It's 2025, and somehow, Battlefield 1 is still going strong. If anything, it's thriving in ways I never expected.
It hit the FPS scene like a sledgehammer in 2016. It was definitely a gamble since WWI was hardly the go-to setting for mainstream FPS games, especially in a genre dominated by futuristic warfare.
If I booted up BF1 today without knowing its release date, I’d probably assume it was a brand-new title. This game has the kind of immersion that few games have nailed, let alone surpassed.
I still remember the first time I booted up BF1 back in 2017. It was an entire era unfolding before my eyes. The muddy trenches, the rickety tanks, the clunky, flawlessly flawed weapons: I can't get enough of them.
There was something about its bedlam-like yet immersive nature that had me hooked from day one, and even now, in 2025, I still play it like day one.
I went in blind, with no clue what I was getting into. I just wanted to see what Battlefield would do in WWI. The moment I got thrown into the prologue, Storm of Steel, I knew this wasn’t going to be like anything else. The game didn't coddle me. It didn’t paint me as a hero. Just another soldier in a sea of thousands, trying to make it through. One by one, I died and respawned into different lives, with different weapons in hand and different fates on the deck for me. It was brutal. It was riveting. And I loved every second of it.
The campaign had this almost "down-in-the-dumps" beauty to it. It wasn't about exaggerated heroics or a lone warrior taking out enemies like in an action flick. Through Mud and Blood had me trudging through the trenches as a reluctant tank driver. Friends in High Places threw me into the skies, and death came at me just like the wind. Nothing is Written let me ride through the deserts, battling side by side with Lawrence of Arabia. Each war story left its mark in its own way. Some captured quiet moments of camaraderie, others the raw desperation of survival, and still others the harsh truth that war takes everything, no matter what.
I dig the multiplayer just as much. It’s hard to describe the exact moment I got utterly lost in it, but I think it was the first time I got caught in the madness of Operations mode. There’s nothing quite like charging across No Man’s Land, bullets whizzing past, mortar shells sending dirt flying, and a blimp burning in the sky above. It was cinematic in a way no scripted cutscene could ever achieve.
So many weapons, the wacky designs, and the ones that looked like duct tape and pure hope were the only things holding them together. I’ve cycled through so many loadouts, trying out everything from the iconic Mauser C96 to the absolutely ridiculous Kolibri, a gun so tiny it felt like an insult to even carry it. The Villar-Perosa was an actual WWI SMG that looked more like a mounted turret. But if I had to pick my numero uno, it would be the Pieper M1893. It was an absolute oddball, but once I got the groove of it, it became one of the most satisfying weapons I ever used. It felt like wielding a revolver as a primary, and yes, it wasn’t exactly meta, but whatever. The satisfaction of pulling off a kill with it made up for any of its shortcomings.
Honestly, some of my best memories aren’t even from winning but the crazy moments that only BF1 can create. The moment I was launched by a tank, only to land right on top of an enemy sniper and finish him off with a melee attack. The match where my squad went all-in on cavalry and somehow took control of an entire sector. That one operation where we got crushed through the first three sectors, only to pull off a crazy last stand in a church. We held off the enemy with gas grenades, bolt-action rifles, and a whole lot of winging it.
I can’t get enough of this game, but it definitely has its annoying side too. It’s a bit of a love-hate thing. The dreaded auto-balance that always seemed to kick in right when I was on a winning streak. The snipers camped 500 meters away, picking off anything that dared to peek out of cover. There were those moments when my team just went off and treated it like Team Deathmatch while I was left yelling into the void.
And yet, I kept coming back. Because at its best, BF1 gave us something no other shooter could match. If you don’t get it yet, you’re missing out. I’ve played just about every Battlefield game, and while I’ve enjoyed them all, none have made me want to bury BF1 for good. BF3 was revolutionary, BF4 perfected modern combat, and Bad Company 2 had some of the best destruction in the series. But BF1 is still holding its own today.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to what kind of Battlefield experience you’re looking for.
If you want a raw, cinematic war experience that still holds up years later, BF1 delivers in ways the newer games just don’t.