Battlefield 6 Review: One Year On, Is It Still Worth Playing?

Our Battlefield 6 review comes a year after launch, and that's deliberate. Battlefield 6 came out on October 10, 2025, and has had five seasons of updates since, so the game you'd buy today isn't quite the one critics scored last October. This week it's free to play on Steam from October 15 to 19 and 60% off, which makes it the perfect moment to ask whether it's still worth your time.

The short version: when Battlefield 6 is firing on all cylinders, it's the best all-out war shooter in years. But Season 5 has brought a wave of anger from long-time players, and you should know why before you spend money on it.

Battlefield 6 review at a glance

What is Battlefield 6?

Battlefield 6 is EA's big-budget military shooter: 64-player battles on land, in the air and at sea, with tanks, jets, helicopters and buildings you can bring down around the enemy. You pick one of four classes (Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon) and fight NATO against the private military force Pax Armata in modes like Conquest and Breakthrough. There's also a short single-player campaign, the free-to-play battle royale REDSEC, and Portal, where players build their own modes.

Battlefield 6 review: gunplay and destruction are still the best in years

The heart of Battlefield 6 is excellent. Guns feel punchy and readable, movement is quick without turning into a twitch shooter, and the destruction gives every fight a story: a wall comes down, a sniper's nest disappears, and the objective you were holding is suddenly wide open. Critics praised this at launch, and it's still the reason people keep coming back. Even many of the angriest Steam reviews start by admitting the core shooting is great.

EA has kept tuning the combat too. Over the past year it says it has sped up progression, retuned aim assist to feel closer to the open beta, and adjusted recoil and damage so close-range fights feel fairer and long-range shots reward precision.

Maps, modes and Season 5: what's new

A year of seasons has added a lot. Fan-favourite maps from older games returned, including Railway to Golmud and Wake Island, and naval warfare arrived with carriers and boats. Season 5, Siege of Vegas, launched on October 13 with:

• Vegas Strip, a big vehicle map along the Las Vegas Strip, with casinos, rooftop ziplines and storm drains for close-quarters fights.
• Area 51, a desert military base with jets and tanks on the surface and underground tunnels below, plus a control tower you can bring down.
• Four new weapons: the Mk 24 assault rifle, RSPR personal defence weapon, Z84M light machine gun and ELR-40 sniper rifle.
• Rapid Royale, a faster REDSEC battle royale with redeploys, and the full launch of Ranked Battle Royale.
• A Battlefield 6 x Dead Space Halloween event from October 20 to November 10.

Not every change is welcome, though. Players say several modes have left normal matchmaking over the year, including Rush, Squad Deathmatch and, with Season 5, the squad mode Gauntlet. Some of those live on in Portal, but that's not the same as being one click away.

The Season 5 backlash: XP cap and paid shortcuts

Steam reviews in the last month have turned sharply negative, and the biggest reason is progression. Players report that Season 5 caps the XP you can earn at around 300 per minute, so a good streak or a fast objective capture stops counting once you hit it, and double-XP tokens don't raise the limit. EA's Season 5 patch notes don't mention a cap, so treat that as player-reported for now. What is official is that the new Game of the Year Edition includes an "Ultimate Shortcut Kit" that gives immediate access to fully progressed weapons and attachments. Put the two together and you can see why players feel they're being nudged towards paying.

Other common complaints from players: new cosmetics that clash with the grounded military look Battlefield promised (players have spotted skins with obvious errors, such as a "Secuty" patch), crashes on some AMD systems, and netcode and hit registration that can feel inconsistent. On PC you also need TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot switched on for the anti-cheat, which has put some players off.

What players are saying

We read the most helpful Steam reviews from the past month. Here's a fair cross-section, credited to the players who wrote them:

• The broken promise. Tankmonkey45 (148 hours) asks "What happened to the grounded approach?", feeling the game has drifted towards Call of Duty since the beta. It's the most upvoted recent review, with over 1,000 people agreeing.
• Modes disappearing. Smoge13, with more than 600 hours, says they stuck around for Gauntlet after Rush and Squad Deathmatch left normal matchmaking, and that Season 5 removing it was the last straw.
• The XP cap. pecheur (191 hours) points out that after a kill and an assist you stop earning XP for the rest of the minute, while the Ultimate Shortcut Kit sells maxed-out weapons and vehicles.
• Still worth it for some. TheShelks, a long-time fan since Battlefield 1942, recommends Casual Breakthrough, where a few real players share a lobby with bots, as the perfect way to unwind after a long day.
• The optimists. ShmoogerDoogen (376 hours) calls it "a solid FPS w/ great maps" with a team that listens to feedback.

Campaign, REDSEC and Portal

The campaign is short and forgettable, a tour of the game's locations rather than a reason to buy it. REDSEC, the free-to-play battle royale, is decent and keeps getting attention, but it's also where a lot of Season 5's effort went, which annoys players who only want classic Battlefield. Portal is the hidden gem: thousands of player-made experiences, from classic Rush servers to silly custom modes, and it's where many of the removed modes still live.

Battlefield 6 PC requirements

Watch the Battlefield 6 Season 5 trailer

Battlefield 6 review verdict: is it worth it in 2026?

Yes, for most people, as long as you go in with your eyes open. At $27.99 / £23.99 it's a lot of shooter for the money, the core combat is the best the series has had in a decade, and Season 5's Las Vegas maps are genuinely fun. Play the free weekend first: four days is plenty to find out whether the gunplay hooks you.

Just don't buy the Game of the Year Edition or the shortcut packs to skip progression, and don't expect the grounded, content-rich Battlefield that the open beta promised. If EA reverses the XP cap and brings back the modes players love, this score would go up. If Season 6 keeps going the same way, it would go down.

More military shooters on iGame Magazine

• Hell Let Loose Update 21 – the latest update for the WW2 squad shooter
• Gray Zone Warfare 0.5 Rogue Ops – the tactical extraction shooter's biggest update
• Arma Reforger 1.8 – Bohemia's military sandbox with jets and helicopters
• Delta Force vs Battlefield – the free-to-play shooter that took on Battlefield

Battlefield 6 review FAQ