Battlefield 6’s first open weekend has ended. As the world waits for the Battlefield 6 Open Beta to reopen on Thursday, Darragh Harbinson records his experience with the game and what to look forward to in Open Beta Weekend #2.
Jumping into Early Access on August 7, I had a hard shell of scepticism surrounding my expectations. Of course, I had seen Battlefield 6’s esports-style Multiplayer Launch Event and knew that most esports pros and content creators had a positive experience, but after seeing so many ugly launches, especially for Unreal Engine 5 games, I managed my expectations.
“It’s only a Beta. There will be lots to fix. That’s the whole point of the exercise.”
Over the next four days of playing roughly 30 hours of the Early Access and then Open Beta, that scepticism had melted away. In fact, I had to remind myself on multiple occasions that it was even in Beta, because I wasn’t thinking about the issues devs had to solve, I was simply enjoying playing one of the most anticipated games in a generation.
It seems I was not alone, as the Beta peaked at 521,079 players on Saturday evening according to Steam’s data, but can the game sustain its audience once it releases?
Jumping into Battlefield 6: First impressions
Upon launching the game, I was greeted with a queue of about 143,000 players. Of course, I’ve experienced similar queues in the past during WoW expansion, Overwatch, or Halo launches. My instant assumption was that I would be waiting hours to play, as developers rarely invest in servers they know won’t be as full in mere days.
To my shock, the queue was quickly eaten away, and I was on the main menu about 25 minutes later.
Keen to jump in immediately, I queued up Conquest and was in a game in seconds. What greeted me was, I assumed, the experience of many players. Plonked into an already in action warzone, I ducked for cover as jets scrambled overhead. The sounds of nearby explosions ripped through the objective point’s cover. The sound design instantly stood out as hugely immersive.
The immersive nature of the game makes those moments, where RPGs fly close overhead, destroying a neighbouring building, all the more cinematic and visually impressive.
Over the next 30 minutes or so, I ran about like a headless chicken, often actually getting my head removed as I got to grips with my starting rifle’s unforgiving spray control. Explosions whizzed around me, I cluelessly ran in front of a tank a few times, and my teammate drove our jeep out of bounds.
It was frenetic and fun, and a little bit goofy. It instantly felt like Battlefield.
Glitches and bugs
That is not to say there are no issues, far from it. Playing the Beta, you’re sure to run into a few sources of frustration in the form of bugs or glitches. You may spawn inside another object, you may get stuck on a random piece of geometry on the map, you may try to get off of a turret, only to find that you can’t get off of it, no matter how many times you press or hold E, as the enemy horde descends upon your helpless, stuck character.
You may find that if you run over a rock or a kerb that you will randomly be propelled a few feet into the air, making you a vulnerable target and inaccurate if you want to shoot back.
My personal favourite issue is when you die in a similar situation. Running over a kerb, you get killed by an enemy, and the game simply keeps propelling your ragdoll 20 feet into the air, as if you have just fought a giant as a level 1 character in Skyrim. A fun bug, but hopefully it doesn’t make it to release.
One seemingly prevalent issue in the Beta is people not being able to see their own weapons or arms. Though I never experienced it, it’s fair to say that it’s a major issue, but it’s that kind of issue I expected to come across more: game-breaking bugs that players would have to put up with because, after all, it’s a Beta.
In my experience, Battlefield 6’s Beta has been one of the most polished experiences at this stage of development that I can remember. In an era where everything feels broken at launch, it felt like a breath of fresh air. Still, the standards at launch must be higher, at the very least everyone should have arms, otherwise the game isn’t very balanced.
Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield 6 in contrast
Battlefield 2042’s infamous launch seems to have focused heads at EA DICE, as Battlefield 6’s Open Beta was a fairly smooth experience despite the hundreds of thousands of people logging in to the game.
Additionally, the game seems to be running relatively smoothly for those with modern systems. Barring a reported issue where EA’s overlay being turned off halved FPS. Some players have criticised EA’s Javelin anti-cheat, as the anti-cheat required some users to modify their Bios to enable Secure Boot. In some instances, the errors have occured where the anti-cheat has interacted with other similar systems, such as Riot’s Vanguard AC.
There has been some resistance to the kernel-level Anti-Cheat due to its invasive nature, despite EA detecting 330,000 attempts to cheat or tamper with the game in the first 24 of the game’s Early Access launch.
As for me, I played the game at 4K, with optimised settings and had only a few issues. There were, at times, stutters where my character could not turn for a brief moment before control was restored. This seemed network rather than performance-related. Only in one instance was there an ill-timed stutter that intersected with a duel in the game, giving me no chance in the fight.
Otherwise, I rarely thought about settings, which is something I was not expecting from this high-fidelity game in Beta. The overall experience was that you could simply focus on your crosshair and have fun playing the game.
That’s something that will have to be smoothed out in the main game, if BF6 wants to keep its players happy, as those instances can add up over hundreds of hours, but for now, it’s a good starting state with almost two months remaining until launch on October 10.
Despite that, Battlefield 6 already seems in a better place than Battlefield 2042’s launch. If the official launch is as smooth, then BF6 can start with a strong playerbase and take it from there.
Does Battlefield 6 have staying power?
