Battlefield 2042 Season 1 played: A rather poor rescue package

The first season for EA’s multiplayer shooter Battlefield 2042 starts on June 9, 2022. After a launch overshadowed by technical problems, the DICE development team made improvements there, but BF 2042 was also heavily criticized for gameplay decisions.

Battlefield 2042: A difficult starting point

Even those who don’t have too much contact with EA’s shooter series will have noticed that Battlefield 2042 not well received by the community. Although the technical problems have now been resolved, the fans are not satisfied with the gameplay either. The mode “Hazard Zone” was developed by developer DICE now buried and no longer supplied with further content.

Battlefield 2042 was temporarily among the 10 worst games on Steam:

After a postponement, the first content update for Battlefield 2042 will be released in a few days after more than half a year Play Event The press and content creators have already been able to view the content of the first season.

Battlefield 2042: This is in Season 1

In the first season you can expect a new map and new weapons as well as a battle pass (costs 10 euros). However, the Battle Pass also has free content and that includes all gameplay-related things like maps, weapons. Equipment, Specialists and Vehicles. The paid Battle Pass only offers additional cosmetics.

Overview of Season 1:

• New map: Exposure
• New specialist: Ewelina Lis
• New weapons: BSV-5 sniper rifle and The Ghostmaker R10 crossbow
• New vehicles: RAH-68 Huron and YG-99 Hannibal stealth helicopters
• New Equipment: Smoke Grenade Launcher
• Battle Pass with 100 levels

First impression of the contents of the 1st season

The new map exposure is significantly smaller than the previous maps of BF 2042. However, I was able to at the event only the variant for 64 players testing. As you might have seen in the trailer, Exposure clearly owns more vertical gameplay also for infantry. While the high ledge is a good spot for snipers, it also leaves you vulnerable to enemy helicopters. In the tunnels, on the other hand, there is a lot of direct action, also because there can be tanks on all levels of the map due to a vehicle lift.

In Breakthrough mode, the map shines not very well balanced to be. The defenders were not able to win any match played at the event. In terms of Conquest, things looked much better here. It remains to be seen where the new Specialist Lis is in terms of balancing. Her ability to detect vehicle weaknesses and her missile launcher with controllable projectiles are of course very effective against any vehicle in the game. In my opinion, the damage against infantry is reasonable. At least hits weren’t very devastating against groups of enemies either, which isn’t to say you can’t take down infantry with the rocket launcher.

Check out this trailer for an overview of Specialist Lis’ abilities:

The new silenced precision rifle quickly turned out to be right versatile all-purpose weapon, which can be used at short and medium distances thanks to the switchable fire mode from semi to full auto. The crossbow is even quieter than the BSV-M, but thanks to explosive bolts it can also be used against armored targets. Unfortunately, during the limited time, I didn’t even manage to jump into the cockpit of the new helicopters.

A few more words about the Battle Pass: The progression through the available missions seemed pretty quick to me. There are eight missions each week that give between four and six points. For a level in the Battlepass you need ten points. You can still complete the missions from previous weeks afterwards.

Take a look at the new maps, weapons and Battle Pass:

And one thing I would like to mention briefly. You will probably from technical problems at the event heard that made matchmaking impossible. I advise against projecting these problems onto the start of the season. Own servers and a game version with its own launcher were used for the event. That is, if there is a problem on June 9th, it was a new problem.

The future of Battlefield 2042

In my opinion, Season 1 will not be the big rescue package that will boost the game again. While the smaller maps are the way to go for me, that doesn’t change the fact that the game still doesn’t feel “right” overall. The event concluded with a Q&A where it became clear that DICE is slowly saying goodbye to 128 players and from Season 2 will only develop 64-player maps. However, will also older maps revised. Kaleidoscope will start in August 2022. The map will have significantly more cover options and improved destruction effects. Renewal will be revised for Season 2.

For many fans, however, that might be too little and too late. Many will have promised more content from Season 1. However, it is best to get an idea for yourself from June 9, 2022, because that is when the first season in Battlefield 2042 starts.