Battlefield 2042's new hovercraft can drive straight up buildings

(Image credit: DICE)

It wouldn't be a new Battlefield launch without some day one shenanigans, and so far, my favorite one concerns Battlefield 2042's hovercrafts. Normal hovercrafts can smoothly navigate over land and sea, but Battlefield's turret-mounted hovercrafts go one step further.

If you finesse it just right, you can drive one of these babies up a damn building (as first spotted by Redditor ztsnyder).

But not just any building—if you're going to attempt this for yourself, I recommend a smooth-sided skyscraper like this one on the edge of the Kaleidoscope map. Driving headfirst into the face of the building is a good start (if the tube part of hovercraft pops, don't panic). I managed to slide the bottom of the craft onto the building by turning left and right while revving the engine forward. Once you're parallel, just hold Shift to boost with the hovercraft and that should be just enough oomph to start barreling up the side.

As I was climbing this glass-paned monument to human ingenuity at the wheel of an oversized hair dryer, gleefully telling gravity to eff off, the warm thought occurred to me: I'm really glad modern Battlefield is back. This is the kind of goofy stuff that didn't feel quite as possible within the historical confines of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5.

DICE, before you say anything, this is not a bug. This is a feature and should be treated as such.

im_sure_this_is_how_hovercrafts_are_supposed_to from r/battlefield2042

It turns out that I had picked up a surprising amount of speed as I crested the top of the skyscraper. My hovercraft went flying well above the peak as I tried to coax it down without jumping straight past it. Thankfully, I stuck the landing (hell yeah!). As for why this works, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe the in-game hovercraft has a simulated "suction" property that's strong enough to stick to anything flat enough?

The next time you're on one of the maps with the hovercraft, press B and airdrop one in beside a big flat (or not quite flat) thing you want to climb. It'll probably work, and bonus points if you can turn your new heights into an effective turret nest.

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.