Battlefield 6 promises more consistent destruction: “Everything that should break will break”

EA and DICE have high hopes for the destructible environment in Battlefield 6 and made some key improvements to ensure that players will have a consistent experience with the system.

Shashank Uchil, design director at DICE, told DBLTAP at the BF6 multiplayer reveal in London that “everything that should break will break. If a wall can’t break, you’ll know it can’t break.” It’ll be made very clear through an asset’s visuals and positioning whether or not it can be blown to pieces.

Only a small number of assets on maps won’t be subject to this general rule: “You will find some [assets] which are meant to be there for performance reasons, where if you break them the map just breaks, but that’s maybe like one percent.”

“The aim is to have everything be as destructible as possible,” Uchil said. “That is the foundation for everything we've done. That's why it's taken so much work.”

Though total destruction no doubt makes for immersion and spectacle, the developers have to find a balance between those elements and gameplay.

“It’s a fine line between having destruction, but also making sure there’s enough cover,” Uchil pointed out.

He described how the developers had to formulate their map designs around the idea of total destruction being a factor, which essentially led to them having to create every map in three different versions — whole, partially destroyed, and completely destroyed. Like Uchil stated, even a map that no longer features walls still needs to provide cover opportunities.

This is achieved by cleverly placed props, but also by using the consequences of destruction — some walls may leave lone pillars standing, while piles of rubble create new cover. Players can even use rubble piles to access additional areas, such as the upper floor of buildings. Caution may be advised, though, because flying rubble can very easily cause lethal damage to players. Shrapnel is a thing in BF6.

Uchil said that building the New York City-based map, which is featured prominently in the title’s artwork, was “very challenging.”

“It’s one of the hardest maps we’ve made by far,” he said. Because of how iconic the city is, “you can’t just change it willy-nilly.” The bridges on the Brooklyn-based map will be destructible in the campaign, but not in multiplayer — due to performance reasons, Uchil said. 

BF6’s maps were built with classic Conquest and the new Escalation mode in mind, supporting different flag locations for both modes. Feedback from BF2042 also made the developers very conscious of ensuring that “going from A to B is not drudgery.”

“Think of Escalation as Conquest – it’s a large scale mode, it has 64 players as infantry, has all the vehicles in it – but the space gets smaller and that's why it escalates,” Uchil explained. “That’s where the name comes from. It’s Conquest, but the stakes get higher and higher as the game progresses.” 

As flags are lost, additional vehicles come in as reinforcements, so progressively more firepower is concentrated on a shrinking battlefield.

“You have a smaller space with more things to fight with,” Uchil concludes. “Of course, it’s going to be chaos.”

Uchil also confirmed that BF6 will keep a grounded tone and avoid goofy skins.

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