The intro cinematics of "Battlefield 1" depicts the life before and after the war. The game developer also explained why the game features multiple playable characters.
The single-player campaign of the video game will have five War Stories. A video, which can be viewed below, was released last weekend at TwitchCon that showed one of those stories.
According to Game Spot, the video shows a soldier in bed, resting up. After a while, he is awakened by a blast and is now going to battle. This cinematic intro will play before the Storm of Steel mission in the Through Mud and Blood campaign.
In another video, it showed the life of a tank crew member and puts the viewer in his shoes. It showed the driver character sitting in a luxurious car, which might be before the war happened. It then flashes back forward or maybe backward to the war, where that character is taken to the tank and introduced to the crew.
DICE content lead Jonas Elfving wrote on the official website of the "Battlefield" franchise that players will experience a series of War Stories. These will be personal stories focusing on different protagonists with unique backgrounds and skills. The stories are about the people rather than history or battles, he said.
The reason why the game developers wanted multiple player characters was that they wanted players to view different perspectives during the Great War. It was a diverse war and they wanted to embrace that variety. They also wanted to cover as much ground as possible.
The developers reconsidered the format of what they would offer in the single player campaign of "Battlefield 1." It would be as immersive or totally respectful to the setting if it only had one character going through the different settings. They made the decision of creating an anthology format, which will be a set of characters with their own focused stories.
Elfving explained that in previous "Battlefield" games, players experienced the story through the perspective of one main character only. It was only in a few scenes that the camera cut anywhere. In this new iteration, the game developers wanted stronger characters instead of telling the players that they are the character.
To create a setting where the characters were the focus, the developers used classic cinematics, which lets players see the character more than in first-person-theater. They wanted the players to see and feel what the characters were going through, rather than experiencing it from their perspectives. This has made the storytelling ability stronger and it will have emotional engagement.
One of the key inspirations for the single player campaign was how people think, act, and play in "Battlefield 1" multiplayer. Usually, playing one of the games from the franchise would give players an objective, a loadout, and a plan. The plan usually falls apart as players realize it through the game, and they would have to improvise to make do based on the enemies and vehicles they would be facing.
The game developers are now embracing a new type of gameplay for this iteration. They will use systematic gameplay and the freedom that makes the franchise the best that it is.
Check out "Battlefield 1's" Storm of Steel gameplay trailer video below: