Battlefield 1 Adding Russian Army as DLC

Published: October 31, 2016 9:20 AM /

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rendition1 battlefield 1

EA has updated the page that gives customers information on the Battlefield 1 Premium Pass and with it has confirmed some details about the four planned DLC packs for the game. Confirmed with the page's update; the Russian Empire will be added as a playable faction in the forthcoming DLC along with the French. The way the addition is phrased on the site - "Play as new armies like France and the Russian Empire in an upcoming expansion pack." - suggests that more than just these two will eventually be added. As far as we can see, the site doesn't really confirm anything that fans who have been following EA's press releases don't already know, but given the company's reticence in sharing details about the DLC, any information is welcome and an update to the page suggests that more may be on the way.

The first round of Battlefield 1 DLC is planned for March 2017 and will be called 'They Shall Not Pass'. In the first pack we know the French Army will be included, but it's not clear what else will be included in it. According to EA and DICE other notable DLC additions over the four packs will include; sixteen new multiplayer maps, new elite classes, new vehicles, twenty new weapons, and new operations and multiplayer modes. This last addition may be most pleasing for fans of the newly released game, as the 'operations' mode has been touted as one of the game's best features - representing an attempt to bring a story and meaningful objectives to online multiplayer. For more information on the upcoming DLC as it becomes available, you can sign up to the Battlefield Insider newsletter through the Battlefield 1 official site.

It's worth noting, however, that the premium pass for Battlefield 1 will currently set you back $49.99 - pretty much the price of the base game itself. The premium pass offers two weeks early access to the expansions, presumably versus buying the expansions separately as there is no none-premium pass. As we reported back in August, whatever is included in the various packs it will likely draw criticism from those same fans who decried the use of map packs for Star Wars: Battlefront. EA brought criticism on themselves by using this strategy, finding themselves accused of splitting the player base as well as receiving complaints about the overall cost of the game plus DLC.

As we reported last week here on TechRaptor, Battlefield 1 has gotten off to a strong start in terms of sales figures. The game reportedly came in just under Ubisoft's big seller The Division in release week sales. Concurrent player numbers have reached in excess of 800,000, making this a very popular shooter indeed. Early critical reception has also been overwhelmingly positive, with the game achieving an average of 86 on OpenCritic. Many of these reviews point to the addition of the new multiplayer operations as key to the game's success. We're giving this game a thorough inspection before rendering our verdict here at TechRaptor, but you can be sure that our review will be coming in the near future.

How do you feel about the Battlefield 1 DLC right now, are you waiting to find out what you're actually getting before making a purchase? What about that price tag, is $50 too much to pay for a season pass? Let us know your thoughts in our comments section below.

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Dom Oleary Writer
| Former Staff Writer

I'm a dyed in the wool gamer of the now irrelevant (I'm told) generation-X. If I'm not gaming, you'll find me writing about games, writing my wonderful… More about Dom