Battlefield 6 season 2 finally delivers a big map and more, but I have bad news for anyone who doesn't like being poisoned or shot in the dark: you're going to be poisoned and shot in the dark

Battlefield 6 Season 2 has been unveiled, and somewhere in the world, a monkey's paw has curled. After months of players begging for larger maps, season 2's first update – titled Extreme Measures and set to launch on February 17 – will introduce Contaminated, a gorgeous mountainside airbase featuring a mix of wide-open spaces and subterranean complexes. There's just one catch: it will also feature VL-7 poison gas at launch, which causes auditory and visual hallucinations unless you come prepared with a gas mask.

In addition to poisoning players, Extreme Measures will add three weapons: the close-quarters VCR-2 assault rifle, the M121 A2 light machine gun, and the GRT-CPS, a semi-automatic DMR. That's along with two new gadgets – the 9K38 launcher for Engineers, and the more interesting HTI-MK2 for Recon, which can detect enemy gadgets, suppress recon drones, and remotely detonate enemy rockets. Last but not least, the AH-6 Little Bird will finally make its way to Battlefield 6, and I give it two games before the noise of its miniguns haunts my dreams once more.

The second phase of season 2 – called Nightfall – will launch on March 17 with another map, called Hagental Base. Set in a military complex built beneath Contaminated's mountain range, Hagental Base will be significantly more close-quarters and see (or rather, not see) players scrapping in darkness. Torches and night vision goggles are encouraged, but in Nightfall's limited-time game mode – which darkens Hagantel Base even more – they'll be outright essential.

While fighting in the dark doesn't thrill me, the thought of queueing up solely to flashbang players using NVGs fills my heart with the same perverse glee that made shotguns in Battlefield 3's Operation Metro so fun. Speaking of shotguns, two more guns will arrive with Nightfall – the CZ3A1 SMG and VZ.61 auto sidearm – along with a dirt bike, which is already fated to be strapped with C4 and crashed into much larger vehicles.

Looking further afield, season 2's third phase will launch on April 14. While details here are thinner, Battlefield Studios has confirmed it will feature an Operation mode that combines both Contaminated and Hagental Base, with attackers using VL-7 gas to push from the outdoors map to its subterranean sibling. Expect to hear more on this third phase nearer to April – but for now, prepare to slurp down your poison and be grateful for it.

Here are the best games like Battlefield that you can play right now. Yes, right now.