Battlefield 6 goes back to its roots, introducing an overhaul to the iconic mechanic that was at one point synonymous with the franchise—destructible environments.
From aggressively knocking on doors with your LMG, rearranging the wooden bits of furniture with your rifle, flattening street signs with personnel carriers, or even leveling entire buildings with your tanks—Battlefield 6 has it all!
The expansive-yet-dynamic maps can be played in multiple gamemodes: Conquest, Breakthrough, and Rush, offering the players ever shifting, ever destructible environments to fight their way through.
Don’t get us wrong, Battlefield has always held onto its proven and tested formula of dynamic map environments, changing as the game continues, offering a plethora of options to outmaneuver or outwit your foes.
But player consensus about the game mechanic over the years has been negative—criticizing the inconsistency of this otherwise core mechanic (as well as bugs) to the franchise, often citing Battlefield 3 as the start of its deterioration.
You might be wondering then: “When was this mechanic really introduced, and how was it received?”
Well, the first to do it was Battlefield 1942, released back in 2002, which was the first to feature destructible environments—albeit to a limited degree, offering a refreshing and action-packed FPS gameplay.
It was a breath of fresh air for players, already getting used to first person shooters like the sci-fi Halo games, grounded Medal of Honor, and fast-paced Counter Strike 1.6—all of which only had minimal to no degree of destruction in their setpieces.
Battlefield 1942 was different though—it made you feel like you were in a warzone, where everything is crumbling around you.
It was an adrenaline-pumping action shooter which demanded you to think on your feet, couple that with the iconic game mechanic and you were forced to be tactically conscious whenever you’re striking the enemy.
However, the entry that truly ‘elevated’ this game mechanic and took it to the next level was Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which was arguably a game-changer due to the degree of freedom that is left to the player, letting them level entire map environments if they so desire it.
Bad Company 2 was the previous mainline Battlefield game before BF 3, which came out over a year after (Bad Company 2 released 2010, with BF 3 releasing in 2011) the former’s release.
Suffice it to say, BF 3 was DICE’s attempt to tone down the ‘sandboxyness’ of the franchise, offering a more static map design and more solid structures for coverage during firefights compared to its predecessor.
Ever since then, this core game mechanic was largely toned down in subsequent entries to the franchise, the very thing that Battlefield 6 is planning to fully bring back.
Excitement in the upcoming game has been at an all-time high, with fans speculating that this might just be the next mainline game to not disappoint players upon launch, especially when in contrast to the disastrous release of Battlefield 2042, Hardline’s departure from the ‘Battlefield Formula, Battlefield V’s historical inaccuracy and cheater problem, and BF 4’s bugged plague release.
Many speculate that this might just be DICE’s way to make up for the disastrous release of 2042, BF 5’s outright rewriting of history, Hardline’s departure from the ‘Battlefield Formula’, and BF 4’s bug plagued release.
When compared to other recent AAA shooter releases, the game has already broken 2022’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s record of 490,000 concurrent players, as the Battlefield 6 Beta has recently surpassed 520,000 players.
Only having been released (again, in open beta) a few days ago, this is already a monumental achievement in and of itself.
If you enjoyed this deep dive into Battlefield 6’s return to its explosive roots, you might also like some of our other guides, including The Ultimate Guide to RTX on Call of Duty Warzone: Balancing Visuals and Performance, The Essential Warzone Proximity Chat Guide (BO6 Update), Warzone Private Matches: How to Host and Join, How to Reduce Recoil in Modern Warfare 2, and Best Perks for Warzone.
For more on Battlefield 6, check out the official Battlefield™ 6 Open Beta page, learn about the Open Beta end time and schedule for Week 2, or read IGN’s first impressions of the game.
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