Battlefield 6's superb multiplayer is now free-to-play alongside Redsec, but it won't stay that way for long

The last few weeks have made me feel like a gluttonous medieval king at a feast, but instead of a freshly shot pheasant or a pig with an apple in its mouth, I'm gorging on some great multiplayer games. Arc Raiders still has me hooked, Black Ops 7 is the best that Call of Duty multiplayer has been in ages, and Battlefield 6 drags the series back to where it should be, offering some explosive, immersive, large-scale action. While the free-to-play battle royale spinoff, Redsec, gives you a taste of the BF6 experience, it's got nothing on actually playing a core Battlefield mode like Conquest, in my opinion. Now, a free Battlefield 6 trial will let you dive in even deeper, but it'll only be around for a week.

Now, to set expectations, EA isn't letting you play everything that Battlefield 6 has to offer in this trial. However, there's a good amount of content that'll let complete newcomers to the series, or skeptics that have been disillusioned by Battlefield in the past, get to grips with BF6.

You'll only have access to three maps, with Siege of Cairo being joined by the excellent Season 1 additions Blackwell Fields and Eastwood. However, there will be a much wider variety of modes to jump into, spread across three free playlists.

For complete novices, the Initiation Breakthrough playlist lets you play one of BF6's main objective-capturing modes with a mixture of real players and bots. This is a great starting point for those wanting to get used to the gunplay or try out different classes, but I'd encourage you to swiftly move on to the much meatier All-Out Warfare playlist.

This is where you'll find three fully matchmade objective modes - Breakthrough, Conquest, and the new Escalation mode - which combine boots-on-the-ground action with vehicle combat. Hop in a tank, or become the gunner on a heli, this is where the chaos of Battlefield 6 will really shine. While it can be hard to coordinate attacks and defensive plays when team sizes are so large, this will be your trial by fire when it comes to playing roles that will benefit your team and tackling objectives at the right moment.

If you want something a bit closer to Call of Duty, there are some more compact game modes sitting in the free trial as well. If you look for the Team Tactical experience, you'll be able to play Team Deathmatch and Sabotage. You don't really need me to tell you what Team Deathmatch is - it's a straight up kill race between two teams. However, Sabotage has a bit more to it. An attacking team is tasked with destroying precious cargo, which is scattered across objective points on a map. You don't need to plant a bomb like in Search and Destroy or anything like that - you can simply lob grenades or fire rocket launchers at it to deal damage. The defending team must do all it can to stop you. At halftime, the sides switch, so you'll always have the chance to attack and defend each game.

The Battlefield 6 free trial is live right now, and runs until Tuesday, December 2 at 4am PT / 7am ET / 12pm GMT. The trial is accessed through Battlefield Redsec, so you need to download it for free and you'll find the featured BF6 multiplayer playlists in there.

By the way, if you've already been playing Redsec, all the progress and unlocks you've achieved so far will carry over to the trial's multiplayer modes. If you like what you see and choose to buy the full Battlefield 6 experience, that progress will carry over there as well. It's definitely worth tearing yourself away from the battle royale action to give the likes of Conquest and Escalation a go over the next few days.

Equally, if you're starting to feel a bit of exhaustion with Arc Raiders, BO7, or whatever other multiplayer shooter you're playing at the minute, give this small slice of BF6 a spin - I'm confident you'll enjoy it, especially if you head in with some pals.