Share. From exciting new modes to exhaustive customisation, here's everything we know about Battlefield V so far. From exciting new modes to exhaustive customisation, here's everything we know about Battlefield V so far.
Battlefield 5 was official revealed to the world, and while little more than the trailer was shown in terms of the gameplay, longtime series developer DICE went into detail on what to expect when the game launches in October.
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War Stories
War Stories return and the mantra is to focus on the “unseen, untold, unplayed” aspects of World War II. They play out as small self-contained narratives inspired by real events.
But DICE wanted to stay away from the settings you’d typically expect from a game set in WW2. Don’t expect to be storming a beach yet again. Instead we saw concept art of a totally devastated Rotterdam, the rugged terrain of North Africa, and a French countryside torn apart by the new machines of war. There’s a lot of variety, but the most intriguing was a piece of art of a German trooper crossing a mountain range, knee-deep in snow.
This is presumably taken from the one story DICE chose to tease in greater depth. Set in Norway in 1942, it focuses on a young female resistance fighter trying to save her family. Set North of the Arctic circle, it looks unlike anything you’d expect from a WW2-era shooter.
Combined Arms
Combined Ops is the name given to Battlefield V’s co-op game, in which up to four people play together in what DICE describes as an intimate yet social mode that sits somewhere between single- and multiplayer. It’s also a good place to learn the ropes of Battlefield, especially for those who’ve been previously overwhelmed by the size of the series’ signature large-scale multiplayer.
As a group of paratroopers you’re dropped behind enemy lines and the goal is to stay undetected while making your way to the objective. As you’re working as a small unit ammo and supplies are limited, and gathering the right equipment to complete the objective and working as a team to make the most of the resources available is key to success. DICE said a mission generator will create dynamic objectives but didn’t go into details as to how it’s going to work.
The Weight of War
Battlefield V promises a sense of physicality not seen in previous games in the series. This was demonstrated in a number of ways, firstly by a soldier running through waist-high water. He lifts his knees high in an attempt to move as quickly as possible, but the drag of the water slows him down. As the water shallows, the way he moves changes.
It’s hardly revolutionary but small details like this are designed create immersion. They also provide the player with a choice: wading through water might be the most direct route to the objective but it leaves you open to attack. Similarly, running on loose rocks and mud increases the chances of slipping or falling over. It’s not apparent how this will impact the game - whether it feels natural or gets in the way - but it’s indicative of the level of detail DICE is striving for.
Another nice touch is how bushes and long grass now visibly move when you crawl through them, potentially giving away your position; an enemy sniper might not be able to see you, but a twitching bush or swaying grass is a dead giveaway.
Thankfully the spotting system has been modified so it’s less of a crutch. You can no longer scan an entire field from afar and pick out half a dozen enemies and highlight their positions. If you want to shoot someone you have to see them, rather than tracking their movement by following an icon over their head.
A lot of work has gone into making combat flow more fluidly too. When prone you can now look in any direction, seamlessly switching from lying on your back to rolling on your front, and even shuffle backwards while lying down and firing.
Elsewhere, smashing open doors and jumping through windows is seamless, with no pause or opening animation to get in the way of the action. The revive animation has been improved too: when you move in to help a bloodied teammate you’ll stab the syringe into their chest before dragging them to their feet and ushering them on their way. If they’re incapacitated in the middle of a crossfire, you can run in, drag them to safety and provide medical care once in cover.
On that note, anyone in a squad can revive each other, not just the medic, but it takes longer and the won’t fully restore all their health.
Build it Up, Blow it Apart
In Battlefield 1 everyone had a gas mask; in Battlefield V, everyone is equipped with a tool which enables them to build. Fortifications promise to change how Battlefield plays, because you’ll be able to build defenses as well as knock buildings down.
A handful of fortifications available were announced, from fox holes to trenches, sandbags, barbed wire and tanks traps. It’s also possible to rebuild destroyed buildings to a certain extent, to create makeshift strongholds at midway points on the map.
