Battlefield 2042 rightfully has fans extremely excited to return to the large-scale warfare that the series is built on. The series also has an incredibly storied history across the games industry and has had a number of excellent releases that still have active player bases years later. This raises the question of how long it would take a fan, or a potential newcomer to the series, to play through every other Battlefield game in preparation for Battlefield 2042.
To figure this out, we'll be looking at the average completion times from howlongtobeat.com. However, things do get a little complicated when looking at the Battlefield in particular. This is because while the majority of the games do feature a single-player narrative campaign, the core experience that the series is known and loved for is undeniably its online multiplayer. Even Battlefield 2042 will not feature a single-player campaign, so it is undeniable that multiplayer has always been a focus for the series. For this reason, the number of hours needed to play through all of the single-player campaigns with the multiplayer experiences has been factored in at the end.
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- Battlefield: 1942 (8 Hours)
- Battlefield: Vietnam (13.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 2 (9.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 2142 (N/A)
- Battlefield: Bad Company (7.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 1943 (N/A)
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (7 Hours)
Older Battlefield titles feature a single-player campaign, but until Battlefield: Bad Company they were little more than multiplayer matches played against bots. Regardless, they count for the completion time and are even the longest across the entire series, and are not the strangest way the Battlefield series has told its story. With the release of Battlefield: Bad Company the series fully embraced more cinematic experiences that focused on delivering a narrative as well as being completely constructed with missions and environments not present in the multiplayer. However, Battlefield 1942 was still released between the two Bad Company titles and was an online multiplayer-only title, so even with the introduction of a more traditional campaign the series did not stray far from its focus on multiplayer.
Playing through most of these older titles in singleplayer likely not be the most engaging, as bots rarely offer much of a challenge when compared to actual human players. However, both of the Bad Company titles are widely regarded as some of the strongest campaigns in the series thanks to their more light-hearted approach. However, this did not keep the games from falling for the same military shooter tropes that Battlefield 2042 seems to also be falling into. Regardless, with Battlefield 2142 and Battlefield 1943 both not including any single-player campaign, the older titles start the list off pretty decently with players only having to dedicate 45.5 to complete the stories across all the games.
- Battlefield 3 (6 Hours)
- Battlefield 4 (6 Hours)
- Battlefield: Hardline (7.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 1 (6.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 5 (6 Hours)
Perhaps the most immediately interesting aspect of the modern Battlefield campaigns is that they are all shorter than the older titles, even the two Bad Company titles that featured fully realized narratives and missions. However, the modern titles also feature more experimentation in the campaigns in the series. Battlefield: Hardline features players stepping into the shoes of a cop in Miami with unique associated mechanics and cutscenes that are edited like a cop show. Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5 both feature campaigns comprised of smaller stories within the greater context of the war they are set in while also trying to make more of an emotional impact on the player than previous titles. The approach was very successful, with Battlefield 1 being one of the highest-reviewed World War 1 games ever released.
However, the more modern Battlefield games did also experience some stumbles. Battlefield 5 struggled to maintain its player base like the titles before it managed to and Battlefield: Hardline was criticized for its overpowered weapon balance and confusing game modes. With each of the five games having a campaign, however, playing through all of the modern Battlefield titles would take a fan approximately 32 hours, while playing through all of the campaigns would take someone about 77.5 hours.
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- Battlefield: 1942 (26 Hours)
- Battlefield: Vietnam (18.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 2 (98.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 2142 (80 Hours)
- Battlefield: Bad Company (56 Hours)
- Battlefield 1943 (22.5 Hours)
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (46.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 3 (65.5 Hours)
- Battlefield 4 (70 Hours)
- Battlefield: Hardline (35 Hours)
- Battlefield 1 (50 Hours)
- Battlefield 5 (46 Hours)
However, some players may also want to visit the multiplayer modes that made each of these games special and unique. For those fans, completion requires fully leveling up each of the game's multiplayer classes and unlocking all of each one's weapons and gadgets. Of course, calculating the time it takes to do this is a lot harder to estimate, but howlongtobeat.com does have average playtimes recorded for each game gives a pretty decent guess. However, this does not include the DLC for Battlefield 1 or older games, as they have to be purchased and are much harder to complete now that the games are older. However, EA is giving away a DLC for Battlefield 4 for free in celebration of Battlefield 2042 for any players who want to check that out as well.
Regardless, the completion time for single-player and multiplayer modes in the games is understandably much higher than just their campaigns. It is interesting, however, just how much more content certain games in the series have over others. There seems to be a correlation between games set in modern or futuristic times like Battlefield 2142 and Battlefield 4 having much more for players to unlock and toy around with. This would make sense, as a modern or futuristic setting gives the developers a lot more options for making different weapons and gameplay styles to make equipment and gadgets for. This leaves games like Battlefield: Vietnam and Battlefield: Hardline having much lower multiplayer completion times than their peers.
Thankfully, Battlefield 2042 is set in the near future and will likely have plenty of things for players to unlock and learn. For players who want to get ready for the game's release by completing all of the multiplayer and single-player content the series has to offer, they will have to spend a whopping 614.5 hours. Thankfully, most of these games still have active lobbies for any players who want to give it a shot.
Battlefield 2042 releases on October 22 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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