The temperamental and dynamic weather of Battlefield 1 will have a marked effect on the overall experience – for better or worse.
In its latest status report, developer DICE took the opportunity to offer up new information on those background gameplay systems and how they go some ways to ensuring that “no battle is ever the same” in the October shooter.
As this is the franchise’s first foray into The Great War, the post goes on to acknowledge the technical challenges that come hand-in-hand with rendering a period setting where “weather and location conditions could change the outcome of any battle.”
Extreme weather, like the sandstorm that can kick up in maps like Sinai Desert, do more than just limit your vision. Its density makes it difficult to fly, more or less grounding any planes in the sky. That’s not to say that you won’t be able to learn to compensate, however – really skilled players who know the map could try taking to the skies and use their low visibility as a tactic.
Indeed, the blinding sandstorm was a prominent showcase in the Battlefield 1 Gamescom trailer, though here DICE talks how it plans to take dynamic weather one step further.
Weather impacts just about everything in the game. Raindrops are visible on the weapons, birds go away when the wind picks up, the audio changes during a sandstorm. Like so much else in Battlefield 1, we wanted to make sure weather makes the player immersed with the world, both visually and thematically. The western front has more heavy rain, and we make sure the fog in the trench wars has more density, and feels close to the ground. Up in the Alps in the Italian campaign, there’s a sense of low fog in the valley, and if you move up to the mountain tops you get rid of the fog. You can even see the fog below you.
Come October 21, Battlefield 1 will deploy across PS4, Xbox One and PC on October 21. If you’re gunning for a taste of the action ahead of time, DICE and Electronic Arts will be hosting a beta test on Wednesday, August 31.