New clarifications and hints emerge for Battlefront’s Rogue One DLC

After today’s news break out for Battlefront, a few clarifications arrived in the hours that followed.

If you’re needing to get caught up, we first learned the release date for the Rogue One: Scarif expansion. Then, the Ultimate Edition trailer dropped and it contained the first footage of Scarif in Battlefront.

For the bits that followed: First, former lead designer Dennis Brannvall discussed the multi-stage gamemode Rogue One: Scarif will feature.

@owlyboi like Battle Station, but more focused on ground this time around ☺️

— Dennis Brännvall (@DICE_FireWall) November 17, 2016

He further added, “[i]t’s as seamless as Battle Station, however you define that.” This leads me to think that the mode will play like Battle Station, with one phase in space, and then two on the ground of Scarif. However, he also wrote this:

@_MichaelPocock both!

— Dennis Brännvall (@DICE_FireWall) November 17, 2016

Again, with “space to ground”, Brannvall might mean that space comes first in a phase, and then ground comes after. At this time, it seems dubious that we’ll get a full-on ground-to-space experience in Battlefront, like this Battlefront II mod does.

Another topic of discussion included a cylindrical device carried by Jyn Erso at the start of Battlefront’s Ultimate Edition trailer. I surmised that this could be a lightsaber. However, that almost certainly isn’t the case.

First, Battlefront producer Paul Keslin had this exchange on Twitter:

@LH_PLAYS @SWBFUpdates So certain, are you? Hmmmm.

— Paul Keslin (@TheVestalViking) November 17, 2016

Next, Star Wars Explained, through this BattlefrontUpdates video, suggested that it’s actually a baton Jyn wields on Jedha in the latest featurette:

Battlefront trailer image on left; Rogue One featurette on right.

This seems very reasonable and definitely makes more sense than a lightsaber. Elliot of BattlefrontUpdates also surmised that Jyn might have a melee ability in Battlefront that uses the baton; I’d say this is a pretty likely assumption.

Of course, with no official word confirming what Jyn is equipped with, I can’t say with 100-percent certainty what it is. However, I do think it’s pretty likely it’ll be that baton and that we’ll get to use it in some capacity in Battlefront.

We also have a name for Jyn’s pistol: the A180. This info comes by way of Redditor u/Toa_Quarax, who pointed it out earlier today. The weapon received a name just over a week ago, thanks to the Rogue One: Ultimate Sticker Encyclopedia. It’s not too surprising to see it in Battlefront, but the trailer and key art confirm that it will be in the game.

Close-up of Jyn and her A180 in the Rogue One: Scarif key art. Also note Krennic and his Death Troopers on the left.

Finally, I’d like to add a note that I missed in earlier reports. Today’s official blog post from EA Star Wars confirmed that the Rogue One: Scarif expansion will feature four maps:

In Rogue One: Scarif you’ll battle across four new maps, including the sandy beaches of Scarif – an all-new tropical planet crawling with Imperials – which should look mighty familiar to anyone who saw the movie trailer.

While I’d assume that at least one of those maps will be set in space, it’s still nice to know we’ll be getting that map. With 14 maps already in the Season Pass, and EA promising 16 maps for said Season Pass, some were worried that the Rogue One DLC would only contain two. So, it’s exciting to know that won’t be the case, and that we’ll end up getting 18 maps as part of the Season Pass. Coupled with the base game maps, Battlefront should have a grand total of 36 maps by December!