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Battlefield 5 modes detailed: War Stories, Combined Arms and multiplayer

EA and DICE today detailed each of Battlefield 5‘s three main modes: War Stories, Combined Arms and multiplayer.

War Stories

Battlefield 1’s War Stories single-player campaign returns for Battlefield 5.

“These are the untold stories of this war, portraying real and relatable people with ‘only in Battlefield’ moments,” Senior Producer Lars Gustavvson said, introducing the mode.
“These are the stories that changed the tide of this war,” he added, designed by DICE “to help players get a feel through the war.”

Gustavvson detailed one particular War Story called Nordlys, which is Norwegian for ‘Northern Lights’. Set in Norway in 1943, the chapter will follow a young, female resistance fighter who fights to save her family.

War Stories is our chance to put the war into perspective,” Gustavvson continued. “To put feelings in there and cause people to walk away with a different perspective on the war.”

Combined Arms

Combined Arms is a co-op mode that will cater to up to four players in total.

“It’s about playing together and leaving no man behind,” Gustavvson said. “It’s high-stakes – will you go for it all or will you choose to extract [early]?”

Combined Arms will use what Gustavvson referred to as “mission generation… driving dynamic objectives to keep the mode feeling fresh.”

More importantly, Combined Arms has been designed as a stepping stone into proper multiplayer action.

“Combined arms is really what connects the dots between single-player and multiplayer,” Gustavvson continued. “We as developers have an agenda to create a safe haven for new players to Battlefield in order that they can experience the Battlefield sandbox.”

More importantly, Combined Arms will help feed into Battlefield 5’s various progression systems.

“Everything you do here will help progression and feed [your] company,” Gustavvson said. “The company is even fed by the War Stories; things you do… it’s like an echo system.

Multiplayer — Grand Operations

Fan-favourite modes like Conquest, Attrition, Team Deathmatch and Domination have been confirmed for Battlefield 5 and will be showcased in a very different manner.

Called Grand Operations, Senior Producer Andreas Morell described it as “our multiplayer vision, combining several modes and maps, leading to an epic World War II fantasy.”

“We’re changing the format completely, letting you play over four fictional days,” Design Director Daniel Verlin summarised.

“A day is a representation of a map. You’ll have different modes on different days; different experiences. It’s all tied together through a narrative; what you manage to achieve on day one will have a direct impact on day two.”

DICE’s Ryan McArthur further detailed the mode, providing an example of potential gameplay. Rather than a single, prolonged multiplayer match that lasts for an hour or more in a single location, Grand Operations will take place over several in-game days, providing variety in game modes and maps.

McArthur’s example detailed a particular Grand Operation that took place in Rotterdam. On day one, a player would fill the shoes of a paratrooper, tasked to sabotage long-range artillery. A successful operation means you would disable the artillery and protect your incoming invasion force. While DICE didn’t detail a Battle Royale mode, this seemed the closest to it — playing as an attacker, you’ll spawn in a plane preparing for a paradrop. From there, you’re able to survey the battlefield, looking down at capture points and choosing when to leap from the plane in order to strike.

On day two, still in Rotterdam, your invasion force has landed; you’ll receive respawn tickets that depend on your success in day one. If you succeeded, you’ll receive far more tickets than if you failed.

Day three features a map change, according to McArthur. You’ll move into a destroyed part of Rottendam, after a bombing has taken place. Potential modes could involve Assault or Frontlines, McArthur said, and stressed that the Grand Operation could end with a decisive victory by one team on this day. If the match is close, teams will be pushed into a fourth, final day – what McArthur called the final stand.

Final stand is a sudden-death mode with high, high stakes.

“You’ve been fighting over the course of four days. You’re exhausted; out of resources. You’re out of soldiers. It’s a fight down to the last man; to the death,” he said. “We lean heavily into the Attrition system. You spawn in and have one mag. You don’t have any respawns. And the same goes for the enemy team.”

Battlefield 5 heads to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 no later than 19 October. For more on the game’s various release dates, head here.

Battlefield 5: All you need to know

Stevivor was flown to London, England by EA for the Battlefield 5 reveal.


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner of this very site and an active games journalist nearing twenty (TWENTY!?!) years. He's a Canadian-Australian gay gaming geek, ice hockey player and fan. Husband to Matt and cat dad to Wally and Quinn.