Just like Call of Duty has Nuketown, Rust, and Terminal, the Battlefield franchise has its own collection of widely beloved maps that keep coming back time and time again. Strike at Karkand, Caspian Border, and Wake Island have all appeared in a range of Battlefield entries over the years, and all three are often viewed as the perfect encapsulation of the classic Battlefield formula, offering the ideal blend of infantry, vehicle, and aircraft action.
Via the first weekend of its Open Beta, Battlefield 6 has already given fans a taste of three of its all-new maps: Siege of Cairo, Iberian Offensive, and Liberation Peak. All three maps put Battlefield 6's contemporary setting at the forefront, delivering realistic city streets and mountaintop military bases. But while they may look the part, some fans have taken issue with the size of Battlefield 6's maps, though I'd argue they actually offer a solid compromise.
Why Battlefield 6's Open Beta Maps Are Divisive
Following Battlefield 6's first Open Beta weekend, some fans took to the internet to express their disappointment with the upcoming entry's maps. More specifically, the size of these maps was the subject of some strong criticism. Some believed that Battlefield 6's Beta maps didn't feel suited to the game's 64-player lobbies, with Siege of Cairo's alleyways feeling too claustrophobic, and Iberian Offensive's elevated ridges leading to some issues with spawn-camping.
While these concerns are totally valid, I felt as though Battlefield 6's Beta maps stayed on the right side of a very fine line.
Battlefield 6's Map Sizes Strike a Careful Balance
Battlefield 6's Maps Avoid One of Battlefield 2042's Biggest Criticisms
When Battlefield 2042 first released in 2021, one of its biggest selling points was its 128-player lobbies. Naturally, to fit double the number of players into a match, Battlefield 2042 needed to produce much larger maps than any previous entry. Generally speaking, this led to most of Battlefield 2042's launch maps having a lot of empty space in between objectives and major points of interest.
This led to Battlefield 2042 having a much slower pace than previous games in the series, with it often taking much longer for players to reach an objective. This contributed to a pretty frustrating gameplay loop where players would spend minutes at a time running to a control point, get shot immediately, have to respawn miles away, and repeat the process again.
Battlefield 2042's 128-player lobbies were removed in May 2022 and permanently replaced with 64-player lobbies.
Battlefield 6's Open Beta maps aren't nearly as large as those found in Battlefield 2042. After respawning on any of the new maps, players should be able to reach at least one objective area within 30 seconds, even when they're forced to spawn all the way back at HQ. Always being mere moments away from the action is a little chaotic and overwhelming at first, but I'd personally much rather be thrown back into the fray than have to spend a good portion of my match-time running from one end of the map to the other, rarely seeing an enemy player.
Battlefield 6's Maps Still Have All The Earmarks of The Classic Battlefield Formula
While Battlefield 6's Beta maps are certainly smaller than many of those found in beloved entries like Battlefield 3 and 4, they're still large enough for the series' classic formula to feel right at home. Siege of Cairo, Iberian Offensive, and Liberation Peak all allowed ground vehicles in their Conquest and Breakthrough iterations, and the latter map gave players free rein over the skies with jets and attack helicopters.
These maps were also large enough to let each of Battlefield 6's classes shine. Support classes had plenty of room to set up machine gun nests, Recon classes had a wealth of sniping spots to choose from, Engineers could easily form up on vehicles, and Assault classes had no problem maneuvering around the battlefield at breakneck speed. All the pieces were in place to produce some trademark "Battlefield moments."
Battlefield 6 Has Another Five Maps Waiting in the Wing
Battlefield 6's second Open Beta weekend will introduce players to a fourth, New York-based map titled "Empire State." But even with the addition of Empire State, Battlefield 6 will have revealed less than half of its day-one roster.
Battlefield 6 will have a total of nine maps at launch, some of which are already confirmed to be bigger than those shown in the Open Beta. Mirak Valley, for instance, is given the following description on the official Battlefield 6 website:
A prime destination for all-out warfare, Mirak Valley is the largest map at launch–a massive war-torn landscape filled with every type of vehicle.
To reinforce this sentiment, Battlefield Lead Producer David Sirland took to Twitter a few days ago. Replying to a comment saying that Battlefield 6's maps are too small and feel too frantic, Sirland said, "Speed is a factor of map size. We picked these maps to make sure we hit the full-octane version of Battlefield on the head...Large maps exist, and the tempo scales accordingly."
So, while I personally feel that Battlefield 6's maps are already a marked improvement over those in its predecessor, fans can rest easy knowing that larger maps will be available upon the game's full launch in October.
Battlefield 6
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 90%
- Released
- October 10, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-App Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Battlefield Studios
- Publisher(s)
- EA
