Electronic Arts dropped a new Battlefield 5 tease on Twitter today that is, to be perfectly frank about it, almost entirely uninformative. What you get are sounds of battle and muffled screaming, followed by a quick close-up of a man wearing goggles, who puts a finger to his lips, gesturing for quiet. CUT TO LOGO—END SCENE.
Shhh... not long now.Tune in for the #Battlefield V reveal on May 23: https://t.co/kpTnOyxuxr pic.twitter.com/zzIwGi0Y1wMay 21, 2018
Who is this strange, friendly-looking fellow? Is he Tom Berenger telling you to shut up and take the pain, so you won't give away your position to the VC? Is he a huge SS guy telling you to hush, it'll all be over soon, as he slides your own knife between your ribs? Is it Der Alte warning that if you don't shut your mouth like right freakin' now he's going to have to put a bullet in you to save the rest of the crew from horrific death beneath the waves?
Who knows? The interesting bit is actually to be found in the score bar at the top of the screen, and the national flags it contains: That's the Union Jack on the left, the famous flag of the UK, and the Balkenkreuz on the right, used by Germany during the Second World War—and, as Wikipedia tells us, only during that war. Prior to 1935, and since 1955, the Iron Cross has been used as the symbol of Germany's armed forces.
The implication is that Battlefield 5 will be set during the Second World War, something that had previously been rumored back in March. EA gave some credence to that rumor with another tweet over the weekend, describing the game as "a new Battlefield in a new setting"—not necessarily WW2, obviously, but definitely not WW1. It also took the opportunity to jerk us around a bit on the title:
I will be very annoyed if they end up calling it Battlefield: Victory or somesuch. We'll find out what's going on in a couple of days: The full Battlefield 5 review, hosted by Trevor Noah, will take place on May 23.
