Oh god, why did a Metro clone have to be the map that revived Battlefield 2042?

It seems like we’re getting further and further away from the start of the latest (and possibly final) season of Battlefield 2042The multiplayer shooter proves all the more that its best days are far from over.

This recent surge in player interest began right with the release of Dark Creations, the game’s sixth season. All of this was well coupled with a free weekend on all platforms and deep discounts everywhere.

All of this was enough for Battlefield 2042 to have one of its biggest weekends ever, almost two years after its release. While many (myself included) were skeptical about whether the game would be able to maintain its momentum after free access ended, it only got better!

Not only did Battlefield 2042 manage to maintain its player base (at least on Steam) after the weekend, it has now officially set a new concurrent player record on Steam.

As seen on SteamDB, a new all-time high of 107,376 concurrent players was reached just three days ago, which is higher than the previous high of 105,397 concurrent players set at launch in November 2021. that’s not the case a huge one Jump, but it’s already much better than anyone could have expected.

That’s all well and good, of course, but my only problem with it is that a lot of these people currently spend a lot of their gaming time doing this Redacted, the new season 6 map. As the newest map, Redacted has its own playlist directly on the Battlefield 2042 homepage. The first thing you’ll see when you want to start playing is “Blacked Out,” and that’s probably what you’ll click on.

Redacted is an infantry and melee only map. It’s part of what I like to call the Operation Corridor genre. It all started, of course, with Operation Metro in Battlefield 3. The popularity of this map was so enormous that not only did it come back in Battlefield 4 (and Battlefield 5), but it also inspired DICE to create Operation Locker – a slightly different version on the same Concept.

Battlefield 2042 never had its own meat grinder corridor map – until the release of Redacted. And I mean, look at this:

Long-time Battlefield players – including DICE – all know exactly why these cards are popular. On the one hand, they offer the most efficient way to quickly improve character levels, unlocks and weapon progression. It’s all pretty simple: lots of players crammed into a small space means more opportunities to fight, which translates into faster XP gains.

They also address the needs of some members of the Battlefield community who have somehow developed an aversion to combined arms combat and the large scale on which the series is based. Battlefield 2042 only received six maps upon release, making it all the more disheartening to see a spot taken over by another Metro/Locker clone.

Well, at least people Are Spending time with Battlefield 2042 instead of pointing and laughing. I just wish they could see what sets Battlefield apart from most shooters.