Importantly, it’s possible to tow field artillery and AA guns behind tanks and half-tracks rather than them being locked in position, so there’s a huge amount of scope to experiment by setting up defences around heavy artillery in fortified positions chosen by the player, rather than fixed by the design of the map. By extension, this also makes it tougher on pilots, who can no longer rely on map knowledge to learn the locations of ground threats.
When a building is hit it will break apart in different ways. An LMG will slowly shred it to pieces, while a tank round blows away entire walls. If the shells hits inside the house, walls and debris explode outwards; a direct hit from the outside will cause the walls to crumble inwards, potentially crushing anyone inside.
Squad Play
Perhaps the biggest point DICE stressed is how playing as a squad unpins everything in Battlefield V. You can play as a lone wolf but it’s not the default option and you won’t be able to access some of the perks and rewards on offer.
As in Battlefield 1, there are specific character classes to choose from - assault, medic, support and so on - as well as specialties within each field, so an attack-minded assault troop can have a very different loadout - and indeed appearance - from an assault player who favours defence. But while there promises to be a lot of flexibility within classes, having a spread abilities is still key to the foundation of any squad. Since ammo is scarce - DICE said there will be situations where players will run out of ammo - having a support player is crucial as they carry additional magazines they can share with the group. Similarly, you can only fully regen health to maximum if you have a medic.
Spawning next to squadmates ensures you at least start together, but it’s imperative to keep that connection, especially as you progress across the map. When shot you’re able to watch your teammates while waiting to respawn, to give you a better sense of what you’re dropping into when the counter hits zero. But if everyone in the squad is killed, you’re forced back across the map to the previous deploy drop, which creates a dilemma - if you’re the last man standing in your squad, you need to retreat and give your teammates time to get back in the game or risk losing progress. As a result squad wipe is the most effective way to gain advantage on the battlefield, handing over control of the area and giving you time to resupply knowing the enemy cannot attack anytime soon.
Grand Operations
Grand Operations is a multiplayer mode with a strong narrative element. Essentially, there are two teams - attackers and defenders. The goal of the attackers is to continually push forward until they conquer the map, while the defenders must resist. In Battlefield 5’s Grand Operations, this assault takes place over potentially four in-game days, with long matches taking up to an hour. Specific objectives change from day-to-day, and what you achieve on one day impacts on what happens the next. The attrition of war is something DICE is trying to convey,and so each day the odds are increasingly stacked against you.
On day one in the example given, attackers are cast as paratroopers tasked with dropping behind enemy lines and sabotaging long-range artillery. Defenders try to take out the drop ships and it’s entirely possible to wipe out entire squads with a single shot. If the attackers don’t sabotage enough of these guns, that side suffers heavy casualties and it will impact what happens on the second day.
Day two and attackers have taken to the ground but the number of vehicles and resources on how many guns you took out on the previous day. On day three the conflict continues in another part of Rotterdam, on a map showing heavy destruction. It’s possible for the match to end here if one side has a clear advantage, but if not it goes to sudden death.
The fourth day has a very different style of play; you’ve been fighting for four days, and DICE wants you to feel like you’re exhausted, out of resources, and out of soldiers. This round is known as Last Stand: each player has a single life and one mag of ammo, with no additional supplies save for what your squad can provide. There are no respawns but you can be revived by your squadmates. And to make things even more dramatic, for this final round, the dynamic weather is dialed up to create as dramatic a finale as possible.
Gunplay
In Battlefield 1, weapon recoil was random to a certain extent, so you never knew if a machinegun would kick to the left or right when the trigger was pulled. In Battlefield V there’s greater predictability and specific guns fire in specific patterns, meaning it’s possible to counter recoil by spending time learning how each weapons works. It’s a small improvement but one that seasoned fans will appreciate and benefit from.
