Gameplay footage has leaked from an early rectifying the missteps of Battlefield 2042. Developer DICE's last crack at the famed multiplayer shooter series is generally considered a low point for Battlefield. A launch riddled with bugs and connection issues was only the beginning of 2042's problems, where fundamental design flaws kept the game from ever truly flourishing.

Battlefield 6's playtest is purportedly the largest in history, leaning on the experience of longtime players to shape the future game's direction.

Battlefield 6 Leaks Look Surprisingly Promising

A Potential Return To The Series' Height

Battlefield 6's leaked footage doesn't necessarily reveal much, but it's unexpectedly encouraging. Only a 45-second clip was posted to Reddit by AGONYTheReal, showing the player running through a war-torn city and taking out a few enemies while capturing an objective. It appears to be the classic Conquest experience on a map called Abbasid – presumably somewhere in Iraq, named after the Abbasid Caliphate. There are five objectives, and the video seems to be from the early stages of a match, since both teams have just under 1,000 respawn tickets, presumably the starting total.

Another video posted by Reddit playtesting program is known as Battlefield Labs, and was only unveiled about a month ago, at the beginning of February. Despite the blurry videos and a few flickering textures, the leaked footage actually looks like a bona fide Battlefield game, with its visual language clearly influenced by the series' glory days of Battlefield 3 and 4.

Another standout bit is the sound design. The first video clearly doesn't do the actual in-game sounds justice, but Battlefield has long been known for its incredible sound effects, and there's a heavy machine gun rattling in the early seconds that has sufficient punch – not to mention the explosions and small arms fire. More importantly, though, is the apparent full return of traditional classes in Battlefield 6; Assault, Engineer, , and Recon seem to be the four in the footage.

Battlefield Might Be Learning From 2042’s Mistakes

Hopefully No More Hero Shooter Elements

Battlefield 2042's near-future setting had some promise (and I'm personally a big fan of 2006's Battlefield 2142), but it was let down tremendously by gameplay elements that didn't feel at home in the series. Most obvious is its slate of playable characters – named Specialists with unique abilities. These were later categorized into more traditional classes, with loadouts thus limited, but the myriad gadgets available contributed to the erosion of Battlefield's signature squad-based gameplay.

Battlefield 6 seemingly returning to classes is the right move, and it'll only be helped by what appears to be better map design. 2042 attempted to transition the series to 128-player lobbies. While the idea is exciting in theory, it resulted in very large and open maps, jeopardizing an interesting flow to gameplay. Glimpses of the spawn screen in the leaked footage show a dense, urban environment throughout, with plenty of buildings to fight in and around, while still providing avenues to accommodate Battlefield's signature vehicular combat.

Another feature of note is Battlefield 6's UI, which appears to be a significant improvement over the notoriously derided menus and HUDs of 2042. A particularly exciting change is the return of a helmet-cam-like feed when hovering over a squate on the respawn map, which shows their situation in grainy black-and-white. But generally, the UI in the leak – though likely not final – looks like it might be a big step up in of readability and usability.

I Still Need To See More From Battlefield 6

It's Too Early To Call It A Success

Without any word on a release window for the next Battlefield, it's best to keep expectations in check, even with this promising first glimpse. Two short, blurry videos aren't enough to convince me the series has entirely righted the ship, even if I'm intrigued by what's been leaked. It looks like Battlefield and sounds like Battlefield, with a resemblance to the series' heyday no less, but there's a long way to go until the game actually releases.

Extensive playtesting has me cautiously optimistic, and this leak suggests development may be further along than I anticipated. Judgment should obviously be reserved for how it feels, though, and with Battlefield 2042 such a recent and massive misstep for the series, more thorough promo material is definitely required before I let myself get excited. That said, as far as leaks go, this is almost a best-case scenario for Battlefield 6, getting players interested with what looks to be gameplay genuinely interested in returning to a winning formula.

Source: AGONYTheReal/Reddit, iswhatitiswaswhat/Reddit