Now that Battlefield 2042 is out, the game’s artists are free to showcase their work on industry portfolio site ArtStation, and as has been the case with pretty much every game in the series, there is some incredible stuff to enjoy, regardless of your thoughts on the game itself.
Below you’ll find a cross-section of work from throughout Battlefield 2042’s development, from concept art to character designs to gun models, by DICE artists, former DICE artists and contractors alike. It’s not everything from everyone involved on the project, but it’s enough to give us a good look at how the game’s direction and overall vibe was laid down in the years ahead of release.
What I find most interesting is some of the early concept stuff. The game has not shipped with any world-building singleplayer content at all, unlike previous Battlefield games, and yet there are pieces here showing events like the rescue of civilians from natural disasters and characters/scenarios we don’t see in the final game (or in the pre-release Exodus short film).
Even if there wasn’t any singleplayer planned at any stage of development — and who knows, maybe there was, it’s been three years since the last Battlefield game! — then at least a lot of thought went into the game’s depiction of a world suffering from extreme climate change, and the characters that players were going to be picking from to fight in it.
While the game has rightly attracted criticism since its botched launch, I’ve also found a lot to enjoy amidst the wreckage. That’s a pretty wide cultural chasm to have to deal with on a daily basis, so I’m hoping to review the game next week and try and make a bit more sense of things.
You’ll find links to each artist’s portfolio embedded in their names below. If you’d instead like to just see a curated highlights package, then ArtStation’s Art Blast page is a good place to start.
Lars Sowig
Jonas Åkerlund
Per Haagensen
Felix Bauer-Schlichtegroll
Frej Appel
Kimya Sheikh
Jakub Kowalczyk
Hvile Öhrnell
Pedram Karimfazli
Joel Dabrosin
Sebastian Salvo
Per Jeppsson
Gabriel Wigren
Nicolas Gekko
Oskar Wetterbrandt
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