REDSEC

Battlefield REDSEC is Battlefield 6's free-to-play battle royale, out since Oct 28, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. As of Season 5 (Nov 8, 2026) it offers Battle Royale on Fort Lyndon, Ranked, Casual and Rapid Royale, and shares its progression and battle pass with Battlefield 6.

0:21 Battlefield REDSEC is the free-to-play battle royale of Battlefield 6, launched on Oct 28, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, and playable "without owning the base game", in EA's words. It was revealed on Oct 27 and released the next day, a few hours after Season 1 began (Game Informer, Oct 27, 2025), with three modes: Battle Royale, Gauntlet and Portal. A year on, as of Season 5 (Nov 8, 2026), it has added Ranked, Casual and Rapid Royale, dropped Gauntlet, and still shares one career, one battle pass and one set of unlocks with Battlefield 6. Its battle royale map is Fort Lyndon.

Quick facts

Price	Free to play, with optional Battlefield Coins purchases
Released	Oct 28, 2025, 15:00 UTC
Platforms	PS5, Xbox Series X
Developer	Battlefield Studios; publisher Electronic Arts
Map	Fort Lyndon, Southern California
Battle Royale	100 players: 25 squads of 4, or Duos
Modes as of Nov 8, 2026	Battle Royale, Ranked Battle Royale, Casual Battle Royale, Rapid Royale, Portal
Removed	Gauntlet, Oct 13, 2026
Progression	Shared with Battlefield 6 through your EA account
Steam reviews	Mixed, 42% positive of 9,775 English reviews (Nov 8, 2026)
Needs	An EA account and an internet connection

Sources: EA community update (Oct 2025); Steam, read Nov 8, 2026; EA new player guide, Oct 28, 2025.

How REDSEC battle royale works

1:50 The rules are familiar if you have played any battle royale. GamingBolt's review (Oct 29, 2025) walks through them: pick one of Battlefield 6's four classes, set a loadout in the lobby, drop from the air with your squad, and loot for weapons, armor plates, grenades and gadgets. A match holds 100 players in 25 squads of four, and dying is not always the end.

Classes. Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon each bring gadgets and a Training Path of passive traits, plus a sidearm you choose. Assault keeps its ladder and recharges armor faster, Support spawns with extra armor plates and ammo, and Engineers open locked vaults with the Repair Tool (EA new player guide). In Season 5 the Training Paths were cut to one per class with four levels, and more gadgets moved into the loot pool (EA's Season 5 and beyond, Oct 1, 2026). The multiplayer versions of the classes are on Classes.

2:11 IGN's reviewer (Nov 11, 2025) usually played Assault, which has the best boosts for completing missions mid-match, and found the Engineer's blowtorch, which opens the special weapon lockers, the most useful at first glance.

Loot. Green crates are common, red-and-black ones rare, and red Class Chests with class symbols the rarest. Ammo is shared per weapon category. Upgrade Kits improve guns, and Battle Pickups such as the Rorsch Mk-2 railgun are the strongest weapons on the map (EA new player guide; Season 1 roadmap). Custom weapon drops let each player call in one of their own multiplayer loadouts.

0:40 The ring. REDSEC's closing circle, which EA calls "the deadliest ring in BR", is a wall of explosions: one step inside downs and eliminates you almost at once. The mini-map shades it red, or a red skull shows its distance (EA new player guide). Since update 1.4.3.0 (Sep 14, 2026) it also destroys vehicles and gadgets (EA).

Missions and rewards

3:38 A few seconds into each match, the map offers missions, which IGN found REDSEC's best idea: like Fortnite's bounties but "with better rewards and more diverse challenges", usually three to choose from, with the risk of drawing other squads made clear.

EA lists three at launch (new player guide):

Mission	What you do	The catch
Signal Decryption	Align two antennas	You are defenseless while you work
Weapons Cache	Cut open a cache with bolt cutters	Rarer weapons draw a crowd
Data Extraction	Encrypt a drive and carry it to an extraction drone	Other squads can shoot the drone down

Rewards level up your Training Path and can include upgrade packs, air strikes, UAVs and vehicle keycards; a keycard unlocks a heavy tank (EA Season 1 roadmap). Data Extraction's wait fell from 15 to 5 seconds in 1.4.3.0 (Sep 14, 2026).

Second chances and redeploys

12:47 REDSEC gives you more than one life. Second Chance redeploys you automatically from the sky in the first part of a match, until about its midway point, and passing it up earns "a sizable chunk" of XP (EA; Shacknews, Oct 28, 2025). In jackfrags's Apr 24, 2026 match, when a fight underground goes wrong, the squad's first question is whether they still have a Second Chance. Redeploy towers bring back every dead squadmate if you stand in their radius for about 30 seconds; they are loud, can be heard about 100 m away, work once, and charge faster with an Assault or more teammates nearby (Shacknews).

Vehicles

0:37 Vehicles are where REDSEC most feels like Battlefield. Helicopters, boats and golf carts are spread around Fort Lyndon, and combat vehicles come as higher-risk rewards (EA community update). In jackfrags's match, his squad takes a vehicle unique to REDSEC with a 250-round gun to escort a teammate to a weapons cache. The 7.7m NSW RHIB boat began in REDSEC and moved to multiplayer in Season 4 (EA Season 4 roadmap). Battle Royale Solos and Rapid Royale leave out main battle tanks and IFVs.

Every mode

Mode	Added	Players	What it is
Battle Royale (Quads)	Oct 28, 2025	100, 25 squads of 4	The main mode on Fort Lyndon
Battle Royale (Duos)	Oct 28, 2025	100, 50 pairs	Rotates in and out of the playlist
Battle Royale Initiation	Oct 28, 2025	Up to 48, with bots	Duos for new players, southeast Fort Lyndon only
Gauntlet	Oct 28, 2025	32, 8 squads of 4	Mission knockout; removed Oct 13, 2026
Portal	Oct 28, 2025	Varies	Fort Lyndon split into six playspaces for custom modes
Ranked Battle Royale (Quads)	May 12, 2026	100	Ranked play from Career Rank 5
Battle Royale Solos	Jun 9, 2026	80	Faster early ring, no tanks or IFVs
Casual Battle Royale	Jun 30, 2026	Players and bots	A gentler mixed lobby
Rapid Royale	Oct 13, 2026	36, Trios or Solos	Short matches on multiplayer maps

Sources: EA community update and new player guide (Oct 2025); Ranked guide (May 8, 2026); update 1.3.2.0 (Jun 5, 2026); Season 3 roadmap; Rapid Royale guide (Oct 9, 2026).

Ranked Battle Royale

Ranked arrived on May 12, 2026 as a "Battlefield Labs in Live experience". You need Career Rank 5. The ranks run Unranked, Rookie, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, then Elite Top 250 and #1 Elite, with five divisions in each of Rookie to Master. Each match costs Rank Points to enter, from 0 at the bottom to 60 at the top; you earn them back from placement, kills and assists, and quitting forfeits them. Squads must be within two ranks, and PC and console players are matched and ranked separately (crossplay settings are on Platforms and Crossplay) (EA Ranked guide, May 8, 2026). Each season since has reset ranks, with Brodie skins for your final rank and an "S4 Eliminator" skin for the #1 Elite in Season 4.

Rapid Royale

0:17 Rapid Royale, the Season 5 headliner, shrinks REDSEC to 36 players in Trios or Solos on Vegas Strip and Mirak Valley, with Area 51 to follow, and matches "designed to last roughly 10 to 13 minutes". Squad eliminations earn Redeploy Tokens (shared in Trios, one each in Solos) that are harder to get late and disabled in the final circles; there is more armor and ammo, every elimination drops an Intel Case, chests refresh midway, and telegraphed Ordnance Drops bring custom weapons and call-ins. No tanks or IFVs, and no intro cinematic (EA Rapid Royale guide, Oct 9, 2026). Proximity chat and clearer HUD timers come with the Nov 10 update (EA, Nov 2, 2026).

How REDSEC ties into Battlefield 6

One EA account shares Career Rank, battle pass progress, weapons, gadgets, throwables, Training Paths, attachments, camos, weapon packages and cosmetics between REDSEC and Battlefield 6, across platforms (EA, Oct 28, 2025). There is one battle pass for both games, with free functional weapons in its free tiers; Battlefield Pro adds tier skips and extra paths (see Battle Pass and Battlefield Pro). REDSEC players without Battlefield 6 cannot play its multiplayer or campaign; Battlefield 6 owners get everything.

5:47 The sharing cut both ways at launch. Battlefield 6 players found REDSEC-only challenges in their battle pass, which GamingBolt called "terrible", alongside the $25 Battlefield Pro. Within days, challenge rerolls stopped handing Battlefield 6 players REDSEC challenges (PCGamesN, Nov 1, 2025).

REDSEC updates by date

Date	Update
Oct 28, 2025	Launch: Battle Royale Quads and Duos, Gauntlet, Portal
Nov 18, 2025	California Resistance: Gauntlet mission Rodeo
Dec 9, 2025	Winter Offensive: Ice Lock Gauntlet; the REDSEC Elite Series ran Dec 10 to Jan 18 with over $1 million in prizes
Feb 17, 2026	Season 2: BR Synthesis (Fort Lyndon in VL-7 smoke), Gauntlet Altered State, the AH-6 Little Bird, more Career and Weapon XP
Mar 17, 2026	Nightfall: Defense Testing Complex 3, an underground point of interest; the M1030-1 dirt bike; Gauntlet: Nightfall
Mar 31, 2026	Red Bull Supermoto Gauntlet, two weeks
Apr 14, 2026	Hunter / Prey: Battle Royale Duos as a Portal verified mode
May 12, 2026	Season 3: Ranked Battle Royale; vehicle handling overhaul
Jun 9, 2026	Blastpoint: Battle Royale Solos, 80 players
Jun 30, 2026	High-Value Target: Casual Battle Royale; the Disruptor Recon path
Jul 21, 2026	Season 4: Ranked reset and new rewards
Aug 18, 2026	Top Gun: Gauntlet: Fighter Sweep, the crashed USS Grant on Fort Lyndon, Spectator Mode and Custom Lobbies
Sep 15, 2026	Tidal Strike: Proximity Chat test, the Phantom Program operation
Oct 13, 2026	Season 5: Rapid Royale, Gauntlet removed, new Ranked season, reconnect after a crash, faster armor plating
Oct 20, 2026	Dead Space: Convergence event; the DS-23 Pulse Rifle as a Battle Pickup in BR and Rapid Royale, to Nov 10
Nov 10, 2026	Casino Heist event in REDSEC and multiplayer (coming)

