Battlefield 2042: Escalation and A Second Chance, Reflections on a Remarkable Comeback A Year Later

“Having a second chance makes you want to work even harder.” –Tia Mowry

A year ago, Battlefield 2042 had been counted as a debacle and failure: the game was blemished by performance issues and bugs, a significant deviation from what had made earlier Battlefield titles successful, and the noticeable absence of essential features (such as a scoreboard, server browser and player statistics view). The community’s dissatisfaction with the game was tangible, and in the year that followed, DICE had been hard at work, adding back basic functions, addressing serious bugs and retouching the game to ensure it delivered an experience consistent with what their players desire. The end result is nothing short of remarkable and in fact, is a classic Battlefield story. When Battlefield 4 launched, the game was nigh-unplayable. Hit registration rarely worked, and players found themselves crashing out of matches. A year later, Battlefield 4 was unrecognisable thanks to the effort DICE invested into the game, and in time, Battlefield 4 would be celebrated as one of the best Battlefield titles ever made owing to its ambitious design and simultaneously delivering a good quantity of quality content. The same courtesy can be extended to Battlefield 2042, which has had a rough year marked by an incremental, but consistent improvement to the game overall. The game runs very well, and I have no trouble connecting to (and staying on) matches. The weapon and movement mechanics are excellent, while essentials like scoreboards and player statistics are now present. While the absence of a server browser is noticeable, the matchmaking works sufficiently well that I can get into servers I enjoy playing on without issue. Now that the core of Battlefield 2042 is stable and functional, the biggest ask, both from myself and others, is the inclusion of new content to ensure that the game consistently feels engaging. However, the content delivery in Battlefield 2042 is significantly reduced from that of its predecessors. Whereas updates previously would offer four maps and up to eight primary weapons for players to enjoy, Battlefield 2042‘s content comes out at a comparative trickle; each season has given players only two primary weapons, a new sidearm and one map. DICE prima facie continues to drop the ball with Battlefield 2042, but now that the game is in a much better place than it had been a year ago (in fact, the studio is suggesting that today’s Battlefield 2042 is the product that they wanted to launch with), it becomes easier to understand the reasoning behind Battlefield 2042‘s approach to post-launch content.

Whereas previous Battlefield titles pitted thirty-two players against one another in sixty-four player matches, Battlefield 2042 was originally intended to push the envelope and allow 128 players to fight simultaneously on a map. The larger scale in Battlefield 2042 means that maps must be designed to handle larger players, creating both open spaces for longer-range vehicular combat, as well as choke points and interior spaces for close-quarters chaos. Looking back at the maps the game had launched with, along with existing plans to rework maps into more engaging, fairer experiences, it becomes clear that every map in Battlefield 2042 was supposed to facilitate close, medium and long-range firefights by incorporating a mixture of open areas for vehicles, long sightlines for snipers, cluttered objectives for objective-oriented players and confined indoor spaces for frenzies favouring submachine guns and shotguns. However, the original maps had been rushed out, and this created scenarios where vehicles and snipers would dominate. The post-launch maps, on the other hand, have been carefully designed so that every play-style is viable. When Zero Hour’s Exposure was released, the combination of tunnels and open areas meant in a given match, one could switch from picking off targets at range to equipping a fast-firing automatic for helping one’s team to dislodge a persistent foe from the capture points embedded inside the mountain. The cavernous interior of Stranded’s container ship is well-suited for players with speedy reflexes, but outside, a good counter-sniper might be able to help break the chokehold the enemy team holds on the container ship by picking off any snipers camped out on the deck and create an opening for teammates to push into the ship’s interior. Here in the latest map, Spearhead, the large mega-factories dominating the map require players to steel themselves for frantic firefights, but the moment one steps outside, their mindset must immediately take into account the fact that one can be picked off at anytime by someone with a Rorsch MK-4 railgun. Applying these back to the original maps, it becomes clear that every map was intended to provide areas to fit different playstyles, and so, more care needed to be put into designing the maps so that different parts of the map benefit specific styles, in turn prompting players to mix things up and use different loadouts to be successful. Designing larger maps to accommodate various play-styles is an intensive effort and demands experimentation and finesse. Unlike earlier titles, where maps were designed for certain play-styles over another (for instance, Caspian Border is all about long-range combat, whereas Ziba Tower is purely for infantry-only fighting) and could be produced more quickly, more time must be spent on tuning Battlefield 2042‘s maps so they capture a large-scale battle where one can focus on specific tasks suited to their aims, whether it be clearing out buildings or providing long-range support for teammates.

