Battlefield 6 Winter Offensive is tepid at best

Having successfully revived an ailing FPS series, Battlefield 6 started life in 2025 with a tactically destructive blaze of glory. That impact was reflected in its three nominations for 2025’s The Game Awards (for best audio design, best action game, and best multiplayer). But such recognition feels like a faint silver lining as the year draws to a close.

Consistently pushed down in Steam’s most-played charts, there’s no doubt that both BF6 and RedSec are largely decent fun, but criticism hasn’t been hard to find, and BF6 specifically has lacked the scale the franchise was built on. Step forward, then, Winter Offensive. A further addition that has me seeking warmth elsewhere.

Let’s start with the main addition for Winter Offensive, Ice Lock. A mechanic that is as simple and novel as it is largely out of place in an FPS game. Affecting the Empire State map in Domination and Conquest, and also in RedSec’s Gauntlet mode, its sub-zero temperatures require extra attention. However, the details of why they’re important are subtle (and stack).

Essentially, your character can freeze, indicated by frost on your weapon, shivering, shakier weapon handling, frost creeping in from the edges of your screen, and slowly degrading health. The kicker is that your health cannot regenerate unless you get warm. This means that you’ll need to seek out fire barrels to return to operational temperatures. 

It’s cute. It is certainly something different, and mercifully time-limited, but it literally detracts from the action. Sure, there are new associated challenges, like defibbing teammates while freezing, but pulling players away from gunfights in an FPS game is wholly counterintuitive. And having to explain the cold mechanic in chat has been pretty dull.

Players will catch on to Ice Lock and its incessant need for fires, but the idea is half-baked. After all, there’s nothing else to know. Sure, Empire State looks great in the snow, but couldn’t there have been sheets of ice to smash through? Snow traps and icicles to dump on enemies? Not just a frozen, admittedly beautifully facelifted map, littered with barrels?

Visually impressive, with engaging audio effects, sure. But Ice Lock does about half of what I expected, fails to evolve gameplay, and pulls you away from the action. Crucially, though, BF6 isn’t a survival game. If I wanted to worry about fires, I’d play The Long Dark, DayZ, or Prologue: Go Way Back. As an FPS game, it needs more thought and more content. 

Looking back on my early thoughts about Winter Offensive, I suggested a snowmobile. That would have been an excellent addition if Ice Lock was supported across larger maps. But instead, it’s available for Portal map creation in a move that feels very much like the devs are saying, “Hi community, we’ve created this, can you do something with it, please?” 

Beyond Ice Lock, what else is new in Winter Offensive? A new ice climbing axe melee weapon. I’ve not actually unlocked it for use, but the key thing here is I really don’t care that I haven’t. That’s not a particularly strong take on melee weapons, and not every player cares about every new item. But again, much more should have been done with the utility.

This is one of two major additions for Winter Offensive. So, it should be a major addition to the update. I should want the ice axe, and it should actually be useful. Again, if there were sheets of ice that only the ice axe could penetrate for a sneaky flank, there would be some added value. But no, it’s just a melee weapon, and an uninspiring one at that. 

Also, I don’t feel like I’m asking BF6 to reinvent itself, or to create new animations or extra mechanics from scratch here. Before launch, a lot was made about Tactical Destruction. And yet you can’t use the new melee weapon, an item designed to pierce ice, to pierce ice. Sledgehammers break walls, so why not? It doesn’t feel like a lot to ask.

My biggest concern, though, with Battlefield 6: Winter Offensive, is that it’s a tepid update at best, and one that BF6 can’t afford. It really doesn’t feel as though the game has achieved enough or is balanced enough that a frivolous update like this gets a pass. Arc Raiders’ upcoming Cold Snap update could be frivolous, but it would feel earned.

As I write, BF6’s 24-hour peaks on Steam are now consistently below 200,000 and fast approaching half that. Obviously, I’ve no inside information on where EA is with its 100 million player BF6 target, but Steam numbers don’t seem helpful. Where is any boost to players going to come from? Not from Winter Offensive, that much is certain. 

Winter is supposed to be a time of coming together, of shared warmth, mutual support, and focused encouragement. And winter-themed gaming updates are great when built on solid sentiment to deliver enjoyable seasonal frivolity to gamers. Ultimately, though, Winter Offensive is a nice idea for a day or two, but it lacks depth and commitment and offers little. 

As Battlefield 6 Season 1 comes to an end with Winter Offensive, I’m left colder than Ice Lock should make me. Seeking fire barrels in an FPS game feels silly on its own, and there’s no further commitment to cold, extra mechanics, or gameplay thinking that can engage and shift the battlefield itself. There’s just not a lot here to enjoy or feel hugely encouraged about. 

It’s certainly the worst of the Season 1 updates for BF6, because while Winter Offensive looks great, and has some interesting novel charm, the snow lacks depth. It’s cute, it’s beautiful, it sounds good, too. But it’s essentially one map, pulls players out of the action, and features a melee weapon with completely uncracked potential.