Battlefield 6 Open Beta Preview: The Right Steps in the Series' Development

After the not-so-successful and lukewarmly received Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield 5, many players lost faith in the series and began to massively criticize EA and DICE for their irresponsible attitude towards the franchise. And yes, it’s hard to believe, but the widespread backlash and vocal statements from fans really did force the publisher to change its approach to developing the next main installment. Battlefield 6 can be described as a soft rollback to the gameplay and atmospheric formula of Battlefield 3 and 4, but with total improvements to all the aspects gamers have been asking for over the past 10 years. We spent about 20 hours in the open beta test and can confidently say: Battlefield hasn’t just returned to the industry in full force, but is also ready to show Activision and its Call of Duty how things should be done.

There’s plenty of debate about which Battlefield game was the best, but judging by player reviews and memories, it was Battlefield 3 that became the benchmark DICE should have followed when making sequels. It’s no surprise that after a string of failed experiments and the openly controversial Battlefield 2042, EA management decided to completely reboot the development process for the next installment and bring the series back to the formula from 14 years ago. Now, Battlefield 6 is being developed by a whole group of studios, and the process is being led by the well-known Vince Zampella — the father of Call of Duty, Titanfall, and Apex Legends. These are the best decisions the publisher could have made. Delegating responsibilities within the Battlefield Studios collective will allow the product to be released in good technical condition, and Zampella understands better than anyone what fans want and in which direction the franchise should evolve.

Although the full release of Battlefield 6 is scheduled only for early October 2025, you can already try out the multiplayer mode as part of the open beta test. Of course, the content is, to put it mildly, a bit scarce, but overall the build gives a clear idea of the targeted changes in gameplay, pace, dynamics, and the overall atmosphere of the upcoming project. And let’s be honest, this is the first beta test in the series’ history that not only surprises with its technical execution but also with the general hype surrounding the game. In just the first few days of testing, the peak online numbers on Steam alone have broken all records.

After the first day of testing Battlefield 6, we can confidently say: the franchise has truly returned in its best iteration and delivers exactly the emotions you expect from it. No more running around huge maps looking for enemies — just endless action and spectacular assaults on control points amid the crackle of crumbling building facades. The developers are clearly aiming for fierce competition with Call of Duty, so the main focus of the game design is on infantry battles and shootouts, not on vehicles and tactical planning.

During the beta test, only a couple of maps are available, where tanks and IFVs don’t really have room to maneuver. The locations feel noticeably smaller and more complex. Thanks to this, the density of action remains extremely high. We played on Asian servers, where Chinese and Korean players create utter mayhem on the battlefield, never letting you catch your breath from the endless rain of lead. Because of this, capturing territories in Breakthrough mode always felt like an impossible task. Just imagine a numerically limited army trying to reclaim a small patch of land from a squad that keeps charging head-on in endless waves, unafraid of catching a stray bullet. Every match delivers an unreal amount of emotions and keeps you tense until the very end. Compared to Battlefield 2042, this is truly a big step forward in terms of building a well-designed gameplay experience.

Madness and chaos — that’s how you can describe a match in Battlefield 6. The developers have given each class a couple of overpowered items, making it nearly impossible to survive more than two minutes in a fight. The Engineer has a full-fledged RPG with a large supply of rockets, which can not only destroy any enemy armored vehicle in seconds, but also be spammed into narrow corridors and enemy choke points. Because of this, most buildings and fragile structures on the map turn to rubble moments after the match begins. The Assault class, in addition to a rifle, gets a shotgun and a grenade launcher that can incinerate entire squads with napalm and clear out hard-to-reach areas. The Medic wields a portable machine gun (the game lets you take any weapon, but this is the default) and sets up barricades, creating cover at resupply points. The Recon can place a couple of radio stations in a secluded spot and spawn allies behind enemy lines. And most importantly, the class system works just like in the good old days: without Engineers it’s harder to deal with tanks, without Medics you might run out of supplies at the worst possible moment, and Recons skillfully use sniper rifles to cover your back.