LMGs have been improved too - there’s greater freedom on where you can plant a bipod for example, which is essential to keep bullet grouping tight. Bullet penetration has also been jacked up and an LMG can punch through cover and tear down a house if you rattle off enough rounds. Similarly, tank-mounted machineguns are far more capable of flushing out enemy troops who duck into a nearby house for cover.
Customisation and Rewards
Everything in Battlefield V - your character, the soldiers in your squad, your appearance, weapons and vehicles - can be levelled up and customised. Better still, everything you unlock is transferable from one game mode to the next, creating a sense of persistence and ownership. Put in the hours to unlock a tank and upgrade it with extra armour and an arctic camouflage paint job and it feels like your tank rather than one you just jumped into on the battlefield. Any upgrades make a visible difference too, whether it’s on a vehicle or weapon. Guns are broken down into five to seven components, each of which are customisable, so there’s a huge amount of variety to make something your own. Additionally, weapons get covered in mud, grass and blood on the battlefield, which is a nice touch.
The same level of customisation applies to you and your squad mates - you can choose between genders, change clothes, alter their appearance by changing their hair, add a helmet, apply war paint and so on. One of the soldiers in the trailer also has a prosthetic arm, so that could be an option too.
Unlocks are purchased using squad points, which are awarded depending on how you play. Play as a team - revive your buddies and focus on the objectives - and you’ll earn more points, which can also be spent on perks such as smoke cover, a tank barrage, or even a V1 rocket, which can clear out an enemy position in seconds.
However, some unlocks can only be earned playing in a squad - you won’t get them playing as a lone wolf - and others are only available during limited time events, giving players ‘I was there’ bragging rights.
Tides of War
“ Battlefield 5 is ditching its Premium Pass, which asked players to purchase new maps and modes.
Battlefield 5 is ditching its Premium Pass, which asked players to purchase new maps and modes. Instead, new major of content will be rolled out across the year via something being referred to as The Tides of War. Essentially, it’s Battlefield 5’s live service and has a host of different elements to incentivise daily play.
Players will be given Daily Orders – three small objectives to complete during normal games in return for in-game currency. But there are also Special Assignments – longer-lasting challenges that take more than a single day to complete. Completing these will earn you iconic loot, and there’s the option to take on four of these assignments at once. Familiar assignments will be periodically revamped, offering new gear as a reward. The aim is to always have a new challenge that results in a meaningful reward.
These potentially disparate challenges are being given a loose narrative. There will be four chapters across the first year, each focussing on a different aspect of the conflict and the game. The first will concentrate on the Fall of Europe, and perhaps most alluring to some, these chapter will come with time-restrictive rewards.
Preorders for Battlefield V are starting to trickle in following the reveal. Right now you can preorder the standard edition on Amazon, but more are sure to follow.
Share. First trailer revealed. First trailer revealed.
Battlefield V will be released for all players on October 19 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Battlefield V is now available for preorder. If you opt for the Deluxe Edition, you'll be able to start playing on October 16, and if you subscribe to EA Access, you'll be able to hop over a week earlier on October 11.
Players that preorder any edition of the game with the Battlefield V Enlister Offer gain early access to the Open Beta and other in-game benefits including soldier customization options, access to Special Assignments starting at launch week and immediate access to five weapons to use in Battlefield 5.
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As suspected, the setting for Battlefield V will be World War 2, but instead of focusing on the most famous battles from that conflict – Normandy, Berlin, Dunkirk – developer DICE is seeking to focus on the untold stories set in the unexplored corners. One of the stories that was teased focused on a young female resistance fighter trying to save her family in the top of Norway, North of the Arctic Circle.
Battlefield 5 also contains a new co-operative mode called Combined Arms. You'll play in a squad of up to four, cast in the role of a paratrooper. Your job, along with your teammates, is to go in behind enemy lines, ideally stay undetected, and complete objectives. These tasks are dynamic, and there is a strong risk-reward aspect – you can choose to extract early and play it safe, or go deeper into enemy territory for a bigger reward. It's being referred to as a way to "learn the ropes" of Battlefield for newcomers.
