This is what awaits you in Hazard Zone

With All Out Warfare and Portal, developer DICE has already presented two of the three gameplay pillars on which Battlefield 2042 will stand. With Hazard Zone you make use of elements from Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown – but it doesn’t get quite as “hardcore” after all.

“It’s not a battle royale,” Dice assured more than once, referring to Hazard Zone, the third game mode of Battlefield 2042. In fact, Hazard isn’t about being the last team alive, it’s about being the first (or even second) team to run away. You may know the basic concept from Escape from Tarkov or Hunt: Showdown Solo player teams search a map for loot or special objects and try to escape from the map with them. Hazard Zone follows this concept, but in a Battlefield style.

Battlefield 2042: How Hazard Zone Works

Let’s start with a few facts about the playful framework of Hazard Zone:

• The game is played in teams of four (squads)
• Xbox One and PS4: 24 game ends per round
• Xbox Series X | S, PS5 and PC: 32 game ends per round
• Squads consist of the well-known specialists; there can only be one per squad per specialist
• Hazard Zone is played on all seven known maps from All-Out Warfare
• The tornadoes can also occur in the Hazard Zone

The squads try in the Hazard Zone Hard drives from crashed satellites to rescue and escape with them. In addition to the other squads, AI opponents are also trying to prevent you from recovering the hard drives and escaping from the map. There is a per match for exfiltration only two opportunities, one in the middle and one towards the end of the round. So it can a maximum of two teams (or none at all) win a round.

Any hard drive you escape with will be in Dark Market Credits and experience points converted. With the credits you can buy weapons, equipment and tactical upgrades buy for your next round. As with Escape from Tarkov, if you die, you will lose all of your equipment. However, after you go down, team members can revive you.

It will be the launch 15 tactical upgrades give to buy. This includes, for example, a loadout insurance through which you get half of your credits back in the event of death or a one-time re-entry for a team member who has been killed.

This is how a lap in Hazard Zone works

At the start of a round, each team member chooses a specialist, puts together their own equipment and issues the Dark Market Credits for it. When you land on the map, the search for the hard drives begins, which is why a team member does one Intel scanner should have with you. This shows where the next satellite will go to the ground. Then it’s time to collect hard drives and fight against AI opponents and other squads.

A team then has to decide whether to try to reach the first pick-up point and defend or wait for the second opportunity. The last time window for a pick-up opens a little after ten to twelve minutes. By the way, only one squad has to make it alive and everyone will be rewarded.

While Hazard Zone wants to test your skills with squad-based gameplay, you can really let off steam in Portal:

The basis of Hazard Zone is basically known from Escape from Tarkov, even if the Battlefield variant does not seem quite as complex and difficult. You can find out how the whole thing then plays out with Early Access, expected from November 12, 2021. The global release of Battlefield 2042 is planned for November 19, 2021.