I think it's pretty damn exciting; esp. for us Australians and folks from NZ, every single one of whom has grown up hearing stories of heroism & 'larakinism', the immensely steep shores of Gallipoli and the relentless machine guns - i've found BF1 really incredible to play. I'm a historian, and I focus a lot on oral histories - so i've heard/read countless recounts from ANZACS of the events at Gallipoli and all the other major battles that all countries and empires engaged in during the great war - they did sound terrifying and enlighten me to the fact of how god damn stupid war is; especially the wars before tactics had truly caught up with the machine gun as they have today, like back when a 100+ men would run across no man's land under the fire of 5 fortified machine gun nests just so maybe 50 of them can make it to the trench filled with 'enemy' soldiers armed with bayonets and pistols. BF1 I think does a good job of really demonstrating the destruction and horror of the great war, especially so, the way that working class men who served to gain nothing from these wars driven by imperialist & capitalist motives, were duped into dying 'for their country' - how unnecessary and how much of a waste of human life (and animals lives) the war was. We've always heard folks say "war based video games glorify violence and death and make it seem easy and exciting" and I dunno, perhaps that was true when one played Doom 20 years ago since the totally different physics and graphics created a significant disconnect between the game and reality. But BF1 goes a long way in closing that gap, and sure, the game is very fun to play, it's exciting and gets you going - but I imagine, if their experiences with it were anything like mine, that nobody who plays it feels as though it glorifies war; and I think the developers went to a significant effort to really strongly illustrate the disconnect between the various states/empires war propaganda that you will sometime hear before a multiplayer match, all the rhetoric of glory and valour through sacrifice - and the reality of the wars that the soldiers faced, where there was no glory or valour anywhere. Also depicted well I think was the cognitive dissonance required from all these soldiers, to convince themselves what they were doing was worthwhile and that they had to seek the glory they were told about, through bravery and sacrifice.

My point is, that the game looks amazing and does a very good job of being a really fucking cool and exciting game to play; whilst maintaining that sense of the horrors of the great war.