Battlefield V's tanktacular Overture update trundles out tomorrow
My tank is fight
Tanks in single-player, tanks in multiplayer and probably some bonus tanks just for fun. Battlefield 5's first episodic update, Overture, is out tomorrow - December 4th - and all about the armour. There'll be a new and grim-looking War Story called The Last Tiger, a new multiplayer map called Panzerstorm, a handy practice range to hone your sharpshooting on and a tank cosmetics system. Below, an update trailer.
Update: Dice have announced via Twitter that some eleventh hour issues have delayed the rollout of the Overture update. They "don't anticipate a long delay" though.
Following in the style of the once-wonky (but now rather nice) Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Battlefield 5 has no season pass or big expansions on the horizon. Instead, the plan is for regular free episodic updates from now until whenever EA have had enough. While not every update will have a single-player War Story attached, Overture looks to be getting off to a strong start, with a clear theme and offering a new spin on the experience. The new story chapter - The Last Tiger - looks rather grim, too, putting the player in a German tank commander's boots at the end of the war.
The new multiplayer map does appeal to me. Panzerstorm is apparently based on the historical Belgian Battle Of Hannut, and features - as far as I'm aware - the most simultaneous tanks in any Battlefield map yet. Seventeen of the buggers, most with multiple players as crew. Given that I've always liked the vehicular combat side of Battlefield but often miss the chance to drive the very limited pool of tanks on most maps, this is right up my alley. Plus, it should be spectacular to look at - BF5 has some very nice explosions.
Less essential but still nice are the practice range and vehicle customisation. Much like BF5's tweakable soldiers, you'll be able to dress up your tanks, although the nature of the game means that most people probably won't notice anything different. Players may awkwardly try complimenting your tank's new haircut if you push the point, so you probably shouldn't. Coming after Overture, Dice also plan to tweak the time-to-kill, as detailed in this Reddit post. They feel that some players are getting frustrated after dying rapidly and repeatedly, and plan on smoothing that out.
Battlefield 5's Overture update launches tomorrow.