At E3 2017’s EA Play on June 10, not only was the simply amazing looking gameplay trailer released for Battlefront II, but it was revealed all post-launch DLC would be FREE while earlier in the week we learned of an incoming beta. Also, a whole multiplayer match was shown, rather disjointedly, but giving players a taste of things to come when the game releases this fall. Full details ahead! Updated with news on a singleplayer mission!
EA Play’s Star Wars: Battlefront II segment was hosted by none other than Janina Gavankar, the actress behind the game’s singleplayer heroine Spec Ops Commander Iden Versio, which was a pretty damn awesome idea. You can tell she’s excited about the game herself and being a part of it, so I’m even more eager now to learn more about Iden, both in the tie-in prequel novel Inferno Squad and in the game’s singleplayer element. UPDATE: June 14’s Star Wars Show has an interview with Janina and she gets pretty emotional over the story about getting the role and does a damn fine job of convincing everyone to read the novel before playing the game.
However, the focus at EA Play was on the multiplayer side of things, with the biggest news being all post-launch DLC would be free, released in “Seasons.” The first one will be The Last Jedi related of course, giving players access to new heroes like Finn and Phasma (John Boyega announced this one on the livestream!) and a map set on new planet Crait. While we won’t get details regarding content for the rest of the Seasons for a while, the simple fact that it is free is both surprising and wonderfully welcomed. As a player of 2015’s Battlefront, I didn’t fork any money over for the DLC but it was pretty clear it caused a bit of a divide in the playerbase, so allowing everyone access to the content is a great way to build the community around the game and keeping people coming back for more (like me!).
Less surprising was the announcement of an Open Beta coming this fall, likely October like 2015’s was, across PS4, Xbox One, and Origin for PC. Those who pre-order the game get early access to it (plus some more pre-order bonuses for the full game), though no more details were given. Much like the previous Battlefront Beta, I don’t suspect player progress to carry over (though EA is promising it for their NBA Live 2018 beta so who knows). During the show, they had an entire match played live, highlighting a 3-stage battle mode, the various new classes, hero characters, and vehicles. It was a little all over in terms of presentation, but there’s no doubt about how gorgeous it looks and how, just by watching it being played, it looks and feels like a brand new, fully revamped game. I’m not a big multiplayer gamer, but Battlefront II looks to be one I’ll not mind sinking many hours into.
They don’t have the gameplay isolated yet, but you can check out the video of EA livestream to see the multiplayer match and Janina’s awesome Star Wars-themed dress! UPDATE: Since the livestream has ended, I can now point you to some parts of the stream to catch all the Battlefront II goodness: the entire BFII segment starts here and the multiplayer match begins here. Enjoy!
UPDATE: It seems a singleplayer campaign mission was shown behind closed doors to the press and it’s connected to the moment at the end of the above gameplayer trailer. It starts out with a space battle then moves into on the ground action when Iden crashes into a Rebellion ship’s hanger and fights her way through it to disable its ion canons. The wonderful folks at Kotaku have all the details, but it sounds like singleplayer is not being skimped on one bit. Hopefully the public will be privy to the footage sometime soon!
Here are a few other things:
- Janina Gavanker will be narrating Inferno Squad‘s audiobook! So great to see her be involved with so many different aspects of her character!
- Bria from Tosche-Station revealed a first look at her Iden Versio cosplay and it’s as fantastic as you’d imagine.
- Those watching the EA Play event for hopes of the other Star Wars games in development to be teased as well, or any of the other upcoming press conferences at E3, it seems this is the year of Battlefront II so don’t expect much else, Amy Hennig (who’s working on one of the upcoming games) said today.
- I really loved that EA used their Game Changers program to get feedback from some of the top players of the last Battlefront to help make this one even better!
The last Battlefront looked rather stunning, but somehow the folks at the various EA studios working on the game, like DICE, Motive, and Criterion, have truly outdone themselves. Stay tuned for more Battlefront II details as we have them, impressions from the upcoming Beta, and our full review later this year!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
SEE ALSO:
Battlefront II Panel Impressions: Singleplayer Focus with Inferno Squad Novel Tie-in and Multiplayer Rebooted (SWCO 2017)
Inferno Squad Hunts Rebels in New Christie Golden Novel