Battlefield 6’s open beta kicks off later this week, and EA have now painted a picture of what you can expect maps/modes-wise, as well as in terms of the changes the devs have made based on Battlefield Labs playtest feedback.
Plus, there’s a new trailer that features yet more folks in camo running about amid booms. I’m glad to report that no helicopters, at least at a glance, look to have been harmed in the run up to this one.
As detailed in Battlefield 6’s multiplayer reveal last week, the open beta will mainly run across two weekend-ish windows, August 9th-10th and August 14th -17th. Because big video game in 2025, there’ll also be open beta early access running from August 7th into the first weekend, limited to folks who’ve subscribed to EA Play Pro or registered for Battlefield Labs before July 31st.
During the first weekend, you’ll be able to jump into three different maps and three different game modes. Siege of Cairo will offer urban battles likely involving much crouch-walking, Liberation Peak takes you to the countryside of Tajikistan’s mountains for what sounds like more open action with jet and chopper dogfight potential, and Iberian Offensive takes you back to tight streets, but this time in Gibraltar.
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The three modes for that opening weekend are conquest, breakthrough, and closed weapons breakthrough. For weekend two, the Empire State map will be wheeled out so infantryfolks can thoroughly wreck Brooklyn, with rush and squad deathmatch also arriving to make it five modes in total.
Lest you think EA haven’t taken anything on board from those who’ve already dived into the game’s Battlefield Labs testing, the publishers have put out a full Tweeter essay outlining how that feedback’s shaped changes for the beta and beyond. For this open play specifically, they want you to give a closed weapon conquest playlist a go as part of plans to let folks “choose between closed and open weapon modes”, while maps like Siege of Cairo have had several aspects revamped with an eye to ensuring the flow of murder-deathing and balance of battles is closer to the ideal.
The sorts of Time-to-Kill and Time-to-Death debates that’ll still be going on around multiplayer shooters in the year 5025 have led EA to balance damage “across the weapon pool”. The weapon customisation menus have also been made more clear, and signature weapons have been introduced. The latter means, for example, recon classers will get extra advantages with the sniper rifles that I assume they’ll be using to 360 no-scope fools from across the map.
More in-depth changes for all four of the game’s main classes – assault, engineer, support, and recon – are already planned and detailed in the essay, but won’t be coming in until after this open beta’s concluded. That means you’ll have to hop into more Labs testing if you want to try something closer to the “final adaptation” of the class system ahead of release.
Once the open beta’s done, EA’ll be putting out “an overview of further changes we’re making on the road towards launch”, because the tweakage can never stop.
