Battlefield 3 Aftermath trailer shows crossbows in a crumbling city

Each chunk of Battlefield 3 DLC has had its own flavour, so far. Back to Karkand was a dusty payload of retro maps reforged in a cutting edge engine, Close Quarters focused on tight maps that delivered fast, accessible scraps. Armoured Kill was expansive and full of tanks. What will Aftermath be?

After the debut trailer, it's hard to say. It's set in ruined, post-quake Iran, but the prospect of more maps set in crumbling yellow streets doesn't especially sell it. There are scoped crossbows, though, which could deliver a quieter, deadlier alternative to a silenced pistol at medium range. The interesting moment comes just before the logo break, which suggests that we might have to contend with mid-match earthquakes. Now that sounds interesting.

Aftermath will hit PC on December 4 for Premium players and December 18 for everyone else. It'll cost $15 / £11 and will add new vehicles, four maps and extra multiplayer modes. One of those, called Scavenger, throws players into a ruined city map with a knife, a grenade and a sidearm. Better weapons are scattered throughout the broken environment. You'll have to scrap for them, Mad Max style to secure an edge and take the win.

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.