EA just introduced its new, destructive take on battle royale with Battlefield REDSEC, and Battlefield 6 base game players are already slamming it with “Mostly Negative” Steam reviews.
PC users who head to Steam to check out the standalone Battlefield experience, which launched across PC and consoles for free yesterday, will be met with a flood of negative Steam reviews across the board. At the time of this piece’s publication, just 35% of REDSEC Steam user reviews were positive, with positive reviews in all languages fairing just slightly better at 39%. Both measurements result in a dark red, Mostly Negative label.
A wave of negativity for Battlefield’s latest crack at battle royale arrives as Battlefield 6 players continue to express their dissatisfaction with the premium experience. Calls for changes to the base game reached a boiling point with the launch of Season 1 yesterday, and now, criticism is spilling into REDSEC.
Although Battlefield 6 and REDSEC exist as separate multiplayer offerings, both EA and Battlefield Studios games share unlocks tied to many challenges, cosmetics, and battle pass unlocks. Where this has evolved into a problem is how one experience might affect another, with many Battlefield 6 players complaining of weekly challenges that require them to play battle royale.
“I wouldn’t hate it so much if I wasn’t forced to play it for challenges in the main game,” one negative Battlefield REDSEC Steam review says. “But I am. So I do.”
“This is not why I bought Battlefield 6,” they add.
“Oh, but you just can reroll the challenges!” another negative review says. “Yeah and 3 of them are sill for the BR because they are pushing it hard on people that would not touch it even once…”
Other PC players agree that challenges granting large amounts of Battlefield 6 battle pass XP shouldn’t be tied to another experience, but dissonance isn’t the only thing tanking REDSEC Steam reviews. Some base game players are using Valve’s digital storefront to air out grievances related to multiplayer map sizes.
Early Battlefield 6 adopters have called for larger multiplayer maps as far back as the August beta tests, with the October 10 launch only adding fuel to the fire, as launch locations failed to live up to expectations for the community. At least a few negative Steam reviews even praise REDSEC’s exclusive battle royale map, Fort Lyndon, with their frustrations mostly summed up with one question: Why does the free-to-play game get the map sizes that premium players are asking for?
“Oh wow a nice big map with lots of POIs and flanks,” another negative REDSEC review says. “If only we could get something like this for the main game.”
“It’s trying to be too much all at once,” another Steam user review adds. “The map in this Battle Royale is so good it’s criminal that it’s not being used for Conquest right now.”
As Battlefield 6 players aim to leave their mark with REDSEC Steam reviews, there are plenty of comments actually related to the new standalone experience itself, too. Many are positive, applauding how BF Studios blends classic Battlefield mechanics with other popular battle royale experiences, like Call of Duty: Warzone. Launch also ushered in a spike in activity, with Steamdb recording a 24-hour peak of 549,766 Battlefield 6 players yesterday.
REDSEC, which encompasses Gauntlet and Portals modes in addition to its battle royale mode, is getting love in the Battlefield community, but there is still a general feeling that the experience is incomplete. Specifically, it’s the lack of a solo queue option and battle royale fatigue that many are calling out – both in negative and positive reviews.
“No solo Mode… When will they learn the overwhelming majority of players play solo?” one negative review asks. “It doesn’t feel good to play with randoms against premade coordinated squads.”
“Fun update, the battle pass is not half bad,” a positive review adds. “Only problem with me is not having a solo battle royal mode.”
REDSEC is just 24 hours into its time in the public’s hands. Seasonal updates will continue to offer shared experiences between REDSEC and Battlefield 6. Season 1 launched yesterday, introducing the new Blackwell Fields map for multiplayer, with more mid-season maps and guns set to follow in November and December.
EA has addressed fan feedback in the past, with the latest update introducing fixes for a controversial green skin and some of the bothersome lighting effects that have distracted players since launch. In the meantime, some players have been content simply using their time to draw on walls with the Engineer repair tool.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).