After successfully moving the series back in time to World War I with 2016’s Battlefield 1, Electronic Arts and DICE are once again tackling World War II in Battlefield V. The game builds on the tremendous foundation left by its predecessor, offering a wide variety of modes, locations, and weapons to deliver one of the most full-featured shooters on the market.
Here is everything we know about Battlefield V, including information on the campaign, competitive multiplayer, and new battle royale mode.
Campaign
Battlefield 1 took a unique approach to the single-player campaign, dividing the mode into several “War Stories” that took us through emotional and lesser-known moments during the Great War. This mode returns in Battlefield V, which once again aims to show elements of World War II that you haven’t seen in other games. There will be five of them this time around, each focusing on a different combatant during the way.
Among the most unique of these is Nordlys, which stars a young female resistance fighter in Norway during the German occupation in 1943. Other settings include the North African desert, where you’ll play as a British criminal, and France, where you’ll play as Senegalese fighters. A post-launch final episode, The Last Tiger, will actually take place from the perspective of a German Tiger tank crew in the last days of the war. The group will apparently question the Nazi ideology that brought them into the war. The Last Tiger released December 5 as part of the game’s first major update.
If the structure of the War Stories in Battlefield V is similar to the previous game, they are more open-ended than a typical single-player shooter mission. You’ll still complete objectives in a similar manner to the multiplayer mode, but with an ongoing narrative to tie it all together.
Want to know more? Check our Battlefield V: War Stories hands-on.
Multiplayer
As with all Battlefield games, the main focus of Battlefield V is competitive multiplayer, and there are a ton of different options and modes in this year’s game, as well as enough classes to suit nearly any play style. Eigh maps are available at launch, and unlike past games, there will not be a season pass. Instead, all post-launch maps will be released completely free to all players.
There will also not be micro-transactions that impact gameplay. Taking a hint from the feedback receiving for Star Wars: Battlefront II at launch, Dice has chosen to only allow you to buy cosmetic items with premium currency. Called “Battlefield Currency,” it will be introduced shortly after launch and will serve as a counterpart to Company Coin.
The latter currency is acquired just by playing the game, and it’s this currency that is used to purchase weapon and vehicle specializations, as well as cosmetic items. Dice stressed that real money “should not enable pay-to-win,” and this factored into its decision this time around.
Modes
Classic Battlefield modes like Conquest, Domination, and Team Deathmatch return in Battlefield V, and they’re joined by a number of other options for anyone looking to switch up the action.
Breakthrough is sort of the Battlefield V approach to the Rush mode we’ve seen in other games, with the map divided into multiple sectors that the attacking team attempts to capture as the defending team holds them back. An actual honest-to-goodness Rush will come between January and March of 2019, as will Squad Conquest.
A few modes are also included in the large-scale Grand Operations component, which pits teams against each other in an ongoing struggle shaped by your previous performance. Airborne begins with your team leaping out of a plane and landing on the battlefield to “spearhead an upcoming invasion,” while Frontlines is a back-and-forth tug of war that sees both teams pushing forward in an attempt to reach their opponent’s base to plant explosives.
Grand Operations will take place over four in-game days and multiple maps. Depending on your performance on the first day, you could have plentiful supplies or very few, and these will go down as the fight goes on. By the final day, you will have very limited resources, and you won’t be able to respawn if you’re killed. Unlike the other multiplayer modes, Grand Operations is intended to replicate real historical battles.
Classes
Battlefield V features multiple playable classes, each of which serves a unique function to help your team stay competitive in a match.
- Assault – Focused on medium and close-range shooting and destroying vehicles
- Medic – Focused on reviving and healing teammates
- Recon – Focused on spotting and eliminating long-range targets
- Support – Focused on resupplying allies and building fortifications
Fortifications are new to Battlefield V. Rather than just destroying structures over the course of a match, you can also build them! This allows you to create choke points and defensive positions where there otherwise wouldn’t be any, though you can’t simply build them wherever you see fit.
As you continue playing in your class of choice, you’ll also unlock different “combat roles” that allow you to fill an even more specific spot on your teams. You can switch these for your classes in the middle of a fight, in case you find a different one is more appropriate. DICE also said that it plans on adding additional combat roles and classes post-launch, so you will have even more options.
Weapons can be customized, as well, and these go beyond simple skins. You’ll be able to swap out barrels, receivers, muzzles, and stocks to fit your style, and the weapons have their own progression system.
Tides of War
The experience you get in Battlefield V at launch won’t truly be the full game, as the new Tides of War mode will have ongoing content for the most dedicated players. Every few months, a new event focused on a particular era of the war will take place, and it will include its own narrative. You’ll be able to play through themed Grand Operation matches and other missions, and as you progress in the mode, you’ll have the chance to use new weapons and vehicles, as well as cosmetic items.
Tides of War will put particular emphasis on The Company, a customizable group of soldiers you can bring into battle. Useable in all other multiplayer modes as well as the cooperative Combined Arms mode, the companies will progress regardless of where you’re using them, and skins and other customization options are provided to let your company stand out from the pack.
The first Tides of War update dubbed Overture, released on December 5, following a slight delay. The update added The Last Tiger mission we mentioned earlier, completing the campaign. It also added a tank-focused multiplayer map called Panzerstorm, which takes place in Belgium. Additionally, the first Tides of War update also added a practice range, where you can test out all the weapons and vehicles, and it also adjusted weapon balancing and squashed several bugs.
Battle Royale
Like Call of Duty this year, Battlefield V is getting in on the battle royale. Firestorm is DICE’s take on the genre, and though it won’t be available when the game launches in November, it looks to offer something a little different than its competitors.
Rather than focus on solo or duo play, Firestorm will include 16 squads of four, each fighting to be the last team standing as an enormous ring of fire slowly encroaches on the battlefield. The mode will take place on the largest Battlefield map ever, and it will include the same destruction seen in the other modes.
Instead of just giving teams air drops for new gear, Firestorm will task them with completing special objectives. DICE and Electronic Arts said these will be similar to the objectives in Conquest mode, and you’ll need to complete them to get the best tools in the game. Vehicles like tanks will also be available to help you get an edge, but you’ll have to keep moving so your squad isn’t overwhelmed by the flames.
Firestorm is planned for release at some point in spring 2019 as part of the “Trial By Fire” updates. DICE hasn’t explicitly called this a delay, instead not-so-subtly revealing that it as part of their Battlefield V roadmap. Though the event kicks off in March, it’s unclear if Firestorm will be arriving that month or at a slightly later time.
Deluxe Edition and platforms
Battlefield V is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
The Battlefield V Deluxe Edition comes with five additional paratrooper outfits, 20 weekly customization airlifts, and special assignments with more ways to unlock rewards.
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