[UPDATED 4/25/13 with new current-gen release date rumors]

Sitting at the world-premiere of Battlefield 4 in Stockholm, one thought keeps replaying in the back of our minds throughout the entire explosive 17 minutes of real, in-game footage: The next-generation has arrived. PS4, PC, Xbox 720--whatever, it’s here. This notion is regularly punctuated with other thoughts, such as “Wow... is that in-game?” and “OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod--did that just happen?” but it stays there from the tense opening scene to the final, thrilling set-piece.

What follows over the next series of slides tells you everything we saw, and what it all means for the rest of the game. The demo was lengthy, incredibly slick, and fully controlled by a developer from developer DICE, who was playing the game in front of us on a PC. You can check out the trailer too, which offers a few exciting snippets of what we saw in our demo. Again, yes, it’s all real and all in-engine.

This Battlefield has a heart; a story worth playing through--unlike the majority of the cold, military-precise Battlefield 3. The very start of the demo sees our four-man squad inside a tight, dark space with Bonnie Tyler’s "Total Eclipse of the Heart" playing somewhere in the background. What’s happening? Where are they? It’s all clear right at the end of the demo. The first thing you notice is the way each squad member is animated, and how realistic their faces are. Naturally, most sat around us assume this is pre-rendered footage, but the developers at DICE are keen to point out that everything is running in engine--the new Frostbite 3 engine to be exact.

There’s banter between the squad--one of them is injured, for reasons that aren’t yet clear--and we quickly learn that you play as a character called Recker. He’s given a pistol by the injured man (known as Dunn) and told to shoot out the window. The squad (the other members are called Irish and Pac) start to argue, Recker points the pistol at the window and... fade to black. This first scene immediately sets the tone for the game. Very much like Bad Company 2, DICE wants you to care about their characters and your bond with them--they’ve learned harsh lesson’s from Battlefield 3’s cold, distant single-player experience.

The next scene in our demo starts in a run-down building, very much like the start of Battlefield 3. We later learn that this demo, which will act as the prologue in the final game, is set in Azerbaijan. The developers, who are in complete control of the action, run through some of the rooms showing off the new lighting effects and textures. Again--we’ll reiterate--next-gen is the word here. Light streams in through windows picking out dust motes, and each room looks eerily realistic, if a little run-down. Later in the demo, we see some of the incredible particle effects that the new Frostbite 3 engine is capable of. One highlight is an explosion in the side of a building that sends a realistic scattering of red-hot embers across the floor as Recker desperately runs away from... ah, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

The first piece of real action kicks in when the squad is sent to a room in the building to look for Irish, who we’re told is somewhere across the street. The team open up shutters in the dark room and light pours in. They lean out to examine the street below. A few cars dotted outside a run-down bar, with men milling around. The city already looks like a huge improvement over the urban environments of Battlefield 3. Irish crashes out of the bar, attacked by dogs, and the team spring into life shooting his pursuers from their vantage point. The animations are incredible. Each enemy drops with life-like accuracy, and when the team finally haul Irish through the window, the action looks photo-realistic. Fade to black again...

We pick up the action again as the team wanders through a forest area, just outside the building they rescued Irish from. They’re in possession of some Intel, which plays a bigger role later in the game, but for now we’re distracted by some of the finer details on the HUD. The ammo-counter in the bottom right is Battlefield standard, but we also notice a health-counter as well, aping the multiplayer portion of Battlefield 3 (as opposed to the invisible, "screen gets all red when you're hurt" style of the single player in BF3). Looks like health-bars are back, along with regenerating health.

The HUD also reveals a few interesting snippets about how the game will update you with progress. There’s a small display in the top right of the screen that looks like it’s displaying the number of friends you have online. Every so often, we see small messages pop up that inform us that a friend as achieved a certain goal, or that we’ve beaten our high-score for the prologue level. Expect this portion of the screen to continually feed you with information as you play--it’s very likely the next evolution of Battlelog.

Once the team is out of the woods (haha) their next objective flashes up: reach the factory roof for extraction. Sadly, a whole bunch of Russian soldiers stand between them and extraction, but how you deal with them is entirely up to you. DICE is keen to stress that each battle is going to be dynamic, and that players will be able to approach them however they like. Again, it’s a stark contrast to Battlefield 3’s very scripted single-player. Each battle area is a hub--almost like a small multiplayer arena--and the way you fight through is up to you.

In our demo the developer chooses to climb into a jeep and drive into the heart of the enemy, with the gunner on top of the vehicle mowing down soldiers with a mounted machine gun. He could have chosen to flank the enemies, or direct his squad to suppress them while he picked off key targets. The point is that single-player in Battlefield 4 will feel more like multiplayer--there won’t be a divide in play styles. The developer hopes this will create unique, dynamic moments that have become the hallmark of the Battlefield multiplayer experience.

Bizarrely, despite the more open nature of the levels, Battlefield 4 feels much more cinematic than previous games. The power of the engine means that the game can throw more situations at you without relinquishing control, something we’ll see much more of during the next-generation. Example? The squad finally reach the factory for extraction, but there’s a giant problem. A soviet attack helicopter rises up from behind the building and opens fire, sending the team inside. The destruction it creates is immense. The squad sprint through the building as it shatters windows and sends tiny pieces of masonry everywhere. It shreds the place. Yes, this is next-gen destruction.

