Last week’s big Battlefield 5 reveal gave us the basics of what’s in store—it’ll be set in World War 2, and people will shoot at each other—but there’s still quite a bit we don’t know. EA revealed one such unknown element on Twitter yesterday, a new attack-and-defend game mode called Airborne, in which one team drops from the sky to destroy some artillery, while the other does its best to keep the guns firing.
Predictably, EA didn’t break down how exactly the system will work. My first thought is that it might be reminiscent of the old Timegate shooter Section 8, which eliminated fixed spawn points in favor of player-selected drops, but I don’t think that would fit very well with the idea of coordinated attack and defense forces in big Battlefield 5 brawls. Balancing the teams will be an interesting issue too.
Airborne attacks work because they drop guys behind the lines, where enemy forces are thin and unprepared, and portraying that in the context of a videogame without making people angry will be a challenge. Remember how annoyed Star Wars Battlefront players were when the Empire kept stomping the guts out of the Rebellion on Hoth?
Details on the new mode will no doubt be revealed during EA’s press event at E3, but in advance of that you can get a closer look at what’s coming (but not this new mode, alas) in the new “deep dive” into Battlefield 5’s gameplay changes and additions. It focuses on the two “key elements” of immersion and squad play, and while it’s mostly stuff that’s already been revealed, like changes to movement and elimination of “random bullet deviation,” it’s a handy way to get caught up in a hurry.
Battlefield 5 is set to come out on October 19. EA’s E3 presser kicks off at 11 am PT/2 pm ET on June 9.