I’m in a massive studio warehouse in Los Angeles, segmented into a dark maze lit mostly by low, orange lights and filled with an astounding amount of various technical equipment. I’m shepherded toward what at first appears to be a thrown-together theater. Rows of plastic chairs sit on the concrete floor in front of a huge screen emblazoned with the words Battlefield 6. When the presentation starts, the walls and ceiling light up, revealing themselves to be screens too.
Soon, I’m surrounded by digital facsimiles of Cairo, Gibraltar, Tajikistan, and Brooklyn. One by on,e they explode as jets scream overhead. Cars detonate, facades crumble, and buildings collapse. It’s clear that Battlefield Studios wants me to know that destruction is a central pillar of Battlefield 6‘s design. After actually playing Battlefield 6 for about seven hours, I’m pleased to report that the gameplay is well on its way to fulfilling its potential.
Battlefield Destruction Is Better Than Ever
Tactical Destruction
There’s a lot of talk about making Battlefield 6 the game fans have been asking for – revamped destruction included. I saw the same trailers you did at the BF6 multiplayer reveal livestream, and while they’re filled with a lot of the series’ signature “Battlefield Moments,” it’s obvious to anyone who’s played even a single installment that the footage is little more than a sizzle reel.
A phrase I heard a lot from Battlefield Studios folks was “tactical destruction.” Animations will vary between instances, but if you shoot a specific spot on a wall with an RPG, the hole you blast in it will be the same across BF6 matches. It’s a sort of organized chaos, letting you turn the map to rubble, but in predictable enough ways to be strategic.
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It’s an element that Battlefield fans (myself included) have been clamoring to have reintroduced in spades since 2010’s Bad Company 2. Combined with Battlefield 6‘s incredible sound design – another series staple – a firefight is an almost overwhelming cacophony. Guns clack, explosions boom, and rubble crashes.
At one point, I was alone with a single enemy on the floor above me, contesting the objective. Rather than dance around the staircase, I pulled out my grenade launcher and started blowing holes in the ceiling. Multiple times, the familiar groan of a building about to collapse triggered a flight response buried deep in my brain from Battlefields past, eliciting an exciting bit of nostalgia now draped in modern graphical fidelity.
Battlefield 6 Is A Spiritual Successor To BF3 & BF4, But Still New
Modern Combat For A Modern Audience
And therein lies the immediate appeal of Battlefield 6: it instantly feels like a return to form. Battlefield 6‘s maps are a good mix of claustrophobic streets and open-air mountain villages (at least in the limited map pool I had access to). It’s refreshing after the wide-open expanses of Battlefield 2042, and thanks to its combatants, dressed in modern military garb, there’s a clear thoroughline from BF3 and BF4.
Alongside embracing a greater degree of destruction, Battlefield 6 excels when it hones in on the series’ cornerstones. Conquest has long been a brilliant, simple game mode, and with BF6‘s map design, it shines once again. Breakthrough is in a similar boat – attacking and defending are both electric in their own way, providing a consistent, but gradually moving front.
The gameplay is largely familiar in the best way possible, but it’s cleverly hiding new locomotion mechanics Battlefield Studios are dubbing the Kinesthetic Combat System. Crouch sprint is back (and tactical sprint has been left behind), you can mount your weapon on any nearby wall or surface, and you can even grab onto the back of a tank to hitch a ride to the next objective.
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If you jump from a great height, crouching while you hit the ground will cause your character to roll, reducing fall damage. Perhaps the most consequential aspect of Battlefield 6‘s Kinesthetic Combat System, though, is being able to drag your teammates along the ground while simultaneously reviving them.
My biggest initial critique of Battlefield 6 is that it’s plainly not as interesting when playing smaller game modes like Squad Deathmatch and Domination. The latter, being more objective-centered, is slightly more structured, but both tend to devolve into more arcade gameplay that doesn’t promote Battlefield‘s signature squad play.
This is not, however, a new problem for Battlefield. Most entries include smaller game modes, which certainly have an audience, but generally don’t result in the coveted “Battlefield Moments.” There isn’t anything wrong with trying to cater to a wide audience, and that’s exactly what Battlefield 6 feels like it’s trying to do.
The Triumphant Return Of Battlefield Classes In BF6
Squad Up
A major component to Battlefield 6 recapturing the series’ halcyon days is the re-adoption of the classic class system. Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon return – the exact configuration BF4 used. After the rise and continued prominence of hero shooters, it’s refreshing to step back into the old archetypes, becoming little more than a faceless grunt on the frontline.
Battlefield 6 leans heavily into each class’ identity; they feel distinct and clearly excel in certain roles. I’m still not sold on open weapons (having every gun available to every class), but it won’t be clear if it’s an issue until more people have their hands on the game and a meta can arise.
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A new facet to the familiar classes is Field Specs, a subclass of sorts, or specialized training within BF6‘s fiction. The Assault class, for instance, can be a Frontliner with greater health regeneration, an extra adrenaline shot, and greater accuracy while moving, or it can spec into Grenadier to reload their grenade launcher faster, carry additional grenades, and tank flashbangs better.
The developers mentioned in a Q&A that these Field Specs would be essential to Battlefield 6‘s evolution post-launch, consistently adding more wrinkles to the class system. Playing with each class, it’s easy to see how this game is an almost complete reversion from BF2042, where smart squad play is once again a recipe for success.
Battlefield 6 Doesn’t Want To Just Be A Game, It Wants To Be A Platform
EA’s Ambitious Vision
While I genuinely enjoyed my seven hours with Battlefield 6, there are some conflicting feelings. I’ve played this game before – not literally, but it’s so similar to BF4 that it almost feels like an exceptionally safe game.
On the other hand, Battlefield 4 2 is all I’ve really wanted out of the series for years. But I think about the wealth of game modes, the promise of a “Battlefield universe,” and BF6’s clear positioning as a platform – not just a single game – and I wonder if EA is too ambitious.
After only a few short games, I grew tired of Squad Deathmatch and Domination. The upgraded Portal looks interesting, but will there be a community to support it? Is anyone looking for a new battle royale in 2025?
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Battlefield 6 is good – incredible even – when you’re playing the game modes you’ve been playing for many years: Conquest and Breakthrough. I have no doubt Rush will also shine, and Escalation has piqued my interest.
Escalation is teased as Conquest on a gradually shrinking map, eventually forcing the two teams to fight over just a couple objectives.
But Battlefield 6 wants to be everything, the next Fortnite. It wants to take Warzone’s players. It wants to fill the void left by Halo: Infinite’s too-late introduction of Forge.
The same four AAA studios tried the same strategy with Battlefield 2042, and it was perhaps the series’ most reviled entry ever. BF6 is by all accounts avoiding many of its predecessor’s pitfalls, but I have to question whether the top-down vision for Battlefield as a product isn’t flawed in some way.
I’m relieved that Battlefield 6 is good. From a base gameplay perspective, it feels like I remember BF3 and 4 feeling, and it’s wonderful to be back. Its new level of destructibility is exciting and tactically interesting, and the new movement system is very smooth. I just hope EA’s bold ambitions for Battlefield 6 don’t lead to an unnecessarily bloated game, because I don’t want this long-awaited return to form to be scuttled after a few short months.
Battlefield 6
- Developer(s)
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Battlefield Studios
- Engine
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Frostbite
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
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Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
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Unknown
