The Great War? Battlefield Plots To Make WWI Entertaining

How do you make a video game about World War I fun?

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After nearly 15 years of creating shoot-’em-up games about World War II, the Vietnam War and fictionalized contemporary and futuristic military conflicts, the creators of the “Battlefield” series are going back - way back - with their latest installment. Uncharacteristically, the new “Battlefield” is set amid a century-old war rarely depicted in the interactive medium.

“In the beginning, we had many preconceptions, such as there were only single-bolt rifles and the action was primarily in the trenches,” said Lars Gustavsson, design director at Stockholm, Sweden-based studio DICE. “As we dug deeper, we realized the Great War was really the dawn of all-out warfare and paved the way for everything we’ve done in the past.”

For the interactive industry, it’s already a challenge to realistically and thoughtfully construct virtual wars based on real ones, but WWI has always been the ultimate tonal challenge. With its gruesome reputation and political complexities, it’s typically a no-fly zone for mainstream game developers who rely on easy-to-understand, good-versus-evil narratives.