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Finally, there was another rumour of Battlefield V having its own Battle Royale mode. Well, not quite. Tight games of Grand Operations – Battlefield's multi-round epic game mode – will now culminate in an extra round, known as Last Stand. Essentially, it's sudden death. You've been fighting for four rounds which equate to four in-game days, and resources are low. All remaining players will fight until one player remains, and a winner is determined. But staying in a squad is heavily incentivised as it's the only way to net yourself health and ammo. This is not a standalone mode, but the final round of Grand Operations.
In an expanded presentation to IGN, DICE delved much more into some of the changes they're making to Battlefield V, and you can read all about them in this article:
Finally, EA also announced that Battlefield 5 would get rid of the Premium Pass, releasing its major post-release content for free. So that means no more paying for modes and no more segmentation of the community. Instead, the game will introduce something called Tides of War, which is how DICE will roll out new content for the game and allow players to earn in-game rewards, including limited-time gear such as dog tags, soldier skins, and face paint.
To coincide with the announcement, EA is making Battlefield 4's Final Stand and Battlefield 1's In the Name of the Tsar free for a limited time.
Battlefield 5 has finally been revealed. It's heading back to World War 2, and while DICE didn't pull any sort of big pivot—which we didn't really expect—some of the series' core systems are being redesigned dramatically. If you don't already play Battlefield, these adjustments may not seem like big deals, but they are. Squad play is much more emphasized, reviving has been overhauled, the animation system has had a ton of work, co-op is returning, and that's not the half of it.
Yesterday, at EA's invitation, we watched a live three-hour presentation covering much of what's to come in BF5. They're still holding onto a few cards, which will probably be revealed at EA Play in June, but there's still a ton of information to process now. Here's everything we know about Battlefield 5 so far...
Battlefield 5 arrives first for Origin Access members on October 11. If you don’t have Access, the Deluxe Edition releases October 16, and the Standard Edition releases October 19. What’s included in either edition isn’t yet clear, but any bonuses will likely tie in with the Company customization system (detailed below). In the meantime, you can grab Battlefield 4’s Final Stand and Battlefield 1’s In the Name of the Tsar DLC packs for free.
When is the open beta and how do I join?
An open beta is certainly coming, but the exact date probably won’t be revealed until EA Play in June.
What is Battlefield 5's setting?
Battlefield 5 takes place during World War 2, a homecoming for the series since departing its original setting nearly 14 years ago. The reunion is a happy one—creative director Lars Gustavsson called the return “a dream come true” for him and his team—and the studio expressed an intent to cover areas of the war not typically depicted in other games and movies.
“We've all been through the beaches of Normandy,” explained senior producer Andreas Morell. “We've been there, we know what it's about. We wanted to deliver an unexpected take on the second World War, to portray the era through unseen locations and untold stories.” In other words, expect a thematic continuation of BF1’s globe-spanning presentation of World War 1.
What are the main new features?
You can construct and rebuild fortifications at objective points.
at objective points. The 64-player Grand Operations mode incorporates multiple modes across a three-to-four match narrative, like BF1's Operations but with a couple twists.
incorporates multiple modes across a three-to-four match narrative, like BF1's Operations but with a couple twists. Combined Arms provides 4-player co-op via procedurally-generated missions.
via procedurally-generated missions. Squad members can revive each other , even if they aren’t Medics.
, even if they aren’t Medics. Stationary guns can be towed by vehicles. Yes, you can fire them while being towed.
Yes, you can fire them while being towed. You can go prone on your back and turn 360-degrees with proper animations while prone. There are many other animation improvements, too.
Will there be a Premium Pass?
Nope. All post-launch maps and modes will be free.
Will there be loot boxes?
