We had the pleasure of attending a virtual presentation from the development team of Battlefield 2042 that featured the latest batch of new content coming for players with Season 4: 11th Hour on February 28th.
Season Four of Battlefield 2042, Eleventh Hour, is coming quickly, and with it are many features: from new weapons to an entire new map, and even the surprise drop of the last specialist in the game! Let’s break down the coming changes as shown in exclusive footage from Electronic Arts.
Let’s start simple. No matter the map, costumes, or specialist you pick, the weapons on offer can be the ultimate deciding factor on the battlefield. Why not pick up the Super 500, a short-range shotgun sidearm with no stock and no mercy. Looking to rush down your opponents? Why not grab the RM68 Assault Rifle with a built-in silencer, counterweight for stability, integrated counted sights, and a unique buzzer device. It’s the Swiss army knife of new generation rifles, ready to slice and dice your foes. Or, rather, fill them with holes. Don’t want to bother pulling up sights every time you want to blow your opponents’ mind? Grab the AC9 SMG, an extremely lightweight submachine gun built for hip firing. If you’re feeling particularly intellectual, why not further science by experimenting on your enemies with the RPT-31? This heavy assault weapon is ready to blow some minds with its surprising maneuverability and ammo capacity.
Enough with the fancy new stuff! Sometimes you need an oldie but a goodie. After all, it’s not like the guns from past games have been made obsolete. At the start of the season, everyone will be able to use the power of Battlefield 3’s SVD, which is a semi-automatic sniper rifle. And the SVD brought its friend, the Type 88 LMG heavy machine gun, with it when it came back from Battlefield 3.
But sometimes you’ll need more than a gun to get things done. That’s where SPH Explosive Launcher comes into play. This powerful gadget fires out a sticky grenade, which explodes shortly after sticking to anything, or anyone, it comes into contact with. It can fire two separate shells from a single casing before it needs to reload, making it more versatile than simply carrying a grenade to toss at your opponents. …wait, isn’t this just another gun? Oh well, when all of your problems are nails, it makes sense to keep using hammers.
But what good are all these guns and gadgets without a place to use them? Welcome to Flashpoint, an abandoned development complex in South Africa. Once a thriving biodiversity hotspot, it has long-since been retaken by the surrounding desert. Keep your wits about you, as these crumbling towers and moldy buildings may house more than just dust and debris! Many different sites are yours to conquer and defend: Send in your squad to capture Flag A1, a long strip of land ripe for vehicle combat. Be careful not to get run over in the process! Rout opponents at Flag B1, a series of abandoned buildings with plenty of positions for you or your enemies to take advantage of the high ground. Positioning and timing will be everything, so play it safe. Board a bomber and prepare for chaos at Flag C1, a multilayered complex practically begging to be overwhelmed with firefights around every corner. Take advantage of the tighter chokepoints to run in close or hold back and pick off opponents one by one from above. Descend into Flag D1, an enclosed underground bunker that’s now anything but safe. Your enemies may think that they’re safe, but you can quickly descend in the vehicle elevator to prove them wrong with deadly efficiency. Prepare to wreak havoc at Flag E1, an power generating facility complete with an enclosed turbine. Navigate the tight quarters to deal decisive blows to your foes, or simply erase it from the map. Enter the facility of Flag F1, where tight spaces will force frequent firefights. Your skills from the tighter quarters of Team Deathmatch will come in handy as you stalk your prey around the central reactor core, just make sure you aren’t the one being hunted. And while Flag G1 may come last on the list, it isn’t to be willingly surrendered. Its wide-open landscape provides ample room for vehicles and provides a wide-open field to decimate your opponents before they pull in close.
Speaking of Vehicles, you’ll be finding a new one available on the map: the CAV-Brawler is all fueled up and ready to cause carnage. With its equipable detection pulse, its able to find your opponents during the battle to highlight sneaky defenders or oncoming attackers depending on the situation. This behemoth of a truck is a pretty big target, but you’ll have a hard time getting a scratch on the Brawler thanks to its active defense system. Anything coming close that it sees as a threat, from enemy bullets to enemies themselves, will find themselves… “deflected” with grenades. With five open seats, the CAV-Brawler fits every class and then some, and your teammates can jump into the action from the Brawler by spawning at its location even when all of its seats are occupied.
With all of this destruction and action, it begs the question: do the Geneva Conventions exist in the Battlefield universe? Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, as the map resets every match and your soldiers are seemingly infinite. And you’ll need every single one to take down your opposition and win the day, such as the newly arriving Specialist Camilla Blasco: this battle-hardened Spaniard specializes in Reconnaissance, slipping around the battlefield to gather information and ambush opponents. She’s painstakingly designed her gear to completely avoid motion detection, letting her sneak past automatic turrets and traps like a ghost. Her specialized X6-Infiltration Device allows her to scramble enemy communications, making enemies unable to lock onto anything within its range. It also disrupts opposing Active Spotting technology and creates dead zones in which your adversaries will be unable to communicate with each other or their command. As if that wasn’t enough, once deployed, the Infiltration Device also pinpoints enemy tech within its range, allowing you to find them and shut them down. Blasco may be the final of the 12 specialists coming to the game, but with her tech I doubt you saw her coming.
Alongside all of these changes comes an entirely new Battle Pass for players to grind their way to the top of. …or buy their way to the top of. Hey, we’ve all been there. There’s no shame in it, as long as you’re money conscious. This Battle Pass comes with 100 tiers to unlock, each with both free and premium rewards depending on your status. Plenty of new cosmetic items are up for grabs, from Irish’s Tier 1 Greenback skin to Blasco’s Tier 100 “Fault Line” skin. Alongside them, this is your chance to get your hands on some of the weapons mentioned above, such as the Super 500 and SPH Explosive Launcher. …which is technically a gadget, but still! You can even get a free car! …I mean, you can unlock the CAV-Brawler for free by progressing up the pass. And, for those dedicated to make their way to the very end and unlock Tier 100, you’ll have earned enough points from the process to buy out next season’s Battle Pass.
So, what’s next for Battlefield 2042 after this? The team over at Electronic Arts is planning on continuing to listen to their community as they fine-tune and balance the class system. They’re also planning on continuing to expand the cosmetic options and customizability of the game to help you be the best dressed soldier on the battlefield. Then again, I suppose the last soldier remaining is the best dressed by technicality.
As excited as you are for the next season, before you put down this article and pick up a controller, remember that because this is early access footage, the final result may vary from what is described here. With that in mind, go gear up and get ready for the next wave. Good luck, you might need it!
Watch the Battlefield 2042 Season 4: Eleventh Hour Gameplay Trailer HERE
For more information on the Battlefield 2042 editions, Dual Entitlement for current-gen purchases, the EA Play and EA Play Pro subscriber offerings and all other details on the game, visit the Battlefield 2042 website or follow the game on YouTube, Twitter or Instagram.
Related: Reviews by Aaron Grossmann
Gaming is a passion that I, like many other people, hold near and dear to my heart. As an aspiring Game Writer and general Storyteller, I enjoy looking into the vast worlds and deep stories of every game I can. Then again, sometimes bad guys just need a good pummeling, and I am more than happy to provide!
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