The next-generation Battlefield 4 will be a war story that focuses on a "human, dramatic and believable" vision of war, according to DICE executive producer Patrick Bach and executive vice president Patrick Söderlund.

"With Battlefield 4, we are creating experiences that touch us emotionally," Söderlund said following the official unveiling of the game in San Francisco, "experiences that are human, dramatic and believable. The stress of the moment, the feeling of imminent danger, the connection you have to the characters; it's all very real, very human and, frankly speaking, damn impressive."

"So what do we mean when we say human?" Bach said. "It's about connecting to the characters around you. How you react and affect the world. And it's not about the geopolitics, it's about the people inside this war. And when we say dramatic, what do we mean? We mean the drama and the actions of the player and their experience. It's about creating dramatic motivations that propel the story and you as a player."

In addition to focusing on the human, dramatic and believable, DICE says it's integrating components of the series' celebrated multiplayer mode — like the ability to direct squadmates to action and pilot a variety of vehicles — and new social elements into Battlefield 4's single-player campaign to prolong its replayability. And with the technology of the developer's new engine, Frostbite 3, the studio promises "new gameplay experiences" and greater depth than ever before.

In our video interview with Patrick Bach, we dive deeper into what's new in Battlefield 4, which is due to hit PC, current-generation and next-generation consoles starting later this year. Don't miss Battlefield 4's 17-minute debut gameplay trailer for details on the forthcoming first-person shooter.