No. EA hasn't gone into great detail on what will be available for purchase after Battlefield 5 launches, but it has told us that vanity items will be on sale in some way. Those items can also be earned by playing, and EA stresses that spending money won't give players an advantage. Polygon got a straight answer from an EA spokesperson: no loot boxes. Cosmetic items will be available to purchase with real money and in-game currency.
What are Battlefield 5's classes?
Assault, Support, Medic, and Scout. DICE hasn’t announced anything beyond those four mainstay classes.
Each class will have a set of Archetypes to choose from, though—a loadout of guns, gadgets, and passive bonuses that emphasize a specific playstyle. An example shown was a Paratrooper Archetype for the Recon class which equips a suppressed SMG instead of a sniper rifle and silences your footsteps.
How will progression work?
Progression mostly follows the familiar cycle of obtaining player and class ranks to unlock additional weapons, vehicles, and gear. Everything is organized in your 'Company,' a repository of classes, weapons, and vehicles you’ve customized.
Being introduced are Archetypes, loadout-style spreads of gadgets, guns, and grenades you can swap between for each class to fulfill a certain squad role or snappily deal with new threats without having to entirely switch classes. BF5 will also award special items for participation in special events.
Weapons and vehicles can also be specialized with a branching tree of attachments (such as a bipod or bayonet) or tank mounts that trade off bonuses and drawbacks. The selections are swappable, so you won’t have to re-rank each gun or vehicle to set a new specialization.
The look of your soldiers will also be customizable, with male and female options and customizable clothing and facepaint. Weapons are similarly granular, as each gun comes with several customization parts—stocks, muzzles, sights, and so on—to fashion individually. Vehicles can be spruced up with camo patterns, sandbags, branches, boxes, and other paraphernalia.
Assignments are also coming back in revamped form. You can complete three “Daily Orders” Assignments refreshing every 24 hours that provide a payout of in-game currency which can be spent on unlocks. You’ll also be able to equip up to four Special Assignments which will take longer to fulfill. There will be multiple ways to complete Special Assignments (eg, a quick way that requires lots of skill, or a longer grind), which is a welcome bit of accessibility. (So long, “get 30 kills in one round with a shovel.”)
What modes will be in BF5?
Conquest, Frontlines, Domination, Team Deathmatch, and Breakthrough (the other name of the sector-clearing mode first seen in BF1’s Operations) are all returning in BF5. The episodic War Stories will also reappear as the single-player checkmark, the first of which will be set in Norway.
The new Combined Arms mode restores co-op to Battlefield through 4-player missions that are randomly generated with various objectives and narratives. DICE kept quiet on specifics, but we do know that there will be a set of higher-difficulty hardcore challenges that award extra rank experience. A failure to extract from the mission successfully incurs a chunky experience penalty for the squad, suggesting it's somewhat Left 4 Dead-ey, in that things end if the whole squad is wiped.
Grand Operations will take over the role of Battlefield 1's Operations mode. Teams will battle over multiple maps and modes, across three-to-four 'days.' The outcome of each day (match) will affect the days after it. The example given by DICE would see an attacking team parachuting behind enemy lines to destroy artillery on the first day (they'd actually spawn in an airplane and have to jump out, PUBG style). Depending on how many guns they destroy during that match, they'll have more or less respawns (tickets) and vehicles on the next 'day'—as if whatever artillery was left in tact wiped out some of their forces. The teams would enter another scenario on the third day, which would be affected by whatever happened on day two.
Only if the third day ends in a draw does Operations go to a fourth day, a sort of sudden death overtime called 'Final Stand.' At that point, there are no respawns whatsoever. Squad members can still revive each other (see details on healing below), so the battle will be to wipe other squads while keeping yours on its feet, until you've hunted down every player on the other team.
DICE also mentioned that Grand Operations will be used as testing ground for new modes which could come to the regular rotation. We wonder if Final Stand might prove popular enough to become a standalone mode at some point.