Sources: EA's Season 1 to Season 5 roadmaps, update notes and event guides (see Sources); Steam, Nov 20, 2025, for the Elite Series. Season by season detail is on Season 1 to Season 5.

Reception

7:10 Critics called it competent and familiar. IGN's review (Nov 11, 2025) found the battle royale enjoyable but diluted by a map too big for the action, and said the best mode in REDSEC "is the one that isn't a battle royale at all": Gauntlet. GamingBolt gave it 7/10, "a competent battle royale mode" that slots neatly into Battlefield 6 (GamingBolt, Nov 1, 2025). OpenCritic lists seven reviews and no Top Critic Average (read Nov 8, 2026).

4:41 The loudest launch complaint was the missing solo queue. GamingBolt called it "completely mind-boggling" for a battle royale after months of testing; Solos arrived on Jun 9, 2026, seven months later.

Players have been harder on it than critics. Its Steam reviews read Mixed, 42% positive of 9,775 English reviews, and its recent reviews Mostly Negative, 32% of 146, as of Nov 8, 2026 (Steam). EA has published no REDSEC player count. In the first day, SteamDB showed Battlefield 6 itself peaking at 549,766 players and REDSEC sixth among Steam's top sellers (The Escapist, Oct 29, 2025). Battlefield 6's own figures are on Steam Player Count.

Is REDSEC worth playing in Season 5?

We think Rapid Royale is now the reason to install it. The full battle royale still suffers from what IGN described in 2025, a huge map that spreads 100 players thin, while Rapid Royale's 36 players and 10 to 13 minute matches on multiplayer maps fix exactly that. We think removing Gauntlet was a mistake for players who liked the mode critics rated best, but the right call for a smaller player base, since three short-match modes were splitting the same queue. We expect REDSEC's next big addition to be a second battle royale map, because a year after launch Fort Lyndon is still the only one, while Rapid Royale has already shown that Battlefield 6's own maps can carry short matches; our dated calls are on Predictions.

Frequently asked questions

Is REDSEC free?

Yes. It is free to play on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, with optional purchases. You need an EA account.

Do I need Battlefield 6 to play REDSEC?

No. Battlefield 6 owners also get everything in REDSEC, and both share progress.

Does REDSEC have Solos?

Yes, since Jun 9, 2026 (80 players), and Rapid Royale has a Solos option since Oct 13, 2026. There was no Solos at launch.

Is Gauntlet still in REDSEC?

No. It left the playlists on Oct 13, 2026 and remains as a verified Portal mode. See Gauntlet.

Sources

Moments

Battlefield REDSEC: All Modes Explained - IGN Daily Fix

IGN

0:21 Battlefield REDSEC is the free-to-play battle royale of Battlefield 6, launched on Oct 28, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series…

Battlefield: RedSec Review - The Final Verdict

GamingBolt

1:50 The rules are familiar if you have played any battle royale. GamingBolt's review (Oct 29, 2025) walks through them…
0:40 The ring. REDSEC's closing circle, which EA calls "the deadliest ring in BR", is a wall of explosions: one step inside…
5:47 The sharing cut both ways at launch. Battlefield 6 players found REDSEC-only challenges in their battle pass, which…
4:41 The loudest launch complaint was the missing solo queue. GamingBolt called it "completely mind-boggling" for a battle…

Battlefield REDSEC Review

IGN

2:11 IGN's reviewer (Nov 11, 2025) usually played Assault, which has the best boosts for completing missions mid-match, and…
3:38 A few seconds into each match, the map offers missions, which IGN found REDSEC's best idea: like Fortnite's bounties…
7:10 Critics called it competent and familiar. IGN's review (Nov 11, 2025) found the battle royale enjoyable but diluted by…

Battlefield REDSEC is slowly making a comeback...

jackfrags

12:47 REDSEC gives you more than one life. Second Chance redeploys you automatically from the sky in the first part of a…
0:37 Vehicles are where REDSEC most feels like Battlefield. Helicopters, boats and golf carts are spread around Fort…

Battlefield REDSEC Rapid Royale Gameplay Trailer

Battlefield

0:17 Rapid Royale, the Season 5 headliner, shrinks REDSEC to 36 players in Trios or Solos on Vegas Strip and Mirak Valley…