Star Wars Battlefront’s upcoming The Force Awakens-themed DLC will introduce a new 40-man game mode called Turning Point, DICE announced earlier today.
This new DLC, titled The Battle of Jakku, brings with it two new maps set on the titular planet and the Turning Point mode. Turning Point is a 40 man variant of Battlefield’s main mode, tasking Rebel players with locating and taking over Empire bases. Taking each base adds more time to the clock and opens up the others for Rebels to search for.
DICE says that Rebel-taken bases cannot be re-obtained by Empire forces, who have to fall back to their remaining bases. If the Rebels take all other bases, the Empire players will be forced to their final remaining base “where the final stand will take place.” DICE designer Dennis Brännvall hopes this will encourage more strategic play between the 40 players – “The Empire have to choose between defending this vulnerable point or another part of the map,” whilst the Rebels “need to decide where their next attack should be.” This should combat some of the lone-wolfing that can still be found online.
The Jakku map will feature three Empire bases, and although combat is largely centre on infantry fighting, the battleground will be peppered with airspeeders and AT-STs (set to be more defensive than their role in Walker Assault). The air will be similarly busy, with DICE promising falling debris and even a Super Star Destroyer to plummet down to Jakku during the round.
Alongside this announcement, EA are holding a Battle of Jakku: Live from London event on the EA Star Wars Twitch account on Monday 30 November, beginning at 7PM GMT. Hopeful UK Battlefront fans can still sign up here to try to play ahead of the release, but sign ups will close November 25 11:59PM.
The Batle of Jakku will release as free DLC this coming December; December 1 for people who pre-ordered Star Wars Battlefront, and December 8 for everyone else. The Force Awakens enters theatres December 18.