Movement in Battlefield 6 has received a ton of improvements that comprehensively refresh the outdated mechanics. Crouch-running lets you quickly move from cover to cover. Rolling during combat helps you avoid headshots and take up advantageous positions. While reviving a teammate, you can drag them into cover or move them closer to a Medic with a defibrillator. Some movement features make the gameplay more cinematic, while others are a step toward Call of Duty’s style. Over 20 hours, we encountered more running, jumping, and rolling enemies than those sitting behind cover waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

Shooting in Battlefield 6 is surprisingly satisfying and doesn’t feel as arcade-like as it seemed in the trailers. First of all, every weapon has its own recoil and behavior. Assault rifles kick up to the top right, while carbines in full-auto mode pull the aim off target. Of course, it’s not on the level of CS or Valorant, but you’ll still need to get used to holding your aim and controlling recoil. TTK (time to kill) varies depending on the weapon and hit registration. You can kill an enemy with an SMG in a second if they’re nearby, while rifles can easily send someone back to respawn with a couple of precise headshots.

The sniper rifle, however, turned out to be quite controversial. Its damage is always random. Sometimes a headshot is an instant kill, but other times it only deals 60 damage. A body shot usually takes away 80 HP, leaving snipers with no room for error. Playing this class is already challenging, and the randomness and inconsistent hit registration make it even tougher. Speaking of which, this might be a technical issue with the beta version, but the servers often fail to register damage correctly with any weapon. This problem is especially obvious in one-on-one fights, when you empty a whole magazine into an enemy and see hit markers on screen with no signs of missing, but the enemy not only survives, but kills you with just a couple of return shots. At first, we thought it was just us not understanding the damage scaling, but many players have already complained about this problem, so it’s definitely real, and the developers absolutely need to fix it before release.

Returning to weapon behavior, it’s worth mentioning the upgrade and attachment system, which improves stats and lets you optimize recoil. Everything is implemented very conveniently and simply, but to unlock truly useful attachments, you have to actively use a specific weapon. The easiest way to do this is in Domination and King of the Hill modes, where you have to capture and hold points on small maps for a certain time. Respawns in these battles are instant, and the high density of encounters lets you quickly clear out enemy squads. Attachments let you use larger magazines or a laser sight. However, for some reason, sniper rifles don’t have unique scopes—they use exactly the same ones as assault rifles. This is a rather strange decision, since the default scope immediately offers maximum magnification, and all the others only worsen visibility and don’t give any real advantages. In general, it’s a beta — what else is there to say.

The maps, as mentioned earlier, are more complex and relatively small in size. The geometry is readable and simple, allowing you to reach your destination in just a few moments. The increased level of detail adds to the spectacle but hinders visibility—enemies often blend into the environment. Missing an enemy in a stairwell is a common occurrence. You can try out vehicles only on the Liberation Peak map, and even then, with certain limitations. Tanks can mostly move along pre-set routes and can’t enter areas where enemy squads are concentrated. On top of that, they get destroyed very quickly thanks to engineers and the huge number of RPG rockets in players’ inventories. Planes and helicopters don’t play a significant role in battle either — they’re constantly blown up by guided missiles before they can even reach the control points.

The other maps are «corridor-like» mazes of buildings that collapse spectacularly from explosives and rocket barrages. The promised updated building deformation system sounded impressive on paper, but in practice, it’s not much different from previous games in the series. There are many buildings on the map that are just geometric shells, so they can’t be destroyed. Admittedly, the collapses and destruction of buildings that can be blown up look spectacular and even provide a tactical advantage in battles, but we didn’t see anything truly innovative. This is far from The Finals, where changing geometry is the core of gameplay. Still, this feature turns every match into a visual spectacle, where a lucky tank shot can bring down the foundation of a three-story building, crushing a couple of enemies who tried to hide inside.

Of course, not everything that should be in the final release is implemented in the beta version. Many systems look unfinished or rough around the edges. It’s clear that the core gameplay contains many more possibilities that we have yet to explore, but even now it feels like we’re looking at an improved version of Battlefield 4. This is definitely not a completely different game or a revolution, but rather a well-executed experience built on the lessons learned from previous entries. Coordination and role distribution are of utmost importance, while vehicles and tactical planning help achieve objectives. Everything we once loved about the series is present here in full.

