Turning Tides: New Battlefield 1 DLC Coming This December

Battlefield 1 is getting new DLC just in time for Christmas. Turning Tides has a distinctly nautical feel to it and even though details are pretty scarce on the ground, what we know is that we will be participating in both the Gallipoli Campaign and the infamous Zeebrugge raid.

More will become apparently as December inches ever closer, but one thing is for certain you: will be able to play as the world’s finest and toughest amphibious infantry.

Her Majesty’s Royal Marines.

One thing I hope is that we get play with grappling hooks; those things look lethal and awesome in equal measure. Imagine being able to scale up the side of a battleship in the midst of a firefight. It would make the attackers’ job that little bit easier.

Here’s a little background on what we can expect when Turning Tides comes to our shores:

The Zeebrugge raid happened towards the end of the Great War in 1918. It was an attempt by the British High Command to block the port of Bruges-Zeebrugge, which was being used by the German U-boat fleet. So basically, the plan was to land Royal Marines and Royal Navy personnel and have them rush the German gun emplacements, use explosive filled submarines to destroy the mole (a large man-made structure normally used as a breakwater) while old battleships were scuttled in the channel to block it and stop it from being used.

While that is just a very hasty version of events, it sounds like a brilliant map for Battlefield with attacking forces being able to use the ships to block the channel and combine air and land forces to rush the gun emplacements. Either way, for both attackers and defenders it sounds and looks like a brilliant map.

The concept art gives us just a little idea of what to expect, the use of coastal guns would be one way in which the defenders of Zeebrugge could stop the allies from advancing and it also looks like the battleships are already in place giving a place for the attackers to spawn from. There could be the possibility of ship launched aircraft for the allies but, again, that is just guesswork.

The other campaign coming in December is the Gallipoli campaign. The campaign was a crucial moment in Turkey’s history as it eventually led to their independence, it also served as a baptism of fire for the ANZAC forces (Australian New Zealand Army Corps). It was one of the first instances of combined arms operation (using land, sea and air to achieve your objective) and it was the brainchild of Winston Churchill in order to force the Turks to surrender by sailing the British Navy up the Dardanelles straight to Istanbul.

We have already had a taste of the Gallipoli campaign in ‘The Runner’, which showed what the allied forces were up against. I hope we will see a whole lot more of the Gallipoli campaign as the terrain adds itself to a great conquest map with the attacking force having to establish a beachhead before pushing inland.

Hopefully we will see a few more maps, maybe we will see ones like the landing at Anzac Cove, Lone Pine and the landings at ‘V’ and ‘W’ beaches, along with elite units, new vehicles and weapons. I especially hope that we will be able to play as New Zealanders or Australians as to hear them shouting and screaming at the enemy would make the whole Battlefield 1 experience even more enjoyable.

The concept art for the Gallipoli campaign shows us a large beachhead being rushed by allied troops, it could be that the first job for the defenders is to halt the amphibious assault by using the large coastal guns to knock out enemy shipping. Again, we could be able to fly planes off aircraft carriers (yes, they had them back then) but we will have to wait for EA and Dice to reveal more to us closer to the time.

Either way, I am seriously looking forward to this update. If they get this right then the guys and gals at EA and Dice will, in my opinion, establish themselves as having produced one of the finest single player/multiplayer FPS’ ever made.