A whole tank-load of Battlefield 1 information has been released, thanks to YouTuber jackfrags. Jackfrags was lucky enough to be able to attend the Battlefield 1 reveal event, and released information he got from a behind-closed-doors session.
Much of what jackfrags had to say deals with gameplay in Battlefield 1. Right away, he confirms four or five locations in the game, including the Alps, French villages, Italian mountains, the forests of Argonne and the deserts of either Africa or the Middle East.
As for multiplayer classes, the four detailed were Assault, Medic, Support and Scout. The Assault class will be the guys typically using sub-machine guns, anti-tank grenades and potentially shotguns. As jackfrags mentions in the video, we do get a glimpse of the M1917 Shotgun, so expect that to get used at some point.
For the medics, they obviously come equipped with medical supplies to heal allies. Instead of the common defibrillator found in Battlefield 4, it seems medics in Battlefield 1 will use large syringes to revive fallen soldiers. These troops will also likely use semi-auto rifles.
Support classes will be the heavy hitters. This class comes with light machine guns, can repair vehicles and can supply allies with additional ammo. Lastly, the Scout is the sniper of the group, utilizing early incarnations of optical sights to aim better at longer distances.
Melee weapons will play a larger role than ever before in Battlefield 1, with players getting put face-to-face much sooner and more frequently than in previous Battlefield games. These new melee weapons include a spiked trench mace, swords, bayonets (which can be used to charge at enemies as well) and shovels. Instead of C4, players will have access to sticks of dynamite. This dynamite will be able to blow up on command when the user pushes down a plunger.
Vehicles are always important to a Battlefield game and Battlefield 1 will have all sorts of new things to pilot. There are going to be biplanes and triplanes, the latter of which was made famous by The Red Baron. Two-seater planes have been confirmed with one player acting as a gunner while the other flies. Behind closed doors, bombers were also confirmed, with a second player in a plane dropping bombs down onto the battlefield.
As for tanks, the trailer showed off a Mark IV, an A7V Sturmpanzerwagen, a Renault FT-17 and even a Vickers Crossley Armored Car Model 25. On the livestream, it was confirmed a squad of five players will all be able to get into certain tanks, so expect there to be multiple roles inside a tank including driver, bomber and gunner. The different tanks will all handle differently, have different weapons and will require more attention to drive than ever before.
The trailer shows off zeppelins, an armored train and battleships out in the ocean as well. DICE didn’t mention these vehicles during the behind-closed-doors session, so it’s still unknown if players will be able to command these vehicles. They may simply be scripted events on levels.
More level destruction will be found in Battlefield 1 than in any previous Battlefield, but there’s a move away from scripted events towards more natural ones. This means there will be no Levolution-type system previous games have featured.
What’s Coming in the Beta
Looking at the information we know now, we can start to guess what will show up in the Battlefield 1 beta when it goes live in a few months. Based on previous betas for DICE games, it’s probable we will only get one or two maps to play on at first. The forests map looks to be coming along well based on the trailer, so that will likely be among the earliest available.
As for weapons and vehicles, most should be included during the beta. Some higher-end weapons could be locked away behind a leveling system, similar to how Star Wars Battlefront did it, but a wide range of options will be included. Most vehicles should also be included as well, seeing as how DICE will want to test those out in the beta period.
Game modes will probably be limited to one or two different options, though one is all but guaranteed to include a large-scale battle mode. This mode will be the one to play if you want to try out the new tanks, planes and crazy weapons.
Again, what’s coming in the beta is all a guess as of right now based on how DICE has released games in the past. Don’t take this as confirmed fact.
So what do you think? Are you excited to try out the latest Battlefield game when it is released on Oct. 21? Will you get the special edition to start playing on Oct. 18? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