How will squads work?
Squad play is much more emphasized. You’ll automatically be placed in a squad upon joining any match. Squads can also join a server together, and squad chat will stay active through menus, loading screens, or when leaving a match.
Respawning on squadmates is emphasized by the death camera, which has moved from an overview of the map to a third-person spectator view of your living squad members. When you choose a squadmate to spawn on, you'll appear right behind them.
When a squad is fully wiped, everyone in it will return to the map deployment screen with a 10-second respawn timer penalty. At that point, you’ll be able to see where your squadmates are choosing to respawn, and squads can spawn en masse in vehicles.
Squad leaders are given a radio call-in functionality akin to the commander mode of previous Battlefields. Squad points earned by working together to capture or defend objectives and racking up kills can be cashed in for special and abilities such as the V1 rocket strike seen in the trailer, a special vehicle, or a barrage of smoke grenades on a specific position. Specifics of cooldowns or point costs for each action haven’t been shared yet.
What maps are confirmed for BF5?
No official map names have been announced yet, but so far we've seen snowy Norwegian fjords and a sandy North African desert. DICE also mentioned the Netherlands city of Rotterdam as a location you’ll visit, an obligatory urban map that looked even more destroyed than BF1’s popular Amiens.
EA is calling BF5's ongoing update plans 'Tides of War,' which will take us through various theaters with new maps and modes (which will be free, as mentioned above) after release. We know that the theme Battlefield 5 will start with is 'Fall of Europe,' though that probably won't be a strict rule that applies to all launch maps, as we've already seen desert locations outside of Europe.
How have weapons and bullet spread changed?
Random bullet deviation is gone. Previously, small, randomized jumps in horizontal recoil (the degree of how much your gun pulls to the right or left when firing) governed a weapon’s stability, but it often resulted in annoyingly imprecise shots even when the crosshairs sat squarely on someone’s torso. DICE explained that it’s returning to the classic FPS style of fixed recoil patterns for BF5’s guns—simply, the first few shots will always go to the same place. As you keep firing, the recoil will become more dramatic and your shots will spread out, but in mostly-predictable ways.
Status effects such as stance, movement, jumping, and bullet caliber will, of course, further dictate how much each gun will bounce around. The mathy details of the changes will eventually be calculated by the Battlefield community’s number-crunchers, but for now, it looks like burst control is back in play.
Bullet penetration is also coming, meaning high-caliber guns such as LMGs can shoot through walls. DICE did not confirm whether different materials will reduce damage by different degrees (they're "investigating").
How has ammo and resupplying changed?
You won’t spawn with all of your explosives or the maximum ammo for most of your guns. To top up, you’ll need to visit a resupply station sitting at each captured objective zone or chase down a nearby Support teammate for an ammo pack (resupply points are also buildable via your fortification toolkit). Slain enemies will drop a small batch of ammo that you can pick up, too. There’s no word on any improvement to the traditionally plucky process of coaxing ammo from a Support, but having the reliability of a resupply at a nearby objective is a good step.
The goal, says DICE, is to make ammo collection and conservation more important, so that after a fight squads need to make a decision: get into another scrap with depleted supplies, or retreat to restock. This also plays into two of the main design throughlines DICE laid out: getting players to rely on their squadmates more, and encouraging diverse class selections.
How have healing and reviving changed?
This is a big one: anyone, regardless of class, can revive another squad member. Before Medics start hanging up their syringes, know that they’re still the only class that can revive outside of squads and bring their patients back to full health. They also have the fastest revive animation. Non-Medic squaddies going for a revive will have to sit through a longer, more vulnerable animation, a process presumably full of back-slapping and “get up, pal!” encouragement.
The word “animation” is deliberate. Gone is the powerslide-stab combo favored by BF1’s athletic medical professionals. You’ll instead need to go through a sequence of grabbing the body, stabilizing it, and sinking the needle in to pull off the revive. You can look around and interrupt the revive at any moment.
