The Battlefield franchise has long been defined by its massive multiplayer battles, but this year it is also bringing back something fans have been waiting for: a full story campaign to go alongside the core multiplayer experience and Portal offerings.
Battlefield 6 launches on October 10, 2025, and I had the chance to play three of the game’s single-player story missions ahead of the full reveal later this week and speak directly with Alma Talbot, Director of Production at Motive, and Maryse Joseph, Lead Level Designer at Motive, about what to expect when players step into this new, near-future war.
Here’s what I can share about Battlefield’s 6 campaign from my hands-on and interviews:
The Setting and Time Period of Battlefield 6’s Story
A Grounded Near-Future War
The campaign takes place in 2027, during a period of global instability, at least when it begins. NATO is fracturing, and a private military corporation called Pax Armata rises to fill the power vacuum. Players take control of Dagger 13, an elite four-person squad of “Marine Raiders” deployed across continents to stop Pax Armata’s growing influence.
“We wanted to start with a series of what ifs, what would happen if countries started to pull out of NATO,” Talbot explained to me on how the setting came together: “We wanted to have a campaign that was grounded in reality that would feel realistic in many ways.”
Battlefield 6’s story campaign covers nine missions in total, each designed to highlight different styles of play. Joseph confirmed: “There are nine missions in total across the whole campaign, and mission 8 is quite unique in its way of being that much open and sandboxy.”
One of the three missions I played was set in 2028, and I was told the story unfolds over “a couple of years.” Each mission I played ranged from 25-40 minutes each, so I’d estimate the full campaign to take approximately 4-5 hours to complete.
The Missions and Playable Characters of Battlefield 6
Each mission features different environments and play styles
The three missions I played were clearly selected to showcase the gameplay variety players can expect. After the first two though, I was worried the entire game might feel too linear with too much focus on tight-quarters and close-range combat, but mission 8 was fully open-world on a large map, still featuring cinematic story moments. No spoilers, but here’s what I experienced:
Operation Gladius (Mission 3, Gibraltar) drops players into a beachfront assault where armored vehicles lead the charge and the mission begins with you controlling a turret featuring a machine gun and grenade launcher. While on foot later, repairing a friendly armored vehicle becomes as important as firing rockets at enemy strongholds.
No Sleep (Mission 5, New York) takes place in Brooklyn at night, and yes, you do have nigh vision goggles. This mission emphasizes vertical combat and close quarters, with collapsing floors, destructible walls, and even a sledgehammer that can create new paths through apartments and construction sites. Grab a shotgun and thank me later.
Operation Ember Strike (Mission 8, Tajikistan) is a wide-open mission that allows players to choose how to disable multiple surface-to-air missile sites. It is my favorite. In this mission, you play as Gecko, the squad’s marksman, who brings both a sniper rifle and a super fun drone that can tag enemies and drop bombs. It is a mission built around freedom of approach, blending vehicles, AI squadmates, and gadgets into one sandbox experience. As an added bonus, there are two sequences involving using a guided mortar which is the one time you may feel the most over-powered.
Meet Dagger 13
Each member of Dagger 13 brings a distinct combat role that you’ll recognize from Battlefield’s signature classes, and missions are often designed to highlight their strengths. When you play as them you may pick up and swap weapons and secondaries from caches or downed enemies as you see fit.
Haz Carter (Assault): The team leader, built for close-range combat and breaching interiors.
Dylan Murphy (Engineer): Specialist in explosives and RPGs, ideal for vehicle-heavy missions.
Simone “Gecko” Espina (Recon): Equipped with a sniper rifle and a drone that can scout and bomb enemies from above.
Cliff Lopez (Support): Provides squad utility through smoke and resupply, keeping the team moving.
“We wanted the campaign to establish the world that we then go on to play in multiplayer,” Talbot explained in how these roles influenced the level design. She continued: “I’m really excited to see how people experience the different roles and the different classes in first person in a narrative context.”
Destruction and Squad Tactics
Battlefield has always been known for destruction, but in Battlefield 6 it is not simply a gimmick. It is a central part of every mission. Floors and walls collapse under fire, weak cover disintegrates quickly, and players must constantly adapt to shifting battlefields. Mission 5, in particular, featured a jaw-dropping sequence of falling through floors as they fell apart.
It’s no secret that the return and improvement to environmental destruction has been at the forefront of the game’s marketing. Talbot emphasized how important this was for the team for the campaign too: “We wanted to make sure we were using tactical destruction in a big way… so people don’t just feel like it’s a sort of an ‘ish’ experience of the multiplayer, but that it’s its own standalone thing that exists in the Battlefield universe.”
“Destruction is core to Battlefield 6, and we use it everywhere,” Joseph added: “We’ve put a lot of effort on developing the correct technology to have this across the whole campaign.”
Destruction is core to Battlefield 6, and we use it everywhere.
Squad play is the other defining pillar of the campaign from my experience. Dagger 13 is not just a narrative throughline connecting the nine missions together, but a group of soldiers whose unique roles (the same classes as seen in multiplayer) can be commanded through the Squad Orders system. Players can call for grenades, RPG strikes, smoke, or recon scans to gain the upper hand.
Joseph compared this feature directly to multiplayer: “Having the squad orders for me is as if you were playing with other people in multiplayer… everyone has a role and you can direct and give orders.”
Battlefield 6 is Single-Player And Always Online
Despite the squad-focused nature of the campaign, EA confirmed to me that the campaign is designed as a solo-only experience and co-op play was not considered. “The campaign was intended to be an exciting, fulfilling experience for solo players. Those who want to play Battlefield 6 with friends can do so in the extensive Multiplayer offering.”
The other key detail is that an internet connection is required, even for the BF6 campaign. According to the official FAQ: “An internet connection is necessary to download critical updates and play Battlefield 6.”
One question many fans have is whether the campaign is simply a long tutorial for multiplayer. Talbot was quick to clarify that it stands on its own: “I wouldn’t necessarily position it as a tutorial… it has legs on its own and it’s a standalone experience.”
The campaign however, does act as an introduction to the world that multiplayer builds upon, giving narrative context to weapons, vehicles, and squads. Talbot said she was most excited to see how players react to playing different characters and experiencing both the big cinematic moments and the more emotional story beats that tie Dagger 13 together.
Will there be DLC or expansions for the Battlefield 6 campaign, which would be a first for the franchise? For now, we must stay tuned to official Battlefield channels for post-launch plans to see what’s coming.
Final Impressions
After spending time with three missions, Battlefield 6’s campaign feels like a deliberate step forward in terms of focusing on characters and bringing the core destruction and all-out warfare design tenants from multiplayer to a solo experience. It mixes cinematic set-pieces with the occasional sandbox sequence, it integrates destruction into the very core of combat, and it gives players meaningful control of their squad, allowing them to play each member of it too throughout the story.
It’s also not a breeze. On the default difficulty, player characters are fragile and enemies can be lethal. Strategy, gear use, and being careful with vehicles will be essential.
With nine missions across multiple continents, a grounded near-future war, and gameplay that balances spectacle with tactics, Battlefield 6 is seemingly trying to reshape what a Battlefield story mode can be but also ensuring it’s an important value-add to the largest Battlefield offering in the franchise’s history. As for how the full narrative plays out and if there will be more to the story in the future, we’ll have to wait and see.