Anti-War Battlefield 1. 11 video games with a powerful message
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The Battlefield series has always been associated with a rather casual approach to war and killing. However, such a concept was not an option after World War I has become a leitmotif in Battlefield 1. In countries of Western Europe, especially France, this major conflict, and not the World War II, has always been considered as an overwhelming tragedy that affected the entire generation and required a lot of sacrifice. Therefore, the developers strived to create a video game that could send an anti-war message, that is, highlight the nonsense of constant fighting and killing, which is clearly demonstrated in the prologue of the single player campaign.
We don't play a role of invincible hero, nor do we save the world. The initial scenes of brutal melee combat taking place on a muddy battlefield strongly contrast with the calm melody of Dream a Little Dream of Me that can be heard in the background. Once we pick up the rifle on our own, the short stages are designed in such a way that we are unable to survive for too long. If you die on the battlefield, then you won't return to the last saved position or use up another virtual life, but instead you can find out more about the name and age of your soldier, who simply died like millions of other troops.
Neither a machine gun nor a powerful tank can guarantee a chance to survive. Even if we kill an enemy in close combat it won't provide any safety, because a few seconds later a single artillery strike may wipe out everybody around, including our own comrades. When there are only two soldiers left on the battlefield, who belong to opposite factions, they both understand the nonsense of this situation and hesitate to open fire.
A similar tone can be seen in the subsequent war stories of the main campaign. The dominant motive of these stories is the ultimate sacrifice and vast destruction caused by the war. The effects of this havoc are present not only on the battlefields, but above all have a significant impact on the mental condition of the soldiers and their families affected by the painful losses. Anti-war references can also be found in multiplayer mode, during the short sequences of Grand Operations mode. As you play you may hear the following words:
If the ruins around me could speak, they would warn us — warn us of ourselves.
Battlefield will always remain a Battlefield game and it offers satisfying combat mechanics and some absurd features that are only available in the Battlefield franchise. However, for the very first time all of that has a much deeper meaning. There is a lot of entertainment, but there is also the memory of the sacrifice, commitment and devotion of soldiers – about the hell they went through.
