Key Takeaways
- The soldier dragging feature, which allows players to drag downed teammates to safety before reviving them, is being tested in Battlefield Labs’ first playtest.
- This feature was considered for Battlefield V but was ultimately rejected due to concerns about lengthy animations negatively impacting gameplay.
- The new Battlefield will feature squad emblems, a departure from the NATO phonetic alphabet naming convention used in previous games.
If you played Battlefield 3’s single-player campaign, you might remember being able to drag your team squadmates to safety in Operation Swordbreaker. While this feature didn’t make it into the multiplayer, it was revisited by DICE in Battlefield V, which aimed to allow players to drag downed players to a safer location before reviving them.
Ultimately, DICE decided against including it in the final version of BFV, citing the lengthy animations as having a “negatively impact” on the core gameplay.
It looks like the studio is trying this feature in the new Battlefield, as the soldier dragging feature is currently present in Battlefield Labs’ first playtest, and we have footage of it.
The New Battlefield Might Allow You to Drag Your Fallen Buddy Before Performing Reviving, and Here’s How It Looks in Pre-Alpha
It is important to note that this is pre-alpha gameplay, and as such, the animations, user interface, graphics, and more are subject to change. Got that? Good.
In the gameplay above, you can see the player dragging their mate away from gunfire to be able to revive them safely. While the concept is cool and all, I am wondering how useful this will be in matches. If you need to drag them away, that means enemies are nearby, and wouldn’t dragging them run you the risk of getting shot at? Instead of dragging them away, let them respawn instead? If there are no enemies, you’ll just revive them like you normally would.
I’m not part of the playtest, so I can’t vouch on how useful this is. That said, maybe DICE is testing it now to decide whether it’s worth putting in the game or not? This is a test after all, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see features and mechanics change from the test to the game’s release.
The New Battlefield Will Feature Squad Emblems
Another new thing that’s part of the in-development Battlefield are emblems for squads. While almost every Battlefield game allowed you to pick emblems for your character (as part of your playercard), the in-game squads were usually named as part of the NATO phonetic alphabet. In the new Battlefield, that’ll be different, as the squads in the image above are named “Stinger,” “Saber” or something else.
Not only do they sound more badass, but we even get new emblems for each. Unless I’m mistaken, that’s another new feature being added into this Battlefiield game. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of the progression and mastery as well, and I’m all for it.
What do you think of the body-dragging mechanic shown so far? Is there a scenario it’ll be useful in-game? If so, share your thoughts down below on how it might work.
