The recent reveal trailer for Battlefield 6 heralds a return to the franchise’s signature large-scale warfare and destruction. Where that destruction is taking place, however, hints that EA and DICE may have taken some notes from a different franchise altogether. Set against the instantly recognizable backdrop of Brooklyn, the trailer puts the Battlefield franchise in direct conversation with something Call of Duty: Modern Warfare once excelled at: placing players in iconic, real-world locations. While the rebooted MW and newer COD entries overall have shifted combat arenas to either outlandish or generic, Battlefield 6 looks poised to fill that old void, and maybe even surpass its competition’s past by making its larger maps feel relevant and grounded in reality.
Early Modern Warfare titles (Modern Warfare 2 and 3 especially) are themselves iconic for placing multiplayer firefights in instantly recognizable places. Maps brought players to the center of Wall Street, the favelas of Rio, or a war-torn Paris, and those settings created emotional stakes that helped sear those maps into players’ memories. Generally, the reboots have done away with this idea. Piccadilly Circus remains one of the few exceptions, although the map is memorable more for its mixed reception than its cultural gravitas. Battlefield 6‘s design philosophy seems to be picking up where Modern Warfare left off and embracing the use of iconic locales, and frankly, for the franchise’s large-scale warfare, it could even be a better fit.
With Battlefield 6 announced, the beta is closer than ever, but testers should be aware of a few unwritten rules that are key to success.
How Brooklyn Sets the Stage for a New Era of Battlefield Maps
One element that could support this emphasis on iconic settings is the confirmed return of a single-player campaign in Battlefield 6. The franchise hasn’t had a true, linear campaign mode since Battlefield 4, and its comeback has implications beyond a bullet-point on the back of the game’s box. If the campaign follows the pattern set by earlier titles and other genre heavyweights, it’s likely to take players from Brooklyn through a range of international attractions.
A globe-spanning campaign would be notable because it’s common practice in the genre for campaign missions to double as the basis for future multiplayer maps.
If DICE leans into utilizing recognizable landmarks during the story as it’s done before, there’s a strong possibility that those same locales will feature in the multiplayer of Battlefield 6. Leaks from the Battlefield Labs playtests suggest that Brooklyn won’t be the only iconic real-world setting in the upcoming game. Reportedly, players can expect some maps based in New York City beyond Brooklyn, Southern California, and Cairo.
That global scope is absolutely something that the Battlefield franchise has had before, but if these locations are as fully realized and destructible as they appear in the reveal trailer, it could be impactful. Unlike the smaller, corridor-like layouts of Call of Duty’s multiplayer arenas, Battlefield’s expansive maps allow for sprawling, war-torn interpretations of these locales. Leaning into the notability of these areas would work better to create maps that blend authenticity and destructive artistic license to make something cinematic, but still very grounded.
Iconic Areas Can Elevate Battlefields’ Best Qualities
More than just a visual and gameplay element, Battlefield6‘s returning environmental destruction could also become a sort of player-powered storytelling device when utilized in these iconic places. Simply blowing up a building in Battlefield 6 could be elevated to toppling a piece of a city players have seen or been to. Imagine firefights erupting across the Brooklyn Bridge, buildings collapsing near Coney Island, or stray rounds from a dogfight that levels sections of downtown Los Angeles.
Iconic locations like these would work so well because they would meaningfully elevate the basic Battlefield formula of a map, shaped by player actions, that evolves beyond how it looked at the game’s start. When those maps are built on the foundation of real-world landmarks that players may inherently understand in real life, it becomes a bit more personal.
Destruction in Battlefield 6 Should Hit Closer to Home
Real-world locations being recontextualized by warfare and destruction also adds a layer of immersion that can’t be replicated by fictional settings. When players find themselves ducking behind yellow cabs in Brooklyn traffic or skipping rounds off of rooftops in Cairo, there’s an immediate sense of place that draws them into the gameplay. Living spaces reimagined as battlegrounds contextually make every skirmish feel more real and memorable. With Battlefield6’s commitment to environmental detail and scale, it could do what Call of Duty once was on a much grander scale.
Of course, this approach carries some risks. Players know what the Brooklyn Bridge looks like, as some may have walked across it, seen it in movies, or lived nearby. Watching it collapse during an in-game firefight resonates in a way that a generic skyscraper never could, but weak or offensive narrative justification behind that destruction may sour that connection. There’s always the question of sensitivity when turning real-life cities into in-game war zones, but Battlefield 6’s Pax Armata faction neatly offsets that risk, as the proposition becomes much less worrisome without the stakes of actual nation vs. nation conflict.
How Battlefield 6 Can Add to the Series’ Core Identity
DICE and EA seem to understand that players want a return to the foundational principles of the series, with more environmental destructibility, class-based combat, and a sandbox that allows players the freedom to create their own “Battlefield” moments. The appeal of the series has always been in those tenets, but anchoring those elements in iconic and familiar places would make it even easier to create more of those moments. It’s even self-evident within the Battlefield franchise, as one of the most widely beloved maps in Battlefield has players battling deep in the metros of Paris. Real places mean real stakes, even if the war is fictional.
Battlefield 6‘s multiplayer design shouldn’t just pick up the ball Modern Warfare dropped, it should take off with it and become the new standard for real-world locations in multiplayer shooters. If the full release delivers on what the reveal trailer promises, it could be the start of a new golden era of multiplayer maps. The contrasting trends of over-the-top map settings or drab industrial zones might finally be giving way to something more personal, more memorable, and far more thrilling.
