After the explosive reception to PUBG, the battle royale genre has seen every studio chasing the next big hit. Evolution from developers has led to titles like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone. Battlefield Studios has now entered the competition with Battlefield Redsec, a BR spin-off of the recently released Battlefield 6. Throughout the years, cracks began to show in the classic formula: too much downtime, repetitive looting, and long stretches of emptiness between fights. But with Battlefield Redsec’s launch, one game mode in particular is aiming to relieve this stress, and I love it.
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As someone who has played and dabbled in nearly every battle royale game, I can confidently say that Battlefield Redsec’s Gauntlet mode is a refreshing twist on the genre. It’s a fundamental reimagining of how Battle Royales can work. By ditching the bloated 100-player chaos and replacing it with focused, objective-based rounds featuring just 32 players, Gauntlet transforms every moment into high-stakes, heart-pounding intensity. It’s my favorite mode in Battlefield 6, and frankly, it might be the best thing to ever happen to Battle Royales.
Gauntlet Gives Battle Royales Fast Rounds, Real Stakes, and No Filler
One of the worst parts of battle royale games for me is scavenging through house after house, getting great gear, and then dying immediately. Or spending ages gathering good equipment, only to never encounter another player for ages. And this is why Gauntlet feels so revolutionary. It’s fast. It’s focused. And it’s unforgiving in all the right ways. But most importantly, it ditches the endless looting and long periods of running across the map.
Instead of dropping into a massive open world with 99 other players, Battlefield’s Gauntlet Mode pits 32 players against each other in compact, purpose-built maps in a series of rounds. Each round is short, typically less than 10 minutes, and features a rotating pool of objectives that keeps gameplay fresh. One round might task you with securing data points across the map, while the next might focus on extraction under heavy fire. The variety keeps every match feeling dynamic, and the smaller player count ensures that every encounter matters.
Every game spawns you in with your selected loadout, meaning you don’t need to scavenge through crates or waste time searching for gear. It embraces the survival aspect of battle royales and thrusts you into the action immediately. It rewards skill, awareness, adaptability, and teamwork as you try to complete objectives and score enough points to qualify for the next round. It may not have the looting gameplay loop, but Gauntlet nails the adrenaline rush that battle royales give me and gives it a fresh twist.
Battlefield Redsec Drops the Loot While Embracing Survival in Gauntlet
The most radical thing about Battlefield Redsec’s Gauntlet Mode is the complete removal of traditional looting. In almost every battle royale, loot is both the glue and the grind. It’s what pulls players into games, but it is also what slows everything down. I often found myself spending more time searching for weapons than actually using them, and I’m so glad Gauntlet threw this design philosophy out the window.
When you drop into a Gauntlet round, you already have a loadout tailored to your class and role. You’re equipped and ready to fight immediately. This removes one of the most frustrating aspects of battle royales: RNG. There is no more blaming bad spawns or unbalanced drops. What separates victory and defeat is skill, strategy, and decision-making as a team. This shifts the focus from luck and raises the stakes, especially considering the round qualification requirements. In a way, these qualifications act as a battle royale’s ever-encroaching ring.
Survival is just one part of Gauntlet. The objectives force you to play toward them, encouraging you to engage with other teams. Completing objectives under pressure brings tension. You might need to hold a capture point while enemy squads flank from every direction or coordinate an extraction. Gauntlet feels like Battlefield returning to its roots of squad-based tactical gameplay but wrapped in the intensity of Battle Royale design.
Battlefield Just Stole the Crown From Every Other Battle Royale
I’ll be honest: the battle royale genre has been stagnant for years. Aside from Fortnite, there doesn’t seem to be much innovation. Apex Legends and Warzone continue to evolve, but none of these have taken a real structural risk in a long time. Battlefield’s Redsec brings the classic gameplay with duos and quads, sadly, no solo queue, but also makes a bold change with Gauntlet. This innovation is what solidifies Battlefield’s BR as my favorite.
Gauntlet’s design philosophy feels like the natural next step for the genre. The 100-player formula was groundbreaking when PUBG introduced it, but it’s also become bloated and leads to long matches. Not everyone has the time to sit through these games, me especially. Gauntlet trims the BR formula to its purest essence. Every fight matters, and every victory feels earned. Even more impressive is how Battlefield uses its signature mechanics, destructible environments, vehicle combat, and squad coordination to enhance the mode without breaking its balance.
It’s not just the most exciting mode Battlefield has produced in years, but perhaps one of the most exciting things to happen in the genre. As someone who’s often frustrated by the downtime in traditional Battle Royales, Gauntlet feels like the answer I’ve been waiting for. I love the tension of survival, but I’ve grown tired of wandering through half-empty maps for 15 minutes only to get sniped from a mile away. Battlefield Studios has struck gold with Gauntlet and Battlefield Redsec, and needs to not only implement these features in Battlefield 6, but keep their foot on the gas, and this BR could easily become king.
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