When talking about the problems in Battlefield 6, we should immediately clarify that this is a beta version, and it’s meant to give players the chance to uncover bugs and technical issues. And believe me, there are more than enough of them. Getting stuck in textures, visual glitches, and screen flickering occur in almost every match. Sometimes, the physics act up, and enemies can suddenly shoot up into the sky. Some players have already figured out how to spawn directly on rooftops, turning matches into a rocket rain free-for-all. We often fell through the map, saw our character model from a third-person perspective, spawned under a tank and floated along with it, unable to do anything. And that’s just what stuck in our memory.

We’ve already talked about hit registration, and it’s a problem that really needs to be fixed, because playing with it is very unpleasant. Not only does TTK not always work correctly — leading to unfair duels—but it also makes some weapons much less effective. We noticed that a lot of players prefer to take SMGs over other weapon types. That’s because they’re more effective in terms of hit registration and let you shoot while sprinting.

Vehicles handle far too unnaturally and arcade-like. On top of that, they’ve become excessively fragile and vulnerable. Infantry have enough countermeasures in their arsenal from the very start of the match, so tanks get destroyed in seconds. Because of this, it’s common to see heavy vehicles swarmed by ten engineers endlessly repairing them.

We didn’t really get to try out planes and helicopters, since the maps in the beta aren’t suitable for large-scale battles. Overall, the map pool is very odd. For some reason, the developers chose locations where there’s constant, intense fighting, leaving you no time to catch your breath. Because of this, you can’t really play as a sniper the way you could in previous games. Trying to line up headshots under heavy fire and the watchful eyes of enemy scouts is hardly enjoyable. Helicopters barely have time to take off before you get a warning that you’re leaving the battlefield. In short, we’re looking forward to other maps that will offer more opportunities to implement different gameplay ideas.

The Battlefield 6 menu was clearly designed with Call of Duty in mind. In some places, it’s convenient and intuitive, especially when it comes to selecting modes and customizing attachments. But it’s not without its flaws. First, when testing weapons, you constantly have to jump into the training area and then back to the menu to change your arsenal. Why can’t you just pick a weapon and attachments on the spot? After a match, you can’t go straight to the character customization screen to tweak your gear. To switch modes, you have to go all the way back to the main menu. On top of that, many buttons don’t work as intended. Sometimes, to spawn in, you have to press Esc first, then return to the map and finally hit Deploy.

But the main thing that left a bad impression — cheaters. There are a lot of them. The hassle of installing the game with Secure Boot enabled and removing suspicious programs didn’t save Battlefield 6 from dishonest players at all. And we played on Asian servers, where the cheater problem is especially bad. Wallhacks, aimbots, and the ability to spawn anywhere completely kill the excitement.

We often ran into Chinese players who just stood in place and killed with sniper rifles through walls. It didn’t matter if you were running, rolling, or hiding behind a door—you’d always get shot in the head. The leaderboard always clearly shows who’s using cheats and who isn’t. These players consistently rack up 60-100 kills with minimal deaths. Judging by streams, things are a bit better on European servers, but the list of complaints from players on Steam and Reddit is still huge.

The developers have already admitted that the anti-cheat isn’t coping with the influx of cheaters, and Secure Boot is far from a cure-all. During just the first wave of beta testing, over 300,000 dishonest players were detected. What will happen at launch is hard to predict, but the Javelin anti-cheat clearly isn’t as effective as Riot’s Vanguard.

In short, there are more than enough shortcomings and issues in the beta. Many of them will likely be fixed by the time the full release comes out, but the number of truly major problems that break the core gameplay can be counted on one hand. In any case, fixing bugs, hit registration, and TTK won’t take years of intense work, and otherwise — everything works.

Judging by the high player count during the beta test and the positive feedback from gamers, the development of Battlefield 6 is moving in the right direction. This is truly the game that fans have been asking for over the years — a continuation of the ideas and philosophy of Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4. Excellent gunplay, solid destruction, dynamic encounters, and teamwork are the foundation of the sixth installment, and they work brilliantly, pulling you in completely. At times, the game feels reminiscent of Call of Duty 4, especially in terms of visuals, setting, and atmosphere, but its foundation is unmistakably «Battlefield».

After 20 hours, it becomes clear that EA is doing everything it can to win back the core audience and convince everyone that this is the game they’ve been waiting for. Battlefield 6 has a real chance to become the best game in the series, provided the developers fix the flaws identified during testing. And, of course, if they don’t mess up the story campaign. We’re looking forward to the release in October 2025 and heading into the second stage of testing, which starts on August 14.