On October 28, Battlefield 6‘s latest update added Blackwell Fields, a new map, to the online FPS. This should be an exciting time for fans. However, Blackwell Fields is a very small, mostly empty map that isn’t much fun to play. And the community isn’t happy about it.
Earlier this month, I got a chance to go hands-on with Blackwell Fields before it was added to the game as part of today’s larger season one update, which also added a new battle royale mode and battle pass system. And after playing a few matches on it back then, I was worried. Now having checked it out in the full game and watched others play it, I’m here to report that Blackwell Fields is one of BF6‘s worst maps yet.
It’s an odd duck of a map that feels too big and empty when you’re running around on foot, but feels too small when you’re trying to use vehicles. Snipers are king on this map and will quickly take you out the moment you spawn. Blackwell Fields also lacks a lot of interesting spaces in which to fight, mostly just being an oil field with some hills to use as cover. Not great. Flying around the map is a pain, too, as it’s so small you’ll quickly hit the out-of-bounds and be forced to turn around. (Assuming you don’t just get shot down instantly, more on that in a moment.) And to top it all off, it’s just kind of a bleh-looking map with no real distinctive features or interesting visual theming. Brownish hills, some oil drills, a few dirt roads, and a handful of buildings. Enjoy!
On the Battlefield subreddit, reactions to the new map have ranged from “This isn’t good” to “This is very, very bad.” Players aren’t happy with how small the map is and its oddly constrictive boundaries. People are also already tired of getting sniped over and over again when spawning on squadmates, as the map lacks substantial cover.
But perhaps the worst part of Blackwell Fields is that the main team bases are too damn close to each other. Players are reporting that when trying to take off in a jet at their own base, the other team’s AA guns, located in the opposite base, can be used to destroy the aircraft. Helis aren’t safe from this issue, either. For many, it means that aircraft are effectively worthless on the map in its current state. Yikes! Further upsetting players is the fact that the new free battle royale spin-off, Redsec, features a massive map. But the paid game got such a tiny new map.
Can Blackwell Fields be saved? Maybe. Opening it up would help, for sure, and maybe adding some more cover would, too. But really, I think EA should have just released the other new map arriving later this season, Eastwood, which is bigger and better in every way than Blackwell Fields. Unfortunately, unless something changes, that map won’t be added until a later update in November.