Equally as exciting is the new ability to drag teammates to safer cover, so no more worries of a foolishly heroic doc reviving you in the middle of a grenade-spammed alley of death.
The downed state has been redesigned, too. When you're mortally wounded, you'll trigger a gruesome scene in which you can either press a key to clutch your wounds and cry out for help or press a different key to bleed out faster if nobody’s around. It’s a simple—if dark—change to grabbing a Medic or squadmate's attention through sensory input instead of just a UI blip.
What's new with vehicles?
Tanks and other vehicles can now tow stationary emplacements such as AA and field guns by backing into them. It’s unclear if you’ll need to unlock and equip the capability to tow or if it’s available by default, but the extra utility of hauling heavy firepower between captured flags or chasing a pesky plane with rolling flak is abundantly clear.
How does destructibility work?
As usual, buildings will be destructible. EA hasn't shown off any 'levolution' (they aren't using that term anymore, but we won't let them forget it), where major map events reshape big sections of terrain—those could be there, but the focus of the reveal was on everyday demolition, which will include more realistic explosions and debris.
Hitting the side of a building with a shell, for instance, will collapse the walls inward, while firing through a window and into the building will blow debris outward. Something particularly cool that was discussed, but not shown, was how bits of masonry can dangle off busted-up buildings, eventually detaching and falling. If you happen to be standing under one such bit of masonry when it falls, you're dead.
How does fortification building work?
Every soldier will have a toolkit which can be used to build sandbags, trenches, stationary machine guns, and other fortifications that primarily bring back destroyed cover—rebuilding parts of a flattened building to help your squad turtle at a flag, for instance.
You won't be able to build anywhere, instead plopping down structures in preset locations. DICE hasn't revealed what that process looks like, how long it takes, or whether you need any special materials. They did say that we'll hear an audio cue when one of our fortifications is destroyed, so aside from providing cover, they'll act as alarm systems.
The feature helps counter the destruction that occurs over the course of a match, says DICE. Of course we want cool explosions to fling concrete into the air, but we also want the protection that concrete once provided, at least as soon as we've emptied a building of enemy players and taken it for ourselves. If all goes well, we can now have our cake and eat it too, rather than each match ending on nearly-flattened fields.
What animation improvements are coming?
For one, DICE finally figured out how legs work. You’ll be able to slide into a prone sideways and backwards, the latter an interesting movement touchup taken from more tactical shooters such as Rainbow Six: Siege. Turning while prone will shift your body’s orientation appropriately; no more helicopter spinning with your belly always hugging dirt.
Soldier movements are also more reactive to the terrain: players will be seen stumbling on uneven ground, slipping in mud, stepping higher in water, and slamming into cover. These particular animations only affect a player’s third-person model (that is, how they're seen by other players), so your view won't be jumping all over the place to indicate that your soldier tripped.
DICE hopes these details will add to the illusion, as well as put greater emphasis on visual intel. An example shown was a soldier slowly moving through tall grass which parted around him. The goal is to reduce the amount of hunting for “Doritos,” the triangular symbol that appears above a spotted enemy. (To that end, spotting will also be less spammable, though we're not sure exactly how it will work.)
You will also see more contextual animations in your first-person view. If you’re resupplying your ammo, you’ll see your hands grabbing magazines out of an ammo box. If you’re asking for aid, you’ll catch the medkit tossed at you. If the trailer is any indication, you can also bullseye grenades in midair, and perform athletics such as mantling over ledges or crashing through a window, which will have you rolling or steadying yourself in a quick movement. The goal, says DICE, is to reduce abstractions throughout the experience, making it clear visually what each player is doing. Longer animations also make everything a bit riskier.
When will we learn more?
Battlefield 5 will be fully revealed at EA Play, June 9-11. Sometime after that there will be an open beta.
