Why Battlefield 1 Has Multiple Playable Characters
By Maxwell Jeffery 30 September 2016
Battlefield 1 is less than a month away, and DICE have begun to release more details about the game’s single-player – explaining why they’ve chosen to have multiple protagonists.
Battlefield 1‘s release is right round the corner and in the run up to the game’s launch, DICE have shared some more details regarding the game’s single-player campaign.
Earlier this week, DICE released new information about the upcoming game’s campaign, showing the rather different approach that Battlefield 1 will be taking when compared to previous games in the series. The single-player mode will focus on ‘War Stories‘, jumping between multiple characters rather than sticking to one soldier, a decision that DICE have explained in a recent blog post.
“The Great War is diverse. We knew we wanted to embrace that variety,” wrote the developer. “There were so many different perspectives and characters in World War 1 and we wanted to cover as much ground as possible.”
DICE claim that having one character hopping all throughout the war’s many battlefields wouldn’t be immersive enough, a fact that lead to the anthology format hosting a set of characters each with their own individual stories and experiences. Many of the characters that will be playable in-game were revealed in the Battlefield 1 single-player trailer.
Unlike in previous Battlefield games, Battlefield 1 will see cinematic cutscenes which show your player-controlled character, rather than showing the game solely from a first-person perspective. This is to encourage players to connect more emotionally with the character, as well as allowing for greater storytelling. Real-life historical figures such as Lawrence of Arabia will be making an appearance alongside the player characters which is sure to make for some eventful encounters.
The developer also revealed that it attempted to embrace freedom through systemic gameplay in the Battlefield 1 story, meaning that there will be choices for players to make, regarding how to complete a mission. For instance, during the War Story ‘Through Mud and Blood’, the player will find themselves in a misty forest, moving ahead of their tank units on foot in order to clear out enemies. The player then has the option to use explosives to blow up the enemy anti-tank weapons, or stealthily move behind them and use the game’s brutal melee attacks.
Of course, while the single-player of Battlefield 1 looks fantastic, the real meat of the game comes from the huge multiplayer aspect. Now that we’re drawing close to the game’s October release date, DICE have seen fit to reveal all of the different multiplayer maps and modes that will be available in the full game before DLC or free updates start dropping.
Battlefield 1 launches on October 21, 2016 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
