One of the upcoming Battlefield 2042’s key features is dynamic weather. Although weather effects played a part in earlier games like Battlefield 4, they’re less predictable in 2042 and have more impact on play. Battlefield 2042‘s tornadoes are the most obvious example of this, as they can both hinder and help players in battle.
Bringing the series back into a near-future setting, Battlefield 2042’s world is ravaged by climate change, leading to food and water shortages, dozens of failed states, and a full-scale war between the U.S. and Russia. Instead of the series’ traditional class-based system, players assume the role of specific characters with unique gear, similar to Rainbow Six Siege. Maps support up to 128 players and offer settings like urban South Korea and a dried seabed in India.
Tornadoes mainly wreak havoc in Battlefield 2042, picking up not just players and small objects but whole vehicles – sometimes with deadly results. According to Game Informer, one Dice developer reported seeing a flying Humvee kill an enemy sniper, meaning it’s probably best to find cover once a funnel is spotted. It’s not yet certain which maps will have tornadoes, but an easy one to rule out is Breakaway, since it’s set in Antarctica. Perpetually cold parts of Earth tend not to get hit with much other than blizzards and ice storms (though perhaps anything is possible in Battlefield‘s fictionalized climate crisis).
How Battlefield 2042’s Tornadoes Can Be Used To Players’ Advantage
Where things get really interesting is with 2042‘s addition of wingsuits. Battlefield players are familiar with parachutes, but the wingsuits allow for faster horizontal gliding, which could potentially turn a tornado into a slingshot towards hard-to-reach places. This likely won’t be easy, as bad timing could quickly send someone hurling into a skyscraper. Chaos has always been the series’ bread and butter, though, so even if this doesn’t prove a reliable tactic, expect a lot of players to try.
Barring any delays, Battlefield 2042 is due to ship in October for PC and both current and last-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles. More gameplay details will be revealed on June 13 as a part of E3 2021. One thing known so far, however, is that matches with Xbox One and PS4 owners will be limited to 64 players as a way of coping with their slower hardware. Both consoles are almost eight years old and often poorly equipped to run games that also have PS5 or Xbox Series X/S versions. Cyberpunk 2077 is frequently considered unplayable without at least an Xbox One X or PS4 Pro, after all, so it’d be no surprise if intense weather effects like 2042‘s tornadoes stress the hardware.
Battlefield 2042 comes to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 22, 2021.