While the action of running away from the chopper is something that you have to do, there’s no set path through the section and no sense that you’re just pushing forward to make your man run. There are different routes to pick through the factory, and we’re assuming that the chopper will tear up different areas depending on how you choose to run through. So, even this most linear of sequences still feels dynamic. And what comes after that is even better.

When they reach the roof, the team are in trouble. Their extraction helicopter has arrived, but they’re under heavy fire. Mere meters from safety and the friendly chopper takes a hit, sending it spinning into the factory. What follows is utter spectacle, as it first smashes into the roof, sending the whole building--along with the squad--collapsing in on itself, before plummeting to the ground and exploding in a ball of fire and an impressive mess of smoke effects. It’s intense, but also a great showcase for the sound capabilities of Frostbite 3.

Weapons sound meatier than ever. During the demo we saw an assault rifle (with both an optical sight and iron-sight alt-fire mode), a shotgun, a mounted turret, and a grenade launcher. All sound utterly terrifying. What’s more, the sound swirls when the rotor blades of the falling helicopter crash into the factory roof, and the noise of the building breaking up is both deafening and crystal clear--it isn’t just a series of loud bangs. Earlier we noted how realistic a gurgling stream sounded, and how quiet the scene inside the building was.

So, by now, our squad is in a bit of a mess. Having fallen through a building, Recker and his buddies are strewn across the floor. One man, Dunn, is trapped beneath a huge piece of rubble, his leg shattered by the stone. Yup--you guessed it--time to cut him loose before the leaking fuel from the downed helicopter ignites and cooks everyone. Battlefield 4 won’t shy away from forcing you to live out tough scenarios, so although Dunn insists that the bones in his leg are “just powder,” you still have to wield the knife and cut him free. Oh, and while we’re talking about knives, we saw a dog-tag-snagging knife kill executed in our demo, so that feature is back too.

With Dunn incapacitated, the squad climb into a nearby jeep and start to flee the Russian helicopter, which is still buzzing them. There’s a chase along a dirt road, with what appears to be several routes to take. No, it isn’t exactly open-world, but there does appear to be choice. It ends with Recker leaning out of the window, pointing a grenade launcher at the pursuing chopper and blowing it out of the sky. The wreck tumbles down in front of the jeep, breaking up into an obscene amount of pieces and forcing them to steer off the road and into the sea... The car starts to sink, and thus we're back with Bonnie Tyler and the beginning scene of our demo.

This is where our demo ends. Or is it? In the seconds-long snippets that follow, we gain a few other insights into what you can expect from Battlefield 4. First off, it has boats. You probably already guessed that from the teaser trailers that DICE released, but we confirmed that you’ll pilot RIB boats, jet-skis, and attack boats in the game. It’s pretty obvious, but tanks are returning too, along with jeeps and other wheeled vehicles. Promo posters at the event also showed off jets, so expect them to make a return too.

The snippets at the end of the demo also pointed towards a big role for China. There’s trouble brewing in China, but we don’t know whether the US is going to war with them or--more likely considering a snippet showing a Chinese agent talking to a US marine--whether there’s an alliance between the nations to tackle a specific threat. It seems unlikely that EA would sanction a game that sends the US to war with China, but then again, you never know.

Short answer: DICE simply isn’t talking about it at the moment. This first showing focused purely on the tech and the single-player story. Multiplayer is going to happen--there’s no way DICE would drop the most popular part of their Battlefield franchise--but we don’t have any details yet. For now, the team are trying to get players excited about the single-player, and they seem to have learned valuable lessons from Battlefield 3 in this regard.

Will there be co-op? Although the strong squad vibe of the single-player seems ripe for squad play, we’re currently guessing no. At least, not story co-op. If you’re trying to build a relationship between the player and his/her on-screen buddies, the last thing you want to do is make them player-controlled too. Squad members can be commanded, but you won’t control their every movement; they’ll behave realistically once you’ve told them what you need. Also, the facial and body animations of the AI squad members are so good, we hope there isn’t story mode co-op.

The demo we saw ran on a high-end PC (the interaction prompts were PC keys) but we know from a later demo of the Frostbite 3 engine that the game is designed to be easily scaled to run on consoles. Essentially, DICE has designed Frostbite to make it as easy as possible to create multiple versions of the same game, running at optimum performance. With that in mind, then, next-gen versions are certain. According to one report, Electronic Arts chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen has already confirmed a PS4 version, and if an Xbox 720 edition isn't also en route, we'll eat our military issue hard-hats.

In a press release today, EA announced that the shooter will be launching this fall. If we get PS4 in November, as promised, this could be a launch (window) title. PC players are likely to have it by the end of the year, and Wii U owners... sorry, it's not looking like you’re invited to the Battlefield 4 party. Xbox 360 and PS3 will get a version, but it’s likely to be hugely scaled back. And Xbox 720? When it happens, we expect Battlefield 4 to be all over it.

That’s all we know about Battlefield 4. Yes, there are still loads of questions left unanswered--especially when it comes to multiplayer--but we think there’s more than enough in this early showing to get us super-excited about the future of Battlefield. While DICE has never really cracked single-player before, this looks like the game and the time for them to deliver something world-class. Your move, Call of Duty.

Want even more Battlefield goodness? DICE are still releasing DLC for Battlefield 3, keeping fans well updated with fresh fighting. Check out some videos of the latest End Game DLC in action. Just want to read more about men of war shooting other men of war in the teeth? Try our feature on the Most Annoying Shooter Cliches.