Free Battlefield 1 map "Giant's Shadow" will introduce the Grenade Crossbow

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A new Battlefield 1 map called Giant's Shadow will be released to Premium Pass holders and players who preordered on December 13, and one week later for everyone else. There are two things about it that you need to know. One: It's free. And two: It comes with the Grenade Crossbow.

The Grenade Crossbow is one of those things that's exactly what it sounds like: A crossbow that shoots grenades. "Based on one of many unique contraptions from the Great War, this gadget can silently fire two grenades of either the Fragmentation or High Explosive variety," EA said.

The contraption in question, I'm guessing, is the Sauterelle, a French bomb-thrower that saw use in the first half of the First World War. It wasn't an especially effective weapon according to Wikipedia, and it also wasn't the sort of thing you'd pick up and run around with: It weighed more than 50 pounds and required a crew of two to operate. But one of the great things about videogames is that size and weight are only relevant if you want them to be. And if you'd rather just hoss around with a medieval RPG-7 under your arm, that's okay too.

The "Giant" in the map's title is a massive crashed airship, whose structure looms over a battlefield based on the Battle of the Selle, one of the last of the war: "British forces have broken through the Hindenburg line and are heading towards a strategic railway center. The outcome is uncertain. An armored train can still turn the tide."

Or, perhaps, a well-aimed grenade.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.