It’s been a very long and bumpy road to get toBattlefield 6, and despite not seeing its face, I feel like I’ve been with it for all its many troubles in spirit. Ostensibly,Battlefieldis a series about the sheer chaos of warfare, wrapped up in an overblown, arcade package. But I know that, at least for myself, it’s been so much more. It’s a series that has lurched from one identity crisis to the next, and the moment it finds its footing, the ground beneath it has always fallen away. And that speaks to me. I can’t remember the last time there wasn’t some kind of controversy swirling around a new entry, because while this beloved franchise was going through it, chopping and changing at every turn on the way toBattlefield 6, so was I.
Since first playing theBattlefieldseriesall the way back in 2016, I can point to certain periods in the franchise and know where I was in my own personal journey. In a way, it made each game feel like my own kind of journal, an island amid a sea of memories, some good, others not. I feel a certain affinity towards imperfect things, and for the time I’ve known it, the franchise has definitely been described as that and worse. I was drawn in by the scope of the games, but I stayed for the strange connection I felt with its many problems. That’s why I’m under no illusions thatBattlefield 6will be perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. I’m not perfect, and what I have seen of it reminds me of my own self-improvement, which began almost ten years ago.
Battlefield 6 Feels Like the Triumphant Conclusion to a Journey I Started Long Ago
Battlefield 1 Was the Overconfident Beginning of My Own Eventual Identity Crisis
WhenBattlefield 1was coming out, I had just started my first year of university as a wide-eyed student far away from home; not that I wanted to admit I was anything but totally competent and sure of myself, of course. I got to know many new faces whilesitting with my housemates and their friends around the PS4, andBattlefield 1perfectly encapsulated that. Everything was new to me, and I was jumping in at a time when the franchise was taking a huge turn.Battlefield Hardlinewas the black sheep of 2015, and a lot of people considered it to be a strange departure. Now,Battlefield 1was both a new beginning and a return to form.
But it can’t be both ways, as I soon discovered. Going to university, there were a lot of questions that got stirred up in my mind, and leaving my familiar city for another, I saw my own self-confidence for what it was: a mirage. I spent many nights trawling thetrenches of World War 1usingBF1as a vehicle to think through some tough questions. I’d never considered myself part of the LGBT community (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but I’d met someone on my new journey who quickly made me realize that maybe my feelings didn’t fly as straight as an arrow. Alongside that, I struggled with motivation, trying to balance the writing I wanted to do with the obligations I had, and constantly living in the red wasn’t helping.
Things Really Took a Tumble With Battlefield 5
By the timeBF5came out, I had come to realize that there were parts of myself that felt mismatched, but I didn’t know how to deal with them. I think that’s what made me bond with this game more than the rest. It was trying to do some very bold things for the series, and that really didn’t click for some people. Often, the game would veer wildly with sandbox changes, and I remember the backlash aroundBattlefield 5update 5.2. The game had been on a big push to fix its core issues, and then it shot itself in the foot, undoing all of the goodwill it had garnered.
I’d been struggling a lot with my university commitments at the time, and it was my final year, so now was the time I needed to face things for real. Instead, I did my own version of 5.2 by missing all of my deadlines. But just likeBattlefield 5where the community stood by DICEas it put the game back together, I got the help I needed to scrape through things. It wasn’t easy, and several months later I found my mind in some very dark places, but each time I made it through with some help.
Battlefield 2042 Was There for My Most Significant Life Changes Yet
Despite everything so far, something about my self-image wasn’t sitting right. I remember those days well, and not for good reasons. It was early 2021, and as I was casually paying attention to the rumors surrounding theupcomingBattlefieldgame, I was finally able to confront the biggest obstacle yet. For months I felt this weight around my neck, the most physical manifestation of an issue I had ever felt, and all because I had been refusing to acknowledge it. Then one day, I did. I sat my family down, and I told them I was trans. It took me a while to feel fully comfortable with this revelation, but I knew from the moment I opened up, the healing began.
So whenBattlefield 2042tried to be one thing in its reveal trailer, and another with its actual release, I saw a piece of my old self staring back. This was the next entry in a series that had been with me through so much that I still wanted desperately to pretend it wasn’t going through its own limbo. I still enjoyed it, warts and all, and in time, DICE took on the feedback and made the changes. And I’m glad it did, because I then found myself seeking that old escapism when I lived in a very difficult situation where I was surrounded by some pretty unsavory people, and 2042 helped me think of my way out.
Older Battlefield Games Helped Me to Reflect on the Good in My Own Past
It was interesting getting into the series withBF1, because it helped me to see where a lot of the modern series has found its footing. Back then, the game chat in older entries was full of “BF1bad,BF4best.” But I saw how perspectives changed as the past became rosier. AfterBattlefield 5’s rocky release, so many voices that decriedBF1were holding it up as a shining example of better days. The same repeated with 2042, and nowBF5was the gold standard.
In a way, I knew where those voices were coming from. I could reflect on several years of my life that had felt bleak at the time, and found that the positive memories stood out far more when looking back from a safe distance. Being in the chaos of those uncertain moments made it hard to appreciate what was in front of me, and as many fans grew to like thecontroversialBattlefieldgamesin the series, I could also recognise the good moments that stood out.
Reflection has been so important to me, because without it, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate how much progress I’ve made. When I think back to all the games I’ve touched on, I can recall distinct moments of my life:
I Feel a Cautious Optimism for Battlefield 6’s Release, but No Matter What, I’ll Be There
This experience of the ups and downs I’ve had alongside the series is what has filled me with a cautious optimism ever since the firstBattlefield 6leaks. It didn’t matter how alpha the assets looked; this was a game that was landing on its feet by knowing its limits and taking on feedback seriously. I want this new game to be good, because I feel like I’ve been with it through all of its trials by fire to get to this point. I’ve been burned in those trials too, whenBattlefieldwas lying to both its community and itself, but I’ve also seen those experiences shape it into something better.
Personally,Battlefield 6is coming out at a time when I feel the most whole, complete person I ever have. This is more than just anothernew game in 2025; this is the culmination of an arc where at many points, both the series and I almost got lost along the way. But no matter the problems it was facing,Battlefieldwas always something I could turn to in my lowest moments, and now that I am out the other side, I want to offer it what I needed most in those uncertain times: I want to offer it a chance.
