![[../_site-assets/Concluding the Unending (A Battlefield Retrospect conclusion )/image.png]] When I started planning this retrospect during the Battlefield 6 beta, I thought the conclusion would be obvious. I'd just share how I see BF6 fit into modern Battlefield and give my view on the systems that matter to me. But finishing my deep dive into BFV stirred up feelings I wasn't expecting, and suddenly my neat little plan didn't feel so simple anymore. > […] I could live without Battlefield. Indeed, I'd probably prefer to. The series gave me one last great ride before my departure. What I'll remember about V is a game that dared to make controversial yet bold choices, guided by a clear and desirable vision of what Battlefield could be. You'll be remembered on my list, little guy. > To me, it feels like a peaceful ending. What more could I add? My emotional attachment to these games peaked in high school and has slowly declined since. I've grown dispassionate, and honestly, I see it as a virtue. # Shooty-Shooty exhaustion Check any Call of Duty trailer comment section and you’ll find the same thing: die-hard COD fans who pay every year for the same shooty-shooty game, yet parade around like they hate COD. Stop posturing. Just buy the game you want to play, nobody needs to know how “cool” you are for being hyped about the new BF. Congratulations on your exquisite taste in video games, big boy. (That said, some comments are often hilarious to read.) What I’m trying to say, in an admittedly mean way, is that it feels impossible to have calm, hype-free discussions about games in 2025. Some internet goblins crave the rush of throwing out strong, hype-driven opinions on yet another uninspired military shooter from capitalist venture X. In the grand scheme of culture and craftsmanship, these games aren’t the pinnacle of anything. Yet taking sides for or against one still gets paraded around like a tribal totem for some unsecure player. I’m genuinely disinterested in what is promote as “gamer” culture: the products, the lifestyle, the branding. I’ve never felt the need for a “gamer” internet browser—side-eye to Opera GX. I love video games, but I don’t want to connect with people solely because of that. The medium is so broad, like cinema, that it feels harder and harder to build genuine connection on nothing more than “we both like games”. I want to talk about games without hype or commercial intent. I don’t want to hand out “passion points” to developers of games I like, or blame “lack of passion” when I don’t. I’m not a mind reader. And I don’t want badly managed companies to hide behind their passionate developers, nor do I want to see those same developers harassed just because they work there. I hate the constant chatter about how “passionate” devs supposedly are, especially when we’re talking about massive industrial productions like the ones in this article. Saying that Battlefield 6 looks "more passionate" than Black Ops 7 is ridiculous. Have taste, sure, but don't dress it up as if it's based on reading dev passion. Battlefield 6 isn't a "passion project." What EA has called the “creation” of a Battlefield studios looks more like destruction, exactly the same process Activision put Call of Duty through. Every studio, every worker, every ounce of creativity gets reduced to pure franchise fuel. Player attention and money are squeezed at every turn. So how can I still care, or feel "passionate" in that environment? I'll keep playing some, appreciating design, visual language, or narrative choices when they're interesting. But we need to step back from the "products we consume" and save our energy for things that are actually meaningful. Ultimately, it’s just a mix of exhaustion and leftover curiosity. Exhaustion with the endless discourse around the big shooty-shooty games, and curiosity because I used to care a lot about them. To wrap up this point, I’ll drop in a piece from my original draft, a version that felt more like a rant, which I eventually abandoned. But even in that raw state, it cuts straight to what I want to say. > The infamous DICE PR line—if you don’t get it, you’re uneducated—was a self-inflicted wound, but it came from a real frustration. Developers work in an environment where valid critique, knee-jerk outrage, alt-right commentaries get mixed together into the same noise, and every “mistake” gets blown up. The issue isn’t that players are dumb, it’s that the whole discourse is stuck in endless loops of bad faith and toxicity. **The “good guys” get painted as flawless, the “bad guys” as irredeemable, because controversy is the only thing that feeds the YouTube algorithm beast. Remember when *Call of Duty was dead* back in 2017? Or when #notmybattlefield was the great war cry of 2018? Feels like nobody remembers. The cycle just resets, over and over, with the same overblown takes recycled like bad leftovers. At this point, I just need some fresh air. Honestly, the hype train needs to derail so people can go back to simply *playing* games, instead of flexing like they’re secret shareholders in EA ([well… not anymore, I guess](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/saudi-arabia-is-taking-ea-private-alongside-other-investors)) or Microsoft. Everybody needs to touch grass. Hell, *I* need to touch grass. > # So… what about Battlefield 6? Not much time has passed since the beta, yet with the launch only a week away, I feel like I’ve visibly aged since then. It’s strange to return to my scattered notes on the new title after writing the the rest of the retrospect. Still, I want to go through them and share my impressions, even if I might never touch the final game. So how does Battlefield 6 fit into its long, messy legacy? Strangely enough, even though the game plays it safe in many ways, its approach to classes feels substantial. It’s not just a lazy return to Battlefield 3 roots, and I’m glad for that. From what I played in the beta, I really appreciated the class design. The all-around Support class feels like a logical evolution, ammo and healing always felt linked, so combining them makes sense. Now, it’s easier to feel useful in a match because those functions aren’t split across different classes. The Engineer returns, focused on repairing and destroying vehicles. Assault now plays more as an infantry enforcer, providing squad bonuses. Giving them the deploy beacon was the right move to enhance the team usefulness for the class. On paper, Assault might not seem as distinct as the other classes, but in-game it definitely feels different. Even though it's powerful, it still relies on other classes, especially for ammo. Recon remains the spotting specialist, equipped with long-range rifles where headshots can deny revives. These feel like utilities on their own, though some might argue the class lost versatility without its deploy beacon. I’m glad the beacon isn’t tied to Recon anymore, even if it might make the class seem less useful to some players. I’ve enjoyed every class, though I’m a bit concerned about the open weapon system. Still, given the game’s overall direction, I don’t think it’s a bad fit. I appreciate the default loadouts, they give an immediate sense of each class’s role (smoke grenades for Medic, flash for Assault, frag for Engineer). Overall, it’s well-designed for what it aims to be: an easy-to-pick-up Battlefield with straightforward maps and objectives. I understand concerns about the game's rhythm and the focus on gunfights. Infantry dominates, with more intense matches, which I enjoy, but I understand the concern. It feels different and more in line with Call of Duty. There's a shocking lack of variety compared to what earlier Battlefields offered. Think Wake Island or Panzerstorm: nothing like that exists in BF6 so far. I'd even argue there's nothing with the flair of Arras or Mercury from BFV. Not to mention Paracel Storm—there's definitely a lack of big, dynamic maps. Overall, the game feels undeniably safe. That said, I still appreciate the polish and gunplay. It's a not-so-bad, put-together Battlefield. It feels a bit anticlimactic to end my retrospect this way, with such an unbalanced last stand. But as I write, I realize there is no need to extend the thing when I've already written the stuff I care about in these games and in their reception. It feels in line with my relationship with the franchise: I have just moved on, I think. Thanks for reading, and have a great day 🫶. ## Gallery ![[../_site-assets/Concluding the Unending (A Battlefield Retrospect conclusion )/head_sourcesBF5_4-1.jpg]]