Call Of Duty: Vanguard Is Finally Getting Round-Based Zombies, But Expect To Wait A Little Longer

Call of Duty: Vanguard has been highly-criticized for stepping away from the Zombies mode's traditional round-based experience, but Treyarch's April 14 blog details that standard round-based maps are finally coming to Vanguard. Players can also expect more Zombies content to arrive in Black Ops Cold War.

According to Treyarch's blog, the focus has shifted from Vanguard's objective-style maps of Der Anfang and Terra Maledicta to the groundwork needed to bring traditional Zombies maps to the game. Unfortunately, players will have to wait a bit before getting to jump into a classic Zombies mode for Vanguard.

"While we’re extremely excited to deliver this classic style of gameplay for Vanguard players," Treyarch says, "We want to set the expectation up-front that it’s going to take some time to get it into your hands." The developer explains the work involves extensive systems development from the ground-up, including the design, implementation, and testing of round-based wave spawning and AI pathing, and more.

Vanguard's first round-based map will be Shi No Numa from Call of Duty: World at War, of which is currently available in Vanguard but only a small piece of the map is available to explore. For the round-based map, Treyarch says this will be the full map of Shi No Numa as players experienced in World at War, but enhanced with an all-new main quest, a new area to explore, side-Easter eggs, a new Wonder Weapon quest, new Pack-a-Punch camos, and more. The map is also getting a new story tied into Treyarch's ongoing Dark Aether narrative.

Zombies fans will need to get through the entirety of Call of Duty's upcoming season before they can expect the remastered version of Shi No Numa, as Treyarch says the map is planned for release sometime after Season 3 concludes.

"Shi No Numa gives us a solid canvas to build upon," Treyarch says, "And the team is pushing hard to create a truly unique chapter of the Dark Aether universe with new story elements and quests that even series veterans can discover for the first time."

As for what players can expect for Season 3 of Zombies, Treyarch says new Vanguard content will include new seasonal challenges, more weapon unlock challenges for seasonal weapons, and quality