After playing the Battlefield 6 Open Beta, I’m cautiously optimistic

I spent several hours trying out the Battlefield 6 Open Beta over the weekend, and so far, I’m really impressed.

There have been a lot of opinions flying around on social media, but the general consensus so far seems to be that EA is heading in the right direction, at least so far. I generally agree with this sentiment — BF6 feels like a return to the series’ peak for me, while also shipping some welcome improvements.

I first got into the series back when Battlefield 3 came out. I remember staying up late so I could start the BF3 beta download on my Xbox 360 in hopes it’d be done by the time I woke up in the morning so I could hop right into the game. From that point on, I was hooked. I haven’t played every game since BF3, however. I skipped Battlefield 4 at launch, though I later picked it up for PC after I built my first computer — a computer I built specifically to play Battlefield 1 at launch.

But after BF1, the series took a noticeable dive. Battlefield V definitely had issues, though I think the core game was okay, if not as good as 1 or 3. And I never bothered with Battlefield 2042 for a variety of reasons, and I’m frankly glad I skipped it.

Right from the jump with BF6, it felt a lot more like 3 and 4, thanks to a combination of things like the modern setting, the maps, and just the game’s general aesthetic. For example, the UI elements sport colours and a holo effect reminiscent of BF4, while the mountainous Liberation Peak map reminded me of chilly Operation Locker (though just in appearance — the maps play very differently).

Appearances aside, the Open Beta also had the classic Battlefield feel. Movement was grounded and realistic, weapons felt lethal but not overpowered, and vehicles… well, I’ve never been one for vehicle combat, but the vehicles also didn’t feel overpowered like they did in prior titles. I mostly played matches of Conquest and Breakthrough in the beta. The former is the classic Battlefield game mode, making ample use of the large maps with multiple points that teams need to capture and hold. Breakthrough, which was introduced back in BF1, tasks an attacking team with capturing sections of the map in succession while a defending team tries to hold the line. It was just as chaotic as in prior titles.

Another notable tweak with BF6 is the class system. It’s back, but with some differences. At first, I wasn’t sure about the changes, but now that I’ve played the game, I think they work well. Classes now include Assault, which is geared for — you guessed it — assaulting fortified enemy positions with gadgets like a grenade launcher and a weapon sling that lets you hold an additional weapon, like a shotgun. The Support class in BF6 is something of a combination of the Support and Medic classes in prior games, equipped with gear to revive teammates (any player can revive members of their squad, while Support can revive any team member and do so faster) as well as resupply teammates with ammo. This was one of the changes I was initially unsure about, but in practice it felt really good.

And speaking of reviving teammates, BF6 has a really neat interaction where you can drag other players while you revive them. This is a huge improvement in my eyes, allowing me to pull downed teammates out of harm’s way while I revive them, instead of reviving them directly into the enemy’s line of fire. It also feels badass to drag a teammate into cover amid a storm of gunfire.

The Engineer and Recon classes return as well, but are largely unchanged. Engineer, as before, is all about dealing with vehicles with gadgets like the RPG and repair torch. Recon, on the other hand, is the sniper glass with gadgets like the spawn beacon and motion sensor. Another change EA made, which I quite like but seems to have Battlefield fans divided, is that classes aren’t tied to specific weapon types. In previous games, for example, the Engineer class could only use SMGs, while the Support class was locked to machine guns (MGs).

BF6 allows any class to use any weapon, but each class has a bonus with their favoured weapon type. For example, the Support class doesn’t have a sprint speed penalty for using MGs, but other classes can choose to use MGs if they’re willing to run slower. While I get why some don’t like this approach, I’m a fan because it allows me to use the class that’s best suited to what’s happening in the game. I generally like to switch to the Engineer class if the enemy team has a lot of tanks, but now if I’m playing on a map that isn’t suited to SMGs, I can swap to a weapon better suited to the environment.

Of course, the game isn’t perfect. I mean, it is a beta after all — I noticed quite a few bugs, from the mildly annoying to the infuriating. For example, I noticed a couple of occasions where my character would randomly switch weapons and look in a different direction — like suddenly looking straight up in the sky — despite no input from me. I also had problems with the game locking up in between rounds, forcing me to quit and relaunch (and then wait in the queue again, though it was never for very long). I also noticed several graphical glitches, like flashing or strobing colours, and the occasional hilarious physics bug (like bodies launching into the stratosphere). But I can’t ding a beta too much for bugginess — it is a beta, after all — and overall, it was incredibly smooth and I had a blast playing it.

All this is to say, I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve seen so far, and I have high hopes for the final game. I think EA has a strong foundation here, and as long as it doesn’t mess anything up too badly, I think BF6 will be a hit. However, there are still a lot of unknowns. I’ve only played a handful of maps — the Open Beta had three, and the next round on August 14-17 will add a fourth map and some additional game modes. I like what I’ve played so far, but past games in the series have had issues with too few launch maps.

Similarly, there are concerns about post-launch content and monetization. We know BF6 will have a battlepass, skins, and weapon camos — par for the course for a first-person shooter (FPS) title in 2025. Here’s hoping EA sticks with the realistic aesthetic it has and doesn’t go the Call of Duty route with crazy skins like the Beavis and Butt-Head stuff that feels totally out of place. I’ll be watching BF6 with cautious optimism ahead of the October 10 release.

Want to try BF6? EA is running another Open Beta weekend from August 14-17. To join, all you have to do is download it on the platform of your choice, then launch it during the Open Beta period.

Images credit: EA