Battlefield 1 Free DLC 'Giant's Shadow' Lands Next Week
By Rory Young 25 November 2016
EA DICE is scheduling the launch of the forthcoming free Battlefield 1 DLC, Giant’s Shadow, for December 20. The DLC includes a map and a grenade crossbow weapon.
Final details for Battlefield 1‘s upcoming DLC, the Giant’s Shadow, have been released by Electronic Arts today. While the DLC is completely free, players who have purchased the Battlefield 1 Premium Pass will get a week of early access on December 13 while everyone else will have to wait for December 20.
Giant’s Shadow marks the first major post-launch content release for Battlefield 1 and the only currently announced free DLC release. Included in the DLC is a single map, the appropriately named Giant’s Shadow, as well as an all new weapon for Support classes – the Grenade Crossbow. While the map is certainly a substantial addition, overall the DLC is a bit thin considering the first premium expansion won’t arrive until March. New content for the holidays is certain to refresh players who have been playing since October, though.
The Giant’s Shadow map focuses on the Battle of Selle, which occurred in the Hundred Days Offensive of the West pushing Germany out of France to conclude the war. The Battlefield 1 map will focus on an area in the shadow of a giant downed blimp and introduce a powerful armed train to make the map more dynamic. In the historic battle, combined forces from Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom ultimately pushed German forces back. We’ll see if Battlefield 1 players can manage the same.
Accompanying the full reveal of Giant’s Shadow is a short trailer for Battlefield 1 showing off the new map as well as the new Grenade Crossbow. While the trailer’s run-time is less than 30 seconds long, it does do a good job of teasing the different environments that players will be battling through. That includes a township on the banks of the Selle River, a train depot with strategically placed abandoned train-cars, and up into the skeleton of the downed dirigible itself.
The dynamic portion of the map, a German train, even runs through the downed dirigible’s shattered nose. According to EA DICE, while British forces have pushed through the Hindenburg line and are inches away from taking a strategic railway center — the outcome is uncertain. “An armored train can still turn the tide.” Should German players hold out and manage to bring the armored train in, it’ll be exciting to see how it immediately changes the battle.
Battlefield 1 is now available on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The free Giant’s Shadow DLC will be available for Premium Pass owners and certain pre-orderers on December 13, with it opening to all players on December 20.