Screenshots and Commentary

• The Spearhead map is the most noticeable addition to Battlefield 2042, being set in the Lapland region of Sweden. The greenery and mountains of the map stand in stark contrast with the high-tech factory, and in fact, the map has a similar aesthetic as Battlefield V‘s Iwo Jima map. One of the biggest advantages about Battlefield 2042 is that, since the story is quite loose, the game is able to take players all over the world. I would love to see a map set in a rural town in Japan.

• Because these days, I can’t invest as much time into playing multiplayer games to the same extent that I did previously, my general strategy is to level up a given season until I have all of the weapons unlocked, and then switch my focus over to something else. However, while the last season was running, I did spend a bit of extra time running around trying to unlock the high-powered laser sights, which are unlocked by scoring hip-fire kills. The M5A3 was the first weapon I unlocked the new laser for, and it’s a blue beam that is much more visible in a bright environment.

• The mix of indoor and outdoor combat in Spearhead means that the worth of having a +-system becomes apparent. I typically have it so that by default, a weapon is kitted out so that it is performant for its intended range and purpose, and then the additional attachments can specialise a weapon for different ranges or use-cases. While the system had felt extraneous early on, it is invaluable here in Battlefield 2042 because players can rapidly adapt to different circumstances without returning to the spawn screen.

• The +-system and versatile map design complement one another; in fact, Battlefield 2042‘s design philosophy (irrespective of how successful the execution was) appears to take after some of Battlefield‘s best maps, which allow for a variety of play-styles to be successful. The best example of this is Battlefield 1‘s Nivelle Nights, which incorporated features that create a rock-paper-scissors balance between the different classes. In Nivelle Nights, players geared for close quarters were vulnerable to snipers, but snipers would themselves be weak against vehicles that could cross open areas with impunity. If vehicles were careless and roamed too close to the trenches, assault players could wreck them with dynamite or AT grenades.

• In this way, every class would have a role to play. Battlefield 2042 had originally done away with the class system, and with every specialist able to swap between a wide range of weapons and equipment, the game felt more chaotic. However, DICE is planning on constraining the specialist to classes: equipment is to become class-specific, and each class will have bonus proficiencies with certain weapon types, which make them more attractive for a given class. While these changes reduce the versatility of any individual player and bring back the emphasis on team play, the +-system would still allow one to adapt to situations.

• Having played Spearhead nearly exclusively since the third season started, I have noticed that adverse weather events have become significantly rarer, and in fact, I only encountered inclement weather once while playing on the map. While tornados and dust devils were marketted as a gimmick like Levolution and Behemoths, they end up being an irregular distraction with no meaningful contribution to gameplay. Conversely, the addition of changing weather and lighting conditions could potentially alter the way players move about the map. Things like heavy rainfall, sandstorms and blizzards would actually be a valuable addition, forcing players to change tactics.

• Using lighting and visibility would prompt the inclusion of thermal or IRNV optics, which had been present in earlier Battlefield titles and allowed players to handle adverse conditions accordingly. These attachments were balanced by the fact that under bright conditions, they rendered the sights useless, so one had to choose their loadout accordingly. Since Battlefield 2042 lets players to switch some attachments freely, the concern is that one could mitigate limitations of thermal and IRNV optics by switching them out. However, the game could balance this by disabling those optics by means of EMP and hacking, and forcing players to use the +-system to swap out (or endure a non-functional optic) would become a tactical decision.

• Of course, there is a great deal of content and possibility that could be added to Battlefield 2042 to deepen the gameplay and increase the skill ceiling. However, I’ve learnt that it’s probably better if expectations aren’t too high for Battlefield 2042 – Battlefield V had begun turning around in a big way a year after its launch, and following the Pacific Theatre update, it did feel as though Battlefield V could’ve turned into an engaging and successful title like its predecessors. Instead, support was dropped for the game six months later, and content like Normandy, Stalingrad and the Battle of Berlin never materialised.

