“Bombastic” is an adjective you hear a lot in conjunction with first-person shooters, but it seems especially applicable to Battlefield 1, the upcoming FPS from Electronic Arts and DICE set in the midst of World War I. In the case of the latest gameplay trailer (above), “bombastic” seems pretty literal as well: mortars going off left, right, and center; mechanical monstrosities mowing down footsoldiers despite the fact you could probably outrun one of these turn-of-the-century tanks at a brisk walk. To hear the designers tell it, Battlefield 1 is more about communicating the terrifying newness of these technologies than replicating them spec-by-spec, and going off the action above, I’d say the dev team’s succeeding.
This trailer also showcases quite a bit of action in Battlefield 1‘s Sinai Desert map. One of the more interesting things the single-player campaign has promised is multiple protagonists to explore the many and varied fronts on which World War I was fought, and it was previously confirmed that the Bedouin woman showcased in the initial reveal trailer would be a playable character, though most of the action here seems to be from the perspective of European soldiers.
The Sinai Desert map is included in Battlefield 1‘s open beta, instances for which can support up to 64 simultaneous players. We expect to see more of the multiplayer in action at tomorrow’s livestream from the floor of Gamescom.
Battlefield 1 heads into open beta on August 31st for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC through EA’s distribution platform Origin. You can get in earlier by signing up at the game’s website. The complete game releases on October 21st.
