DICE and EA have often pushed the envelope on what they can do in their Battlefield games. From the themes, to the content, to the graphics and sound design, they usually never do anything halfway. Battlefield V was already getting flak for having female soldiers in a World War II setting, but now, they’ve revealed that one of the campaigns in the game will be you playing as a German soldier. But DICE was quick to note that this isn’t a “Hero story”, or even a Nazi story, it’s one about life and consequences.
According to Franchise Design Director Daniel Berlin, the campaign is called “The Last Tiger War Story”. In it, players will be a German soldier who is part of a Tiger tank crew, and along the way, you start to question the orders you have gotten from the Nazi leaders.
“You may deny the actions you made, but even if you deny them you have to live with the consequences,” said Berlin to Eurogamer. “All actions have consequences, even in war, so that’s an ongoing theme throughout the whole thing.
Berlin again noted that this was not a praising of the German side of things, or a way to make you “see their views”. That’s not the intent with this campaign:
“And I don’t want to spoil anything, but I hope that mantra helps you understand some of what I mean when I say it’s not a hero story. It’s really about this tank crew going to war in this crazy machine and they start to actually question why they fight.”
Depending on how it’s played out, this could actually be quite a powerful story in Battlefield V, if done right. Battlefield 1 had many good stories, but many of them were very short. So if DICE and EA want to deliver a good story, hopefully this one won’t be cut short. The game releases on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 20th.