• Battlefield 2042 is making a comeback at present, and while DICE has committed to at least two more seasons of content, the future of the game remains uncertain, since poor initial impressions have led Battlefield 2042 to underperform in terms of sales. In such a scenario, DICE’s best move is, rather than attempting to pivot and work on a new Battlefield title, continue to provide support for Battlefield 2042 by providing new content and fixes for at least two more years. This would allow the game to regain the players’ confidence and give DICE the feedback they need on what makes a Battlefield game successful.

• The new specialist, Zain, is a pleasant addition to the roster. His passive ability is immediate regeneration after every kill, and he gains access to the XM370A airburst grenade launcher. I’ve never been too successful with the XM25 in Battlefield 4, so here in Battlefield 2042, I’ve only used the XM370A only to complete one of the weekly assignments. However, the passive ability is immensely helpful and reminds me of one of the perks associated with the Hunter’s Fury gear-set in The Division 2: if one has at least three pieces equipped, every kill fully restores health and a fifth of one’s armour.

• For me, this ability makes Zain the most capable of the assault-class specialists, and looking back, it does feel as though the specialists in Battlefield 2042 are an extension of the archetypes that were proposed for Battlefield V. I had actually been excited about this, since it allowed a class to be more focused on a specific role. For instance, a field surgeon would have an affinity for revives, while the combat medic would be armed with close-range weapons and stick with teammates to rapidly heal them. This would allow players to tune a class to best fit their playstyle.

• Here, I help with the capture of the buildings at the capture point closest to the Russian deployment. For the most part, Spearhead is a symmetrical map, with the Russian’s closest capture point being inside a massive factory. The capture point closest to the American spawn, on the other hand, is out in the open. While on paper, this should create problems, in practise, the map is superbly balanced, and I’ve had no trouble performing as a member of either team. The cavernous interiors of the factories actually offer side passages, so rather than rushing in the entrances, one can rappel up to a small passage and sneak in to the main area without being seen.

• I have found people camping here before, and while I was surprised, I’ve had no trouble dealing with them. I can imagine that inside the warehouse’s walls, one might be waiting for their health to regenerate before pressing the attack; camping in here would be remarkably dull, since on the occasions I make my way into these areas, it’s usually quite quiet. Owing to the intensity of some matches, I did find it helpful to pick the SFAR-M GL and its drum magazine, allowing me to mow through opponents in chokepoints.

• The tops of the warehouses have sloped edges that make them difficult to keep one’s footing on, and the rooftops themselves have no other structures. Any snipers camping up here would be vulnerable to helicopters and jets. Altogether, this makes the rooftops a punishing place for a sniper who wishes to camp here for a whole match. However, if one’s aims are simply to score a few kills and then move on, being up here can confer an advantage. The key is knowing when to move on: after a few kills, other players will grow wise to one’s act, and a transport or attack helicopter can bring one’s killstreak to a quick close.

• The Rorsch MK-4 railgun is easily my favourite addition to Battlefield 2042: this utility weapon is an evolution of Battlefield 4‘s Rorsch MK-1 and fires projectiles at hypersonic velocities. Like its predecessor, it still needs to charge, but instead of a single, large slug, the weapon now has a twenty-round magazine firing smaller armour-piercing rounds. Although less damaging than the MK-1, the MK-4 compensates by allowing players to easily change out the capacitors, which allows the weapon to sustain automatic fire at expense to the damage each individual round does.

• In its base sniper configuration, the Rorsch MK-4 is a one-hit headshot kill, and coupled with the weapon’s ludicrous projectile velocity and relatively quick rate of fire, it is a superb makeshift sniper rifle, capable of picking off entire squads at range if one’s aim is sure. The weapon does have a charge time, so one must actively track their target, and while the default optics are less suitable for long-range engagements, one can unlock the 6x optics for the railgun, turning it into a weapon that can go toe-to-toe with the DRX-1.

• At close ranges, the Rorsch MK-4 is surprisingly effective, and initially, since I was having trouble with timing my shots, I decided to switch over to the automatic mode and use it as a close range weapon. This actually proved quite fun: while the need to charge the weapon means it’s not the best choice if one’s dealing with foes who know they’re coming, if one can catch their opponents off guard, a single magazine can allow for one to rapidly defeat two or three opponents before needing a reload. Besides a semi-automatic capacitor and automatic capacitor, the weapon also comes with a burst capacitor.

