footage from the shooter. Following a call for playtesters early this year, some nine minutes of multiplayer footage showing the series’ long-running conquest mode were leaked from those playtests. There are tanks and drones and medics, oh my.

It is looking traditionally shooty so far. Battlefield 2042, the last game of the series, was not particularly well-received among fans of bigwar, many of whom complained that it was not fully polished on release, full of bugs and instabilities. In his review, our Ed called it “an FPS that doesn’t feel ready yet”. That’ll be why EA is going so hard on playtesting this one then.

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