After a rocky launch and months of fixing issues, DICE can finally bring new things to Battlefield 2042 with the imminent launch of its season 1: Zero Hour. We were able to play it in preview in order to describe everything you can expect, as well as a first opinion.
Zero Hour: New map, new specialist, weapons, vehicles and Battle Pass
After a postponement of its season 1Battlefield 2042 must restore its reputation with some players disappointed by several aspects of the game. In addition to fixes and patches, this season 1, Zero Hour, brings new content for FPS players. Here is the list of everything new in Battlefield 2042 Season 1 Zero Hour :
- A new map: Exposure
- A new specialist: Ewelina Lis
- A new Battle Pass (price set at around €10)
- New options for Battlefield Portal
- Two new vehicles: YG-99 Hannibal and RAH-6B Huron helicopters
- Two new weapons: Ghostmaker RIO (a crossbow) and the BSV-M (a long-range rifle)
- A new gadget: A smoke grenade launcher
- An in-game store
Exposure presents itself as a very vertical and aerial playground located in a mountainous region of Canada. It is thus possible to compete outdoors and in particular in steep areas, but also in tunnels leading to secret installations inside the mountains. An ideal playground to take advantage of the two new helicopters (which can even switch to stealth mode), as well as the new Polish forces specialist: Ewelina Lis. This is a unit that specializes in destroying vehicles. Thanks to her skill, she can launch a missile which can then be remotely controlled by the player.
Which offers some pretty intense aerial duels between missiles and pilots trying to dodge. We may regret a season 1 with fairly light content compared to previous opusesHowever Exposure is proving to be a major addition and an encouraging first step for the future. After a few games on it, we actually confirm that the card brings a radically different approach from the others. It seemed well balanced to us, especially since we had much less experience of these long periods of running in a vacuum.
The addition of the gadget launching smoke bombs is also a good addition and suggests more tactical options for our team by covering areas that are too open in order to progress or to take a point more easily during a capture of the flag for example . Among the things that we liked the most, there is the crossbow, a rather exotic weapon that is very pleasant to handle.
DICE wants to regain players’ trust with drastic changes
During the presentation that we were able to attend, DICE indicated that they had made major changes based on feedback from the community. First big change, the abandonment of 128 players for future maps (so the design will focus on this number). However, it will still be possible to play with 128 players on the current maps in the All-Out Warfare mode. Second big announcement, the Kaleidoscope map rework which should be released next August. It will incorporate more hedges, new positions and better flow.
The symbolism of the Santa Claus mask seems to have echoed since the studio also promises visual and sound design improvements to make the game even more realistic. A resolution that can also be seen in the various Battle Pass cosmetics that maintain this philosophy. Note also that the new weapons can be won via the free part of the Battle Pass (the paid part only offers cosmetics). However, we imagine that opening an online store for a paid game will not make a good impression.
During this season 1 (expected for a period of 12 weeks for the moment), we can expect changes for the game as a whole :
- New visuals and voices for Specialists
- New animations to better read body movements
- Weapon balancing and recoil effect changes to improve shooting experience
- Improved performance related to CPU usage or latency
DICE has currently planned 4 upcoming seasons, and the developers announce that they intend to support the title for a long time while improving it to make it the best possible experience. To see if this first season can serve as a foundation intended to win back some of the fans.
Battlefield 2042 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series. Season 1 Zero Hour will be available on June 9th.