• Owing to its adaptability, the Rorsch MK-4 has rapidly become my favourite weapon in Battlefield 2042: while it’s not easy to use initially, once one becomes familiar with the weapon, it is a highly potent tool that gives one options at almost any range. One can trade with snipers and rapidly switch back over to automatic or burst fire to deal with threats at close range: the capacitor and magazines are independent attachments, so the quick-swap between different capacitors doesn’t require a reload, and this renders the weapon obscenely powerful.

• During one match, I spawned into a Bolte and used it to score a roadkill as I was driving between capture points. Vehicles go almost immediately in Battlefield 2042, and in most matches, I don’t have an opportunity to operate a tank or helicopter. However, where the chance arises, I do occasionally hop in to an active vehicle as a secondary gunner. Kills scored as a gunner still count towards progression, so this is a good way to both provide support for a driver, and pad one’s KDR in a given match. While I tend not to worry about KDR, my own KDR is slowly increasing over time, and I admit that it is a pleasant feeling to know that I am improving gradually in Battlefield 2042.

• The Rorsch MK-4 is so effective, one wonders if DICE will rebalance the weapon in a later update. The biggest benefits about the weapon in its current form is that it has a very short charge time and a large capacity. In conjunction with the absence of any projectile drop and a near-instantaneous projectile velocity, the weapon is extremely difficult to counter. One potential fix is to increase the charge time for the single fire mode: reducing the projectile velocity would go against the weapon’s function as a railgun. Beyond this, the weapon is reasonably well-balanced.

• Adding a railgun fundamentally changes the way Battlefield 2042 handles; besides being an effective tool for medium to long ranges, the Rorsch MK-4 is moderately effective against vehicles. While only dealing chip damage, the weapon can be used to interrupt repair cycles and giving teammates with dedicated anti-vehicle weapons or friendly vehicles a better chance of taking one out. Here, I will go on a brief tangent: the observant reader may have noticed that #TheJCS has not been discussed for some time, since my last showcase back in September.

• As it turns out, Jon’s Creator Showcase is being decommissioned – although it’s had a fantastic run and has allowed for various parts of the community to gain some well-deserved exposure, the combination of declining interest and the workload hosts take up has meant that the time had come to retire the initiative. I’ve certainly had fun hosting, since it’s given me a chance to see blogs of all sorts, as well as other creative pursuits amongst members of the community. However, I also can attest to how much effort these posts take to put together.

• Back in Battlefield 2042, I use the XM370A to score a lucky triple kill on three foes clustered together. While some Battlefield veterans had expressed concern that the XM370A and its airburst rounds could be abused, so far, I’ve found that most players don’t run with the gadget with any frequency. In fact, I’ve been felled by the Rorsch MK-4 with a greater frequency: although the XM370A is great for flushing targets from behind cover out, it takes a bit of skill to quickly get the weapon set up so it can be effective.

• While I had unlocked the Avancys LMG (modelled after the FN EVOLVYS) during the last season, I never had the chance to utilise it early on. This light machine gun is a fun weapon to wield, being easier to control than the PKP-BP, but slightly less accurate than the LCMG. At the onset, the Avancys was counted as being overpowered, handling more similarly to an assault rifle with a 100-round belt in place of a box magazine. By the time I got around to using it in a live match, the Avancys has been balanced by increasing its recoil slightly.

• In practise, the Avancys is a reliable weapon that feels more consistent than the PKP-BP. Throughout most of my experiences, I’ve chosen to stick with the base Battlefield 2042 era weapons: to help bolster the amount of content in the game, DICE had begun to import weapons from Battlefield: Portal over, and while these weapons bump the primary weapon count up, these weapons are also less suited for the gameplay style with Battlefield 2042‘s larger maps. They are unlocked by completing assignments, but once active, all of their attachments are already available to players for use.

• DICE’s efforts in the past year has meant that Battlefield 2042 has improved dramatically, to the point where it is a fun game to play. The main game is consistent now; between the new content and reworks to both maps and specialists, Battlefield 2042 is engaging. However, this has meant that Portal has been left behind. I had originally hoped that a few more maps would be added, along with a few more iconic weapons from Battlefield 3, Bad Company 2 and 1942. Similarly, Hazard Zone had been ditched: although it was meant to handle similarly to Modern Warfare II‘S DMZ mode, support for it was dropped after the community expressed disinterest in things.

