Electronic Arts has dropped a teaser trailer for the next promotional event it’s holding for the upcoming Battlefield 2042. No, it won’t be a gameplay video; it’s a short film called “Exodus” which will premiere on YouTube on August 12. The short, which will apparently be live-action, will be a prequel to the upcoming game, as it’s apparently the way EA is going to deliver lore to the game’s players.
Exodus will apparently reveal more information about the world events that cause a war to start in 2042. Since there will be no single-player campaign, events and short films like this might be the only way we learn what the story of the game is supposed to be. According to EA’s pre-release material, the world’s fighting force is made up of No-Pats, a non-affiliated army of people who would otherwise not survive the world’s disasters.
As it says on the 2042 website, the No-Pats who were disenfranchised would eventually be the cause of tension between the US and Russia: “However, with no way to repatriate 1.2 billion people, No-Pats become a permanent fixture in all economic, military, and social policymaking. Many No-Pats are still distrustful of the governments that exiled them and refuse calls to reassimilate. No-Pat leaders emerge, inspiring a new identity unbound to former nationality, drawing a line in the sand between the Old World and The New Normal. #WeAreNoPats becomes a rallying cry. Amidst the world rebuilding, sparks of friction erupt between the US and Russia, as the last two superpowers both vie for control of this fast-changing world.”
Presumably, that will be the justifications for the battles that take place in 2042’s All Out Warfare mode. Players will be No-Pats who have been forced by circumstance to pick sides between Russia and the US. We’ll know for certain either when Exodus premieres, or when the game itself launches on October 22.