Battlefield 2042’s Hazard Zone Details Revealed

Battlefield Hazard Zone—the third and final mode found to be announced in Battlefield 2042—is a time-limited extraction mode that has teams of four battling it out against AI-controlled enemies and other players for valuable data drives.

“In 2040, a worldwide blackout event reduces the total number of satellites by 70 percent … in the wake of this event, temporary low-orbit satellites become the new method for gathering intel for factions,” said Danny Berlin, senior design director for Battlefield 2042. “These temporary satellites are launched and then forced down in either U.S. or Russian-controlled territory, allowing occupying forces in the area to collect the intel stored on radiation-hardened data drive.

“As a no-pat task force, you and your squad set out to recover these very valuable data drives.”

The matches, which will run on all maps verified for All Out Warfare, will feature either six teams of four on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, or eight teams of four on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC.

Berlin stressed that this is not a battle royale mode. Instead, squads will be battling the other teams, the weather, as well as the occupying forces of the map as they all fight to grab the data drives and extract before the time runs out. Only two squads will be able to extract before the weather makes it impossible to leave.

“The main objective of Hazard Zone is not to kill, but to extract out of the hazard zone alive with as many data drives as possible,” Berlin said.

Each match is broken down into five key phases:

• Strategize and Equip: Each squad needs to determine which specialists to use, weapons, gadgets, and tactical equipment. There can only be one of each specialist in a squad. At least one player should equip an intel scanner, which will show the rough location of all data drives, whether they’re in enemy hands or not.
• Insert: Squads deploy to a predetermined destination.
• Retrieval: Locate data drives on the map and hold onto them until you can extract.
• First Extraction: About halfway through the map, a CV-38 Condor will arrive at a random location on the map. The first team with the data drive to board gets to extract.
• The Last Extraction: More satellites begin to drop onto the map with new, more valuable, data drives on them. All remaining squads battle over the drives until a new extraction site is announced. If even a single member of a team extracts, that squad gets the data drives.

Berlin pointed out there’s also a metagame at play here. Those data drives earn players something called ‘dark market credits’, which can be used before each match to buy weapons, gadgets, and tech upgrades unique to Hazard Zone. One of those, for instance, is the ability to bring back a dead teammate.

In Hazard Zone, when a player dies, they are first knocked down and can be revived, but once they’re killed, they can only be brought back by either finding a reinforcement uplink on the map or buying one pre-match. Those who aren’t brought back will have to set out the remainder of the match in spectator mode.

Hazard Zone’s art features—front and center—Captain Kimble “Irish” Graves, voiced by Michael K. Williams. Williams, perhaps best known for his roles on The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, died on Sept. 6, 2021.

“We are still devastated by the loss of Michael, but we felt it was important that his legacy lives on in the Battlefield universe,” Berlin said. “We are working with Michael’s team to define his story going forward. We want to continue to honor his amazing work and celebrate his contributions.”

Hazard Zone joins All Out Warfare—which features conquest and breakthrough, as well as Battlefield Portal, as Battlefield 2042’s three modes. The game will not have a single-player campaign, but rather tell its story through the game’s various multiplayer maps and modes.

You can check out our hands-on with All Out Warfare right here, and pre-purchase the game today on the Epic Games Store.

Battlefield 2042 launches Nov. 19, 2021.

Battlefield 2042 | Hazard Zone Official Trailer