Countering pre-release criticism it received regarding Battlefield 1 for not including the French army in its WWI shooter, Dice has announced that the first major expansion for the game, They Shall Not Pass, will change that. Looking to recreate the Battle of Verdun, one of the bloodiest in the war, the red-trousered army will take to the field of battle alongside their contemporaries.
Channeling a little Gandalf in the naming of the expansion — which is perhaps poetic since Lord of the Rings drew much inspiration from Tolkien’s own experience in the trenches – Dice is looking to expand the theater of war in its first DLC release. Although it is keeping many details under wraps, we know that we’ll be heading to Verdun, where ruined villages and fire-swept forests were commonplace.
Players will also head into the bowels of Forts like Vaux, where German and French forces fought bitter conflicts in close quarters, often in the dark, using flame throwers and gas as much as their sidearms.
But the French forces in this update will not be confined to the early days of the war where they were on the back foot. They Shall Not Pass will also give them a taste of victorious momentum, with the introduction of the Battle of Soissons. Taking place in late 1918, huge tank assaults from the French military captured important points on the road to the eventual armistice a few months later.
The expansion will also add new weapons alongside the new maps and the French faction, which should provide a new layer of strategic thinking for players as they progress through the ranks.
Everyone will have to wait until March 2017 to try out the new maps and extras, but those with the Battlefield 1 Premium Pass can expect to gain access to it all two weeks early, along with all of the usual extras that add-on gives you.
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