• Dropping Hazard Zone and focusing on Battlefield 2042 appears to have paid off, and this game really feels like it’s found its footing now. Here, I use the Rorsch MK-4 to destroy a tank, scoring a double kill in the process. This railgun is capable of dealing some damage to vehicles, and thanks to a combination of a larger magazine size and relatively fast firing rate, a skilled player can utilise it to impede and trouble vehicles. Having utilised the Rorsch MK-4 to destroy several vehicles, I conclude that this weapon is significantly more effective than the NTW-50, both for general usage and against vehicles.

• Although I only have access to a 4x optic right now, I’ve managed to land headshots and kills from fair distances. During one match, I spawned on the roof of the factory at point Charlie and capitalised on the moment to pick off targets from afar. I had the spot to myself for over five minutes, and managed to score enough points to complete one of the weekly assignments (twelve kills in a round) with relative ease. However, after a teammate decided to do the same and occupied the corner slot, we came under fire since their sniper rifle’s glint gave us away. I ducked away, they were sniped, and I decided to revive them before leaving the rooftops.

• This past weekend, a double XP event has been going in conjunction with a free weekend for players. This coincides with another Friday off, giving me a bit of time to get in on the fun, and thanks to the accelerated progression rate, I was able to unlock both the throwing knives and the EMKV90-TOR, a new tank tank armed with a railgun. I’ve yet to try the new tank out in a live match, since armour always gets taken immediately, but on the other hand, the throwing knives have been remarkably entertaining. With the latest season, it is clear that DICE’s additions to Battlefield 2042 have made it a significantly more enjoyable game.

• To wrap this post off, I’ll conclude with me scoring my first kill with the throwing knives. In the frenzy of combat, I have found that the throwing knives can be used to score headshots, and while YouTube videos suggest this weapon is meant to be used for kicks, they are surprisingly effective. I managed to score a triple kill with them before dying on one occasion, and having now had a fair experience of the new content, I can say that a year since its launch, Battlefield 2042 does (against prevailing sentiment on Reddit and Twitter) deserve a second chance. We’re now into December, and this month, aside from the scheduled posts for Yama no Susume: Next Summit‘s remaining quarter, I have a few special topics posts in mind.

Similarly, because the larger maps meant players would often go from a long-range scenario into a close-quarters scenario as the dynamic in a match changed, the weapons in Battlefield 2042 were designed to be more versatile from the start. The starting assault rifle, the M5A3, can be equipped with an M11 6x optic and high-powered rounds, turning it into a makeshift marksman rifle. If one suddenly finds themselves running into a building from an open field, that same M5A3 can now be reconfigured on the fly to become an impromptu personal defense weapon that hipfires almost as well as a submachine gun. This is most apparent with the Rorsch MK-4 railgun: a successor to the MK-1 from Battlefield 4, the Rorsch MK-4 initially comes with a capacitor for semi-automatic shots that are individually damaging. In a pinch, one can equip a capacity designed to fire the weapon automatically. The weapon and map design in Battlefield 2042 both speak to versatility, and in allowing players with more options at the individual level, the game has less content overall to ensure that different combinations work well without disrupting balance, since variability with the options players have to them also need to be considered. The Rorsch MK-4 railgun is an example of this: at present, it is capable of keeping one alive at close quarters, but at long ranges, the lack of projectile drop and a high muzzle velocity, coupled with a large magazine size and relatively fast fire rate, allows it to become a high-accuracy semi-automatic weapon that can destroy entire squads at range, whereas a bolt-action rifle’s long chambering time wouldn’t allow the same. This difference is what I imagine some players are citing as being a detriment to the game: while it is true we’re getting fewer maps, vehicles and weapons in terms of numbers, the content we are getting fulfils more roles than one. Because Battlefield 2042 is now in a stable state, and with improvements being made constantly, the reasoning behind the game’s design choices become clearer: Battlefield 2042 does represent a different way to play the game, and having now seen how far the game has come, as well as where it’s headed, I am of the mind that giving Battlefield 2042 a second chance is a fair ask.