Battlefield 1 is famous for portraying war from a humanitarian point of view, giving respect to all the fallen soldiers during the Great War. The game opens with the protagonist walking around the battlefield, fighting for his life, on the losing end of the bargain, who eventually succumbs to his injuries and dies.
EA and DICE went retrospective with Battlefield 1 by going back to the stories of World War 1, giving the players a taste of traditional warfare in both air and land. This had never been done before and made the developers super nervous about the response.
Battlefield 1’s traditional gameplay and storytelling
Battlefield 1 is set during World War 1 and gives us 6 chapters with completely different stories and protagonists. The game is all about horseback combat, trench warfare, experimental tanks, and flimsy biplanes. It had never been done before and offered a completely new perspective and experience to first-person shooter fans.
Before the game’s release in 2016, Lars Gustavsson admitted that he and his team at DICE were slightly nervous about how the game would be received. He said –
We were extremely nervous about whether or not people would like the concept. Thankfully the internet exploded and from that point on the game has been surrounded by an enormous positive energy, and that’s something that makes me super happy.
Battlefield 1 broke all records for online beta, with over 13 million users. The beta testing confirmed that the universality of the theme resonated well with the players, all over the world. This game gave a fresh outlook towards first-person shooter games with traditional weaponry and experimental tanks and vehicles.
Battlefield 1’s thoughtful homage to fallen soldiers of the war
With Battlefield 1, DICE wanted to remain as respectful as possible, to the millions of people who lost their lives during the war. Dice has continued to maintain that respectful style of storytelling to date. Battlefield 5 is very similar in style to its predecessor, rooted in the harsh realities of war forcing you to die during the first mission in the game.
Reflecting on the realism rooted in the heart of the game Gustavsson said –
It wasn’t really two-sided, it was multi-faceted and by having different protagonists and not one single superhero flying a plane and then riding a tank like a jack-of-all-trades, I think we managed to deliver more believable characters and allow them to be all they can be, instead of trying to do something more like a comic book hero
Battlefield 1’s narrative structure sheds light on the events that occurred all around the world during the war. Players experience many sides of the war, enabling them to form an informed opinion about all that transpired during the war.
By giving players control over a protagonist’s destiny, games tend to take one step beyond reality. This game offers an important lesson concerning one of the most significant and gruesome tragedies in the recent past. Battlefield 1 pays homage to the memories of all the forgotten heroes who sang the songs of glory before their voices faded out by the roar of missiles and gunfire.
