The upcoming release of Battlefield 2042 shows: When it comes to game modes, DICE relies on both familiar favorites and new trends. MeinMMO tells you which modes you can enjoy.
What game modes are there? When you start Battlefield 2042, you first see a start screen reminiscent of Call of Duty. Similar to there, the screen is divided into three parts, and you have a choice of three primary game types.
But instead of choosing between Black Ops Cold War, Warzone, and Modern Warfare, here it’s All-Out Warfare, Hazard Zone, and Battlefield Portal. What exactly is behind them, we will show you here.
All-Out Warfare
Behind this bombastic name lies the core experience of Battlefield 2042. Because All-Out Warfare offers a choice of two classic Battlefield game modes: Conquest and Breakthrough.
Conquest
If any game mode defines Battlefield games, it is Conquest, one of the two modes in All-Out Warfare. Although games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have also successfully tried ground warfare, anyone looking for this kind of gameplay will be happiest in Battlefield games.
What is it about? Conquest takes place with many players and vehicles on large maps.
- These are divided into several control points. Two teams – in Battlefield 2042, these are American against Russian troops – fight for dominance on these maps.
- Teams are divided into several squads of up to four players each, who can communicate with each other. Living squad members serve as selectable spawn points next to the home base and captured control points.
- In Conquest, each team starts with a certain number of so-called tickets, which are depleted with each respawn and each captured control point.
- The more control points a team holds, and the more enemy players you kill, the faster these tickets are depleted. The first team without any remaining tickets loses the match.
What is new? One of the changes that most affects the player is the higher number of players in a match.
On next-gen consoles and PC, the maximum number of players doubles to 128. Players playing Battlefield 2042 on PS4 or Xbox One will have to make do with a maximum of 64 players.
This change has the expected consequences: The maps are now larger than before, there are more vehicles, and the battles are more chaotic and intense.
However, due to the higher player counts, developer DICE must rethink its design philosophy.
How does the new philosophy change the gameplay flow? Daniel Berlin, the design director of Battlefield 2042, calls this new philosophy “Clustering” (via Xbox on Youtube). Although the maps are overall larger, there are specific sectors in these maps that are designed to enhance a particular type of gameplay experience.
For example, in the map Sanduhr, alongside a wide and open desert suitable for tanks, there are many high-rise buildings for snipers or a close-combat-focused soccer stadium.
As seen in the beta, some control points will also be divided into several subpoints. All of them must be captured before a team can gain complete control over that one large sector.
Who does this help? Capturing these control points will therefore be less of a tug-of-war between two teams running towards each other and largely neutralizing each other.
Instead, coordination and good distribution of attention and resources among the subpoints are rewarded. This is not only good for coordinated teams; even lone wolves can create chaos in the opposing team with a clever flanking maneuver and start a kill streak.
Breakthrough
Also in Breakthrough, the second half of All-Out Warfare, the player count has been increased to a maximum of 128. Those familiar with Breakthrough or Rush from previous Battlefield games may find the new player count either intimidating or exhilarating. Because Breakthrough is pre-programmed chaos.
What is the difference to Conquest? DICE sees Breakthrough as an evolution of the very popular game mode Rush. However, it has not worked as well in every Battlefield as it did in the Bad Company games, where the mode made its first appearance.
As a result, Rush has been modified since Battlefield 1, which is now also included in Battlefield 2042. Breakthrough uses the same maps as Conquest, but divides them into several consecutive sectors.
This is how the mode is played: A sector is fought over at a time. The teams are strictly divided into defenders and attackers.
- The defenders must prevent a varying number of points in the sector from being captured by the attacking team.
- Once all points in a sector are captured, the defenders must fall back to the next sector, and the game repeats.
- If all sectors fall, the attackers win. The defenders win if they successfully prevent the attackers from capturing the current sector.
What is new? Although nothing has changed significantly in Breakthrough, the many other changes should still have a significant impact on the game’s feel. The gigantic maps allow players on both sides more options to navigate the battlefield and secure good positions.
