Battlefield REDSEC Review

So, Battlefield 6 has been out in the open for a little over a month now, and I have to say I’m loving the experience with over 100 hours in the game so far. If you’re looking for a review purely on the multiplayer and campaign side of the game, then you can read my thoughts HERE. Being completely honest with you, when I heard that they were going to bring Battle Royale to Battlefield 6, I was truly concerned. The teams working on the franchise have tried and failed a few times with different modes. Firestorm in Battlefield V was promising, but it took focus away from the core game too much in my opinion and not having it as a free-to-play model hindered its success massively.

Hazard Zone in Battlefield 2042 wasn’t exactly a Battle Royale experience per se, but it did have high-stakes squad-based PvPvE extraction mechanics. Again, this fell flat on its face, and DICE stopped active development on it after a few months. Personally, I don’t think the Battlefield franchise needs a Battle Royale portion of the game. But here we are, and we do have a new crack of the whip. How does it hold up, though?

Battlefield BR Then, How Is It?

At launch, we only have duos and squads playlists available. So, those hoping to play solo or as part of a trio, there may be a bit of a wait for those to come, sadly. If you have played literally any Battle Royale game out there, then you’ll know the drill by now. Drop in, loot and survive until the bitter end. The opening scenes of the game play out almost identically to Call of Duty: Warzone. You appear in a chopper, step to the edge, then jump off when your jump leader decides.

Jumping follows the same style as Apex Legends. You have a jump leader, which can be passed around to others if the selected leader doesn’t want that role. You then bail out of the chopper as a collective whilst the jump leader navigates you. Any player can break off from the group at any stage. This can be rather frustrating when playing with randoms and they swan off, of their own accord. The servers are limited to 100 players currently, which seems the perfect number for the size of Fort Lyndon. Watch out as the ring of fire closes in, bringing squads closer together or that final fight.

Fort Lyndon Is Your Playground

Fort Lyndon is the only map to hit REDSEC at launch, and it’s a pretty vast play space with several biomes and areas to explore. There are plenty of areas such as Marina Vista, Boutique District, Lighthouse, Oilworks, Golf Course and more. As you’d expect, some areas are more built up and urban than, say, the Golf Course that comes complete with golf carts.

Ziplines, ladders and other options are available to traverse to high ground and the top of buildings. Underground areas, multi-storey buildings and even mountains make up the environment. Looting is simple: find crates in various colours to uncover gear. Weapons, grenades, gadgets, armour plates and even artillery and air strikes. Custom weapon drops come down sporadically throughout the game to equip some of your favourite weapons, but they can’t be purchased from a shop like Warzone. It makes me happy that players simply fight with what they can find on the ground.

Missions can be accepted and completing these will grant extra XP, better weapons and even opportunities to gain a tank. Tanks are present in the game, but unfortunately, they can overpower squads within a final circle if they aren’t tooled up to take the tank down. I do feel that perhaps when the circle closes in, the tanks should stop functioning to give all players a fair chance.

Gauntlet Mode Is Exceptional

Gauntlet is a separate mode played out in sectors of the Fort Lyndon Battle Royale map. This is a 32-player mode constructed of eight squads of four players each. The match is played across four rounds, with performance being key. After each round, the worst-performing squads are eliminated from the game. What I adore is the fact that each round is different, and the gameplay is fast-paced and a frantic dash to achieve the objective. This brings firefights between multiple squads with some of the most intense moments I’ve had in the whole Battlefield package so far.

Communication is the key to victory here, although you can achieve wins with randoms who do play the objective. I’ve managed several wins with random players, and the last round is always a very tense affair.

Final Thoughts

Battlefield REDSEC has started fairly strong, but I can’t help but question its longevity and replayability. Launching as a free-to-play model is a great start, but after spending a huge chunk of time within the mode, it does get stale in comparison to other contenders like Warzone and Fortnite. That isn’t to say I haven’t enjoyed my time here; it has some unique moments of its own. Destruction is a big strong point, and firefights can be very intense.

One thing I do admire here, though, is that you don’t just have everyone running wild with souped-up loadouts. Finding amazing weapons is quite rare without upgrading them, and you can still compete against players who take guns from the custom drops. The real excitement and draw for me personally was in the new Gauntlet mode. It remains to be seen whether Battlefield REDSEC will survive in the long run. There are some solid foundations here, but there needs to be more points of interest, more reasons to explore and more variance in squad challenges before it gets too stale.