While Battlefield 6 is a surprisingly adept Beta experience, does it have the lasting power to maintain a player base after launch? After 30 hours, and not so much being a headless chicken anymore, I believe it can if it plays its cards right.
First of all, the core game is fun, if a bit simplistic. Battlefield 6’s mission statement was a more stripped-down experience, reminiscent of Battlefield 3 and 4. That has its drawbacks, but also brings huge benefits. You will never die not understanding how or why. There is nothing an opposing player can do to you without you being able to do it back, even when you have nothing unlocked.
Getting sniped too much? Snipe them back. Medics not reviving your team? Be the medic you want to see in the world. Tanks are bullying you? Equip that RPG and get to town. The loop of needing and finding solutions is fun and engaging, so long as you make the effort to meet the game halfway and not perma-lock your favourite class and loadout.
Experimentation with classes is especially rewarding and satisfying in the Class-Locked mode, which restricts loadout options to class-specific weapons.
Additionally, unlocking new guns and new stuff for your guns is genuinely an enjoyable gameplay loop. Trying out new attachments, seeing how they feel in-game, and finding the setup that suits your playstyle is its own reward.
The changes to the guns are subtle on their own, but put them together, and you have turned your hard-to-handle weapon into a laser beam. Once you get there, you go into fights full of confidence that you’ll nail the opponent. The loop of unlocking something and trying it out is so fun to me that I was actively disappointed when I maxed out my favourite weapons’ XP.
In terms of the game modes, there is variety to be found. From the close-range run and gunning of King of the Hill, to the large-scale battles with long-ranged sniper fights of Conquest or Breakthrough, you’ll probably find something you like.
How your team performs is always going to be an issue in the franchise. While Battlefield’s large-scale battles benefit from any one individual player not being too under pressure to perform, the team as a whole underperforming can be unfun.
Playing Breakthrough and seeing that your team is pinned down by 10 snipers on the hills can be deflating if you can’t individually force something. Repeated experiences of that nature can put players off. Balancing, of course, should never make bad players good, but maximising the chances that players can get some enjoyment from bad games may be necessary to keep up community spirits.
In my experience, there is almost always something fun to do in a game even when your team is struggling, but whether there is enough variety in the stripped-down gameplay to sustain months of play remains to be seen. 30 hours in, I’m still improving every aspect of how I play situations and classes, and I’m still playing with loadouts. Once that process plateaus, will the game seem too shallow?
Does BF6 need more content to survive?
The main complaint I have seen on social media regarding the Beta is that it had only three maps and that they feel they have become somewhat stale.
Now, I would encourage those complaining to have perspective. Three maps is a healthy portion of the main game, which has nine maps at launch. I have seen similar betas with only one map, where that map has been less polished than the three featured in BF6’s Open Beta.
The next phase of the Open Beta will have one more map, Empire State, to freshen things up, as well as two additional modes in Rush and Squad Deathmatch.
Yet the point still stands, people do become bored with content after a while. The community has now had access to a third of the map pool, and about half its modes. If that third is stale, will it only take a few weeks for most to grind through the content and find themselves dissatisfied?
Whether DICE can keep up with the demand for new shiny things will likely determine whether players remain engaged. On top of that, can DICE maintain the quality and polish of that content? They will have to in order to maintain the bump in reputation this Beta and Battlefield 6 are giving to their reputation after 2042’s struggles.
EA DICE will also have to create that new content with restrictions of their own making. Battlefield 6’s team have repeatedly noted the need to keep the game grounded, gritty and in the mud, limiting the kind of content they can add to the war-sim.
Speaking with DBLTAP, BF6’s Design Director, Shashank Uchil, stated that BF6’s skins had “to be grounded. That is what Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 was; it was all soldiers, on the ground”, adding, “I don’t think it needs Nicki Minaj.“
The statement was a reference to Nicki Minaj’s Operator Bundle featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II & III. While Battlefield players certainly don’t want that, the reality is that games like Fortnite, Call of Duty and so on can sustain a pipeline of content and relevance by releasing (often outlandish) crossover content that garners attention.
BF6 will have to make sure its content is core to its identity, which will be more difficult than Fortnite’s ability to simply add Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Naruto, Harry Potter, Kratos, Power Rangers, Master Chief, Godzilla, Spider-Man, or Ariana Grande to the game.
When is the next Battlefield 6 Open Beta weekend?
The next Battlefield 6 Open Beta weekend runs August 14-17. Starting on Thursday and ending on Sunday, players will be able to play the game for the four-day period.
Originally planned as August 16-17, it seems DICE extended the Open Beta. It gives players without early access the same four days in a row that those with Early Access have enjoyed this week.
As noted above, the second Open Beta weekend will include Empire State, BF6’s New York-themed map, as well as adding game modes Rush and Squad Deathmatch.
While Battlefield 6’s long-term success is far from guaranteed, the Open Beta has justified the hype surrounding the game for now. Additionally its unique marketing strategy, involving Twitch dropping Early Access codes, brought a huge amount of players willing to give the game a try during the beta period.
EA DICE have to make the most of their first real win in a while after languishing for so long in the wilderness. Black Ops 7 will have its release trailer almost immediately after the Beta closes on August 19. EA DICE they must make good on the game’s promise for the October 10 launch to prevent those eyes from being turned once again to Treyarch’s titanic franchise.
Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