Also the new specialists, who replace the classic roles of the old Battlefield games, open up new approaches for attackers to break through or completely circumvent the defenders’ stronghold.
What effects does this have? Although Breakthrough was not playable in the beta, the experiences from Conquest together with known information allow for many well-founded assumptions.
Where the larger maps with more smaller sections ensure that the mass of players is largely distributed, the maps in Breakthrough automatically feel smaller due to their sector division.
Accordingly, in Breakthrough, more so than in Conquest, the sheer number of players should be observable and palpable at all times. One should therefore expect many chaotic battles and almost overwhelming amounts of gunfire and explosions.
Who is this game mode suitable for? Experience has shown that it is significantly more difficult to succeed as a lone wolf in Breakthrough than in a well-coordinated squad. Especially with the increase to up to 128 players, this should continue to be the case.
Of course, the new specialists might lead to those very special “Battlefield moments” where a heroic lone player decides the battle for the entire team single-handedly.
But these moments require a lot of luck and nearly perfect gameplay. Good coordination, however, not only makes success more likely, but also leads to fewer angry teammates.
Hazard Zone
Where All-Out Warfare offers the proven strengths of the Battlefield games, DICE takes a risk with Hazard Zone. After the unpopular Firestorm mode, Battlefield 2042 now tries with Hazard Zone not to create a classic battle royale.
What is it about? Hazard Zone uses the same maps as All-Out Warfare, but the player count is limited to 32 on PC and next-gen and 24 on last-gen consoles. This is due to a changed focus: On the maps, alongside real players organized into four-man squads, there are also many enemy NPCs.
The players’ main task here is not to kill all opponents, but to complete missions alive. Instead of a classic battle royale, Hazard Zone represents a variant that Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown have tried. The Dark Zone from the Division games is also a close comparison.
How is it played? Players must find data carriers on the map after a preparation phase. At two different times, players have the opportunity to evacuate. These occur at about half of the round and at the end.
If the recovery of the data carriers is successful, players receive so-called Dark Market Credits, which can be invested in upgrades. These range from better armor to weapon upgrades and are purchased and equipped during the planning phase.
If players fail to evacuate, whether because they have died or missed the recovery time, they lose their equipment. However, similar to Apex Legends, they can be revived by a teammate at certain terminals.
Who is this game mode suitable for? Those who are bored by classic battle royales may find enjoyment in Hazard Zone. The game mode promises similarly intense, long rounds with painful deaths, but primarily tests your greed for loot.
Fans of, for example, Tarkov might also enjoy Hazard Zone. Hazard Zone promises a comparable game pace but in a much less complex tangle of menus and inventories.
Battlefield Portal
The third part of the Battlefield 2042 package is the so-called Battlefield Portal, which conceptually resembles a mix of Halo’s Forge and popular Battlefield custom servers.
It is thus a kind of sandbox in which you can create your own gameplay styles and play the creations of others.
What does this mode include? In addition to the content from Battlefield 2042, players have access to content from the old games in the franchise thanks to Portal. Specifically represented are three games: Battlefield 1942, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Battlefield 3. Additionally, game modes like Team Deathmatch are also selectable via Portal.
Each of these games provides two maps that have been technically upgraded to the state of Battlefield 2042. These maps are:
Battlefield 1942:
- El Alamein
- Battle of the Bulge
Battlefield: Bad Company 2:
- Arica Harbor
- Valparaiso
Battlefield 3:
- Caspian Border
- Noshahr Canals
Additionally, numerous weapons, vehicles, and gadgets from these entries will also be available. A complete list of known content has already been compiled by MeinMMO.
You have the following options: Battlefield Portal is a kind of custom game editor. It offers you several tools with which you can assemble your desired Battlefield multiplayer experience.
The complexity of these options is not yet clear. In principle, however, the mode promises something comparable to the tools from Halo’s Forge.
In a web-based editor, players can freely combine what they like. Lobbies in which 128 soldiers armed only with knives destroy a space rocket with WW2 tanks would thus be possible. However, rentable servers are reportedly not offered.
More information about the seven new maps from Battlefield 2042 can be found in our overview.
