DICE has unveiled the third pillar that will make up Battlefield 2042, known officially as Hazard Zone.
While players had previously speculated that Hazard Zone would be Battlefield’s latest answer to the Battle Royale formula, that is not the case. Instead, Hazard Zone is much more akin to the survival experiences found in games like ‘Hunt: Showdown’ and ‘Escape from Tarkov’.
What is Hazard Zone?
Hazard Zone sees squads of four players scavenge the Battlefield 2042 maps for fallen satellites that contain hard drives with important intel on them. The aim is for squads to collect as many of these drives as they can before making their way to an extraction zone.
However, things aren’t quite that simple. Other squads are also competing for possession of these hard drives. You must fend off other squads from stealing your loot before extraction. There will be two opportunities to extract, one during the middle of the round and one at the end. Only two squads are able to extract per round, so you’ll have to fight hard to make it out alive.
The more hard drives your squad extracts with, the more ingame currency you’ll procure. This currency is known as ‘Dark Market Credits’ and can be spent before subsequent Hazard Zone matches to equip better equipment and weapons. It all feeds into a meta-game that is intended to persist between rounds.
For a full breakdown of everything you need to know about Hazard Zone, check out our guide over on FragHero. DICE has just released a short teaser trailer for the mode which gives players the general idea of what to expect. Hazard Zone will be available at launch alongside the ‘All-Out Warfare’ and ‘Portal’ modes.
DICE recently ran an Open Beta for fans to get their hands on Battlefield 2042 for the first time. We called it ‘a cautiously optimistic return to form’, though worry about some of the bugs that persisted through the Beta experience.
Is Hazard Zone what you were expecting from Battlefield 2042? Let us know across our social channels.
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[Featured Image Credit: EA/DICE]