On Friday, EA released the reveal trailer for Battlefield 1, set during World War 1. Early in the trailer, we see a lone warrior charging across the desert, Lawrence of Arabia-style. After a moment, the camera cuts to the face of this badass and we see that this badass is a woman. See the badassery for yourself:
The inclusion of female soldiers might seem anachronistic to some, but history shows that women on the battlefields of World War 1, and even entire battalions, were not unheard of. While the Battlefield series has at times featured, and other times not included women in its games, the early albeit brief presentation of a woman in the trailer would seem to indicate that women might be playable characters in the game, ideally in multiple theaters of war. Time will tell.
Still, the woman chosen to be presented in the trailer is not merely an inspired choice, but historically accurate. In Flakfire's Battlefield 1 Reveal Trailer Analysis, Flakfire offers a few speculative details based on his knowledge as a history enthusiast:
"DICE confirmed during the world premiere horses will be ridable in combat and they consider them a vehicle. In this shot, we see the rider brandishing a sword. The sword is typical for the Middle East and the time period. Here it's actually revealed the rider is a woman. Her face tattoos indicate she is native to the desert and perhaps a member of a Bedouin tribe."In an interview with Eurogamer,net, DICE producer Aleks Grondal provided a little detail on the story elements of Battlefield 1, and confirmed the heroine featured in the trailer is not a mere extra, but has a story to be experienced in the game:
"...the goal is for you to be able to explore multiple different stories from multiple different perspectives. Think about it like this: if something cool happened over here, and something cool happened over here, we'd rather not have a story that jumps from all around the world. We want to have personal, relateable stories we can tell in a space where they actually make sense to be. For instance, in the trailer you see one of the characters - actually you see a few of them - but one of the heroines we have is on the horse. Her story takes place in Arabia. We provide different gameplay flavours and also thematic flavours. So it should feel different than our previous campaigns."The reveal trailer certainly got me excited for the game and I'm hoping we'll see more badass women likely charging across the desert to fight the Ottoman Empire.
 |
| One more time: badass. |
Adrian Martinez is a graphic designer, comic book letterer, hobbyist writer, and all-around geek living in New York City.
