Publisher Electronic Arts and developers DICE have shared details of the environment destruction system featured in the next game in the military shooter series Battlefield in a new blog post.
Battlefield 4 (Image source: Electronic Arts)
According to the creators of the new Battlefield, the mechanics of destruction should become an integral part of the game and create an “intuitive and exciting” environment in which users can change the world around them.
The environmental destruction system is designed to add additional depth to the next Battlefield gameplay and allow users to gain a tactical advantage on the battlefield.
The developers want to ensure that visual and sound effects make it clear what can be destroyed or transformed in gameplay.
The new “language of destruction” suggests that buildings collapse gradually, starting from the outer parts, and different types of surfaces are visually damaged in the process of destruction.
The 15-second clip from the pre-alpha embedded below shows how the destruction system can be used to destroy the wall of a building and use the resulting passage to quickly reach the opposite side of the structure.
The enemy can also take advantage of the tactical opportunities opened up by the destruction.
Some of the closed beta testers for the new Battlefield noted that destructible objects and the durability of different surfaces need to be balanced. The team will continue to refine these elements in future sessions.
The upcoming Battlefield is being billed as the “biggest ever” and is currently undergoing closed testing as part of the Battlefield Labs program, with a release expected no later than March 31, 2026.