Battlefield hardly has a reputation for particularly interesting single-player campaigns; the Bad Company games — along with the War Stories from Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 5 — are probably the best this series' has to offer. However, the folks behind the Dead Space series created the story campaign for the soon-to-be-delisted Battlefield Hardline, and that makes it one of the most interesting entries in the entire franchise - and something worth owning before it disappears from the Xbox Store.
Hardline came around as a spin-off of sorts back in 2015, and it swapped the more serious military tone for a cops-and-robbers theme. EA and co. describe the story as a "thrilling single-player campaign, inspired by great TV crime dramas" - and to a large extent, Visceral Games managed that. It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's one of the most interesting 'realistic' shooter campaigns in recent memory.
It also provided an interesting mix of Battlefield's more large-scale engagements with a story that felt more focused in nature. Certain levels in Hardline ask to whip out your camera, Far Cry style, and properly plan your next move - and we really liked that in the context of Battlefield combat. Properly planning and sweeping a camp in the aforementioned Ubisoft series is one of its most satisfying aspects, and that style translated well to Battlefield here. It made engagements feel more thought out and more interesting than your typical point-and-shoot affair.
There are other stealth elements in play here too — like flashing your cop badge in an attempt to make baddies surrender rather than just straight up blasting their heads off — and that makes a neat play on the whole police/criminal theme. Sure, the story's a bit cliché overall, but we reckon this is a BF game definitely worth having tied to your account, especially if you're an Xbox Series S user that won't be able to access Hardline via disc at a later date.
Before we head out here though, we must add that it's worth waiting to see if the game goes on sale between now and its delisting date in May 2026. As we mentioned in our initial article on the game going offline soon, Hardline is currently available for £14.99 / $19.99 - but it goes on sale for much cheaper than that at times (sometimes as low as £0.74 / $0.99!). We have a big Spring Sale coming up very soon as well - so yep, it's worth being on the lookout for a cheap deal with this one. BF Hardline is also on EA Play / Game Pass of course, but it'll be removed once it gets delisted from digital storefronts!