Battlefield 2042's 64-Player Maps Show How The Larger Ones Can Improve
Battlefield 2042 has recently made the smaller, last-gen versions of Breakthrough and Conquest available to players on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, and the 64-player maps highlight how improvements could be made to the ones that support 128 players. At times, Battlefield 2042 maps feel too big, mostly because of map designs that cover too much distance. The condensed play areas of the 64-player maps show that a possible fix for one of the game’s predominant criticisms is a combination of shrinking the 128-player maps, and eliminating some of the residual open space with more structures or terrain that facilitates gameplay better.
When Battlefield 2042 launched, its main All-Out Warfare game mode only had two playlists – Conquest and Breakthrough – and each utilized the new lobbies which support 128 players. This unprecedented scale in the long-running FPS series is only applicable to the new consoles and PC, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players relegated to the more traditional 64-player Battlefield experience. To accommodate the smaller lobbies on last-gen, smaller variants of Battlefield 2042’s seven multiplayer maps were created for both Conquest and Breakthrough. These 64-player playlists were recently added to the current-gen 2042 as a limited time mode, bringing some welcome variety to a game with only two primary playlists.
Although the game having two separate versions for different player counts is a bit odd, the 64-player maps don’t necessarily feel derivative of their larger counterparts. In Breakthrough especially, the sectors that the game progresses through are often completely different on the smaller maps. On Breakaway, for instance, the first sector on the large version is up on the glacier in the northeast corner of the map, while the small version’s first sector is down on the west side and starts in the Workers’ Village area. For the most part, the smaller variants are located in the more crowded areas of each map, an idea that can be extrapolated to improve the larger versions.
2042’s 64-Player Maps Highlight All The Empty Space
One of the most common complaints in Battlefield 2042’s lukewarm reception is how often players have to run for a significant amount of time before arriving at at objective or battle. If players don’t manage to secure a vehicle at the beginning of a 128-player Conquest game, they’ll likely spend the first few minutes of the game just sprinting and trying to find something to do. Though some maps are better than others, every single one has some dead space that could be eliminated, with Breakaway and Hourglass perhaps the two worst culprits. Though this is fine for vehicle gameplay, and the issue can sometimes be mitigated with the new vehicle call-in system, there’s no reason for every map to be spread so thin.
Orbital is a great example of a map that is unnecessarily large, and would work better if it were simply condensed. With 128 players, it essentially gets split into its northern and southern halves, with most of the fighting happening in the closer quarters areas of the Battlefield 2042 map between the rocket construction tower and launch pad, or at the two objectives in C sector. The two objectives closest to each teams’ deployment, A and F, are virtually isolated, where only small, short skirmishes crop up. The huge hills and long dirt roads on Orbital don’t add anything to the game besides travel time. There’s a tunnel that connects C to the always bustling B, D, and E sectors, but it is also unnecessarily long with no cover or side paths inside to make it interesting.
Hourglass is the same way, with a handful of different areas that are individually fun to fight in, but are not connected in any meaningful way, making it a chore on a larger scale. Even the 64-player map on Hourglass only slightly addresses the issue, because there’s just so much empty sand throughout the entire map. To the east of the playable area, more of Doha’s skyscrapers can be seen, and if the entire map was shifted that way – while simultaneously bringing the stadium closer – it might help solve the issue of Battlefield 2042’s chaotic Conquest games concentrating on just the objectives. The 64-player maps often feel more fun simply because players are needlessly running less. Orbital’s 64-player versions cuts out the southern half entirely, while Hourglass’ removes the isolated stadium.
2042’s 64-Player Maps Show The Importance Of Cover
While vehicles have always been important to Battlefield, the other half of the game is concerned with infantry combat, and 2042’s lack of cover makes the latter incredibly tedious on many of the large maps. Most only have buildings immediately surrounding objectives, with terrain attempting to create cover between them. Some of the terrain is fun to fight in, and works well when lines are advancing in 128-player Breakthrough, which works better than Conquest. The rocky hills between the desert objectives on Renewal, or the towering ice structures around Breakaway’s oil rig can both host interesting battles, but with so many people, Battlefield 2042 would benefit from simply having more cover across the board.
Discarded’s smaller Conquest map has a much better flow to it than its larger counterpart, mainly because the playable area provides more consistent cover. It’s very small comparatively, and focuses the combat on the main ship that is being disassembled. There’s still plenty of room for vehicles to maneuver all over the map, but it lets infantry move from cover to cover while attacking and defending objectives. The larger version adds Discarded’s more verdant northern half where the only meaningful cover is the buildings directly adjacent to the objectives. The indestructible boulders that offer cover in the natural terrain aren’t nearly as compelling as Battlefield 2042’s destructible environments like buildings where walls are liable to be blown up.
The most densely packed large map is probably Manifest, but even it suffers from not having interesting cover. Many of its objectives are compellingly labyrinthine, but because a lot of the maps are made up of shipping containers, it forces teams to bunch up around corners. The containers work great when they’re on a ship and result in multi-level areas, but cover that is essentially giant blocks just bottlenecks the game frequently. The smaller manifest cuts out a large part that’s shipping containers, and the objectives focus the action around points that have actual buildings and fun terrain. No Battlefield has had all perfect maps, and all hope for fixes isn’t lost, but there are legitimate critiques to be made about every single one in 2042.
There’s no quick fix for any of them, but with 2042 being a live-service game, there’s a chance reworks could come at some point. At the very least, new maps coming to the game might hopefully have better design, with less empty space and more cover. Unfortunately, new content might be a ways off, since leaks regarding Battlefield 2042 Season 1 suggest it won’t drop until March 2022. The chaotic new scale of 128 players in Battlefield 2042 can be great fun, but its often stymied by poor map design, which is put under even more scrutiny when compared to the 64-player counterparts.
About The Author
Kyle Gratton
(676 Articles Published)
A passion for video games was instilled at a young age when Kyle Gratton and his older brother were gifted a Nintendo 64 with Ocarina of Time and Mario Kart. Graduating from the University of Kansas as an English and History major, with a minor in Film, Kyle enjoys discussing literature, movies, television, and especially video games. He currently writes features and reviews for Screen Rant’s games section, and dabbles in short fiction occasionally. He can be found on Twitter @KyleGratton.
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