Battlefield 6 could have the best multiplayer mode yet, but only if its destruction is up to par

For decades, the Battlefield franchise has championed the idea that allowing players to alter or destroy sections of a map would lead to further immersion, so environmental destruction has always been a staple in EA’s popular FPS.

As we get ready to grab our virtual helmets and head into Battlefield 6, there’s no better time to discuss what we’d like to see out of the next entry. Map destruction will be a key factor in Battlefield 6’s reception, and it could even make-or-break the experience for millions of multiplayer fans.

In the 2000s, environmental destruction on the scale of Battlefield’s maps was uncommon in mainstream first-person shooters. Battlefield was one of the only AAA game franchises that provided players with huge multiplayer maps where you could knock entire buildings down mid-match.

The Siege of Shanghai is the perfect example of Battlefield’s iconic destruction mechanics. On this Battlefield 4 map, players can destroy a large skyscraper, leaving a huge pile of rubble for combatants to explore. Bringing down the skyscraper in the Siege of Shanghai completely changes a large section of the map, allowing the battlefield to evolve through player action.

Though Call of Duty and Halo have fun multiplayer modes, there’s nothing quite like destroying a skyscraper and watching the game world change before your eyes. The grandiose feeling of immersion that Battlefield’s destruction offers to fans is truly unique, and we believe that spark is essential to the sixth entry’s success.

Every Battlefield game has had expansive destruction mechanics, but their impact on the player experience is what we need to look at to determine which title offered the best demolition. While Battlefield 4’s levolution let players destroy huge structures in a cinematic scene and Battlefield 1’s terrain destruction was a game-changer, they weren’t quite the best the series has to offer.

We believe that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was the pinnacle of map destruction because there were a plethora of buildings to be demolished across each of its environments, so achieving an elimination by destroying a house was commonplace. Upon wrecking a few walls, structures topple to the ground, changing the landscape and defeating nearby enemies in an instant.

Maps feel genuinely different in Bad Company 2 upon destroying their structures, granting players control over the battlefield. Environmental destruction is best when you can demolish everything in sight, so while we love the flashy levolution events in Battlefield 4, we’d like to see falling skyscrapers alongside dozens of destroyable buildings, offering numerous opportunities to take out an enemy squad with the precise placement of a grenade.

Each Battlefield game includes a unique set of destruction mechanics. While none were definitively bad, some types of destruction are more impactful than others. Smaller buildings and set pieces being destructible don’t always flip the script in a match, so we’d prefer that Battlefield 6 include entire neighbourhoods or blocks that can be demolished.

The most recent title, Battlefield 2042, offers a ton of destructible objects in multiplayer mode, but they don’t always impact gameplay in a meaningful way. It’s nice to see smaller objects like furniture be destructible, but it’s much more important that structures can fully collapse. Placing a hole in a wall may be useful, but we need buildings that can transform the environment upon their demise, not just changing set pieces.

Multiplayer has always included environmental destruction in the Battlefield franchise, and recent details revealed about BF6 show that the latest title is heading in the right direction. If Battlefield 6 can create destruction scenarios that feel real and adapt to the player’s actions, then it could offer the best map demolition yet.

We hope that Battlefield 6 will take inspiration from classics in the franchise like Bad Company 2 and BF1, as a combination of expansive building destruction and terrain deformation could be just what Battlefield needs to revitalise competitive play in EA’s FPS titan.