An official reveal for Battlefield 6 is just around the corner. And while there have been more than a few leaks already, there’s still plenty we don’t know about the next installment in DICE’s popular shooter series.
It seems almost certain that the game will have a modern-day/slightly futuristic setting and massive online matches between dozens of players is a given, this is Battlefield after all. But there are still plenty of features and improvements we’re hoping to see included.
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Thankfully we won’t have to wait too long to get a clearer idea of what Battlefield 6 will entail, the reveal is set for June and EA Play in July will almost certainly involve some form of gameplay presentation. Until then here are seven things we’re want to see from Battlefield 6.
More varied maps
A multiplayer shooter is only as good as its maps, and the Battlefield series is no exception. 2018’s Battlefield 5 was pretty disappointing in this area, so we’re hoping that Battlefield 6 will be a significant improvement.
Variety is the keyword here, we want maps set in densely packed urban cities for close-quarters combat, alongside sprawling biomes that are ideal for vehicles and long-range sniping. No two maps should play the same.
We’d love a global trotting approach as well, with each map being set in a visually distinct corner of the world rather than them all blending together somewhat. The return of a few fan-favorite arenas wouldn’t go amiss either, Operation Metro, Siege of Shanghai, and Dragon Valley would look fantastic remade for next-gen.
A cohesive single-player campaign
Given Battlefield 6 will be the first fresh Battlefield game on the new consoles, and likely the first to really look at harnessing new PC hardware, we’d like to see the return of a comprehensive campaign mode that can really showcase what new gaming hardware can do.
The last two Battlefield games have experimented with single-player campaigns comprised of War Stories. These separate vignettes allowed players to experience World War I and World War II from a variety of unique perspectives.
The format worked well for a historic global conflict with many sides. But for Battlefield 6 we’d like to see the return of a more structured campaign that takes the player from point A to point B while crafting a single narrative.
Sure, single player has never been the focus on the Battlefield franchise, but a leak suggesting the game would offer a “revolutionary” solo campaign has got us pretty excited — though another leaker has claimed the game will forgo a single-player component entirely, so these might wishes that don’t come true.
The return of levolution
Introduced in Battlefield 4, "levolution" might have sounded like nothing more than a gimmicky marketing word at first but it was a genuine game-changer in the end.
If you’ve not heard the term before, levolution refers to the dynamic events that happened on Battlefield 4’s maps which dramatically change the terrain. Think of the skyscraper falling in Siege of Shanghai or the storm in Flood Zone that causes half the map to sink underwater.
While these events did become a bit predictable after playing each map several times, they added a fresh twist to each battle and forced players to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. Subsequent Battlefield games have toned it down to just dynamic weather, and while that is still a pretty impressive feature we’d love to see levolution make a big comeback.
The power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X could surely allow for some truly impressive sequences.
120 fps mode for consoles
While running previous Battlefield games at high frame rates that can take advantage of displays with a 120Hz refresh rate or higher has been possible, it was the domain of PC gaming. But with the PS5 and Xbox Series X able to run games at a full 120 frames per second, albeit with some compromises, Battlefield 6 could bring such super-smooth first-person gaming to the new consoles.
DICE has always pushed the graphics side of the Battlefield games, and we’d expect it to do the same here. But given Battlefield 6 will be a cross-generation game, we’re hoping the developer will integrate a mode for the PS5 and Xbox Series X that can allow it to be run with fewer graphical bells and whistles but at a higher frame rate. That should enable it to work with TVs that support 120Hz refresh rates and pave the way for PC-like smoothness on a console.
Fewer game modes
It might seem odd to be requesting fewer game modes, but sometimes a less is more. Battlefield 5 especially had a big problem with throwing basically every type of game mode imaginable at players in the hopes something would stick.
While on the surface this extreme level of variety might have seemed like a positive. In reality, offering such a large quantity of game modes dramatically split the player base. Outside of the biggest game modes (conquest, rush, team deathmatch), you could often struggle to find a full lobby and instead would end up with half-empty matches that felt unsatisfying.
Reducing the number of game modes available at one time would focus the player base and ensure that every game was packed with players.
No Battle Royale
Unfortunately, this one feels like wishful thinking. DICE seems posed to have another crack at creating a Battle Royale mode/ But does anyone actually want Battlefield to take on Warzone?
Battlefield 5’s Firestorm arrived late on the scene and was ultimately an underwhelming experience. The outlook for a Battlefield 6 Battle Royale seems equally bleak. The genre is already dominated by well-established titans like Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Apex Legends. It’s a crowded market that doesn’t really have room for another player.
DICE spending time on a Battle Royale mode feels like a cynical attempt to chase a trend rather than because players are desperately calling for Battlefield to take another stab at the genre. We’d rather those resources were spent improving the game in other areas.
More vertical action
The promise of a modern day setting could mean battles among skyscrapers and other towering structures. But we’d like to be able to get into those structures and get up high in them. That would make for a more dynamic battlefield, with battle raging on the ground and between different floors of buildings. Snipers could pick off targets below, only for attack choppers to blast them out of their spots, yet get taken down in turn by a rocket fired from the spire of a modern-day church.
Combine that with destructible buildings, and you could have multiplayer maps and levels that feel new and exciting to play time and time again. Furthermore, if the near-future setting brings in something like a grappling hook or some form of basic jetpack, then the traversal of such environments could be perfect too.
