Battlefront II’s campaign won’t be like Battlefield 1’s War Stories, plus a few more details

An interview on Eurogamer about EA’s Battlefront II just came out and it included a few bits about the game’s campaign, Galactic Conquest and Rogue One.

While much of the article rehashed some of what we already know, there are a few new hints buried within it.

First up is this comment by game director Mark Thompson on Battlefront II’s campaign:

“It isn’t a discrete set of missions or separate War Stories like Battlefield 1,” he said. “You do follow Iden [Versio] through this journey whilst from time to time, switching sides and playing from the perspective of one of the iconic heroes because again that’s just part of Battlefront’s DNA. Sometimes you’re a Trooper, sometimes you’re a pilot and sometimes you’re Luke Skywalker with a lightsaber.”

While this could be surmised from other comments the development team has made about the campaign, this is the first official confirmation we’ve had that the campaign won’t echo the War Stories from Battlefield 1. Instead, Thompson called Battlefront II’s campaign “a continuous story with a beginning, middle and end”.

Personally, I think a War Stories-esque mode would be great in the Star Wars universe. However, I am very intrigued by Iden’s story and I look forward to see what the team at Motive Studios has cooked up.

Iden receiving commands from a sentinel in Battlefront II.

Next, Criterion Games’ Matt Webster—who is a producer on the game—confirmed that they are staying coy on announcing Galactic Conquest by saying, “That’ll be one that we’ll leave for another day.”

This echoes what I heard at the question-and-answer session I attended after the Battlefront II reveal at Star Wars Celebration.

One thing I’d like to clear up: the game’s design director Dennis Brannvall said in December that he didn’t “think we’ll go that far into our other franchise” in terms of the capture-the-command-posts mode Conquest. That mode is a staple of the Battlefield franchise and was the featured mode in the first two Battlefronts by Pandemic Studios.

The Galactic Conquest screen in Pandemic’s Battlefront II (via Moby Games).

What Webster is referring to above is Galactic Conquest, a mode exclusive to the Pandemic Battlefronts. In that mode, players use strategy to take over that galaxy as their chosen faction. It has a very similar style of play to a board game.

So—to reiterate—Conquest, the capture-the-command-posts mode, isn’t likely to be in Battlefront II. However, Galactic Conquest, the board-game-style-galaxy-domination mode, is still up in the air. If it does come to Battlefront II (or something similar), I think EA is holding off until announcing it alongside the gameplay reveal (which I suspect will be at EA PLAY in June).

Ezra and Sabine in Star Wars Rebels.

In terms of Rogue One and Rebels content, Webster offered this cryptic reply:

“We are covering prequel trilogies, original trilogy and new trilogy so those will be the locations that we’ll have fun in.”

It’s worth noting that at least two of the weapons in the game come from Rogue One and Rebels (Cassian Andor’s A80-CFE blaster and Hera Syndulla’s Blurrg-1120 pistol, respectively). So those working on the game aren’t exactly shying away from those two Star Wars properties. However, in terms of maps or hero characters, I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see someone like Ezra or Chirrut make their way into Battlefront II. That said, one could make the argument that Rogue One fits within the original trilogy era, so we’ll see!

Other interesting notes from the interview:

• Iden’s backpack droid gives her “a greater range, a greater reach, more versatility, more flexibility.”
• Speeder bikes and tauntauns will have “seamless” transitions (edit: or something “along those lines”) when mounting them (probably similar to how speeder bikes work in the current game). This differs from regular vehicles, which you will spawn in as.
• More details on space battles will come around EA PLAY.
• EA is not discussing virtual reality and Battlefront II at the moment. Per Webster: “That’s a story for another day…”

To read the full interview, head on over to Eurogamer.