Conquest. Team Deathmatch.
When Battlefield 1 launches in October, these games modes will certainly be a staple of the game. But with the series headed to World War I, what other game modes may be on the horizon?
The first trailer for Battlefield 1 featured a variety of environments – mountains, deserts, and of course, trenches. Trenches lend themselves to another game mode that is a mainstay of the Battlefield franchise: Rush.
In Rush, one team defends a set of objectives until they’re both taken, or until the attacking team runs out of tickets. It’s perfectly-suited for trench warfare, even from a historical perspective. Many trench systems in WWI had three trench lines. If the attackers overtake each trench line and detonate objectives, the defending team is pushed from the field for a loss. I can’t imagine Battlefield 1 without Rush.
Trenches also make for great conquest-type gameplay. Many times in WWI, the if the attacker actually took a trench, they would have to hold it from the inevitable counterattack. The only other major WWI game on the market, Verdun, has a similar mode. It would be interesting to see how Battlefield 1 would implement such a mode. The attacking team could be given vehicles, while the defending team has emplacements. Whoever holds the trench for the longest amount of time would be declared the winner. Think of it as a combination of Rush and Domination.
Capture-the-Flag would also fit well as a take on trench raiding. In WWI, soldiers would attempt to gain access to the enemy’s trench for a variety of purposes: sabotage, capturing prisoners, and especially intelligence gathering. Though these raids took place almost exclusively at night, I’m sure DICE can develop a way to make it feasible in the daytime. They could also add more motivation for playing the objective. If you successfully gather enemy intelligence, high command rewards your team with a tank or some other vehicle. Making your way through No Man’s Land and back with vital information sounds challenging, and fun for a Battlefield game. Of course, we know it wont be just trenches in Battlefield 1.
There’s also potential we’ll see a variant of Star Wars: Battlefront’s Walker Assault mode. From the Battlefield 1 trailer, we saw a dreadnought, train, and a massive airship. In Walker Assault, defenders on the ground have to activate uplinks to call in bombing raids and make the AT-AT walkers vulnerable. Naturally, the attackers on the ground have to prevent them from doing so. In Battlefield 1, we may be attacking the dreadnoughts, trains, or airships. None of which were poorly defended, and they were all designed to take a beating. These vehicles bristled with guns. It would be a lot of fun to defend a ship from attacking forces. It would also be fun to attack them, seeing as we did see some airplane-mounted rockets in the Battlefield 1 trailer.
Based on some of the trailer shots, I’d also expect to see an airplanes-only “Air Superiority” mode in Battlefield 1. There hasn’t been much talk about airplanes since the trailer release, but I predict they will quickly become a fan favorite. Biplanes and triplanes during World War I weren’t fast, but they were extremely maneuverable. Pilots will be able to have proper dogfights, complete with all the twisting and turning for which aircraft at the time were built. We also know dogfights will be completely analog, meaning you won’t be able to rely on “fire and forget” missiles. These gameplay changes will certainly play out well with long-time fans of the Battlefield franchise.
Lastly, players could fight to detonate explosives under the enemy trench. I’ve been given no real reason to believe DICE is planning anything like this, but it would be excellent as a demolition-type game mode. In World War I, each side was trying to dig tunnels under each others’ trench lines. The end goal was to explode tons of dynamite, creating a massive crater and gap in the line to exploit during an attack. Of course, most of the fighting would occur in underground tunnels, which would present a low-light combat situation and unique challenges of verticality and navigation in a relatively confined space. It wouldn’t be the most historically-accurate game mode, but it would be fun.
Keep in mind, all of this is simply speculation. Whatever game modes we get for Battlefield 1, I’m sure they’re going to be fantastic.
Do you have any game mode ideas? Tell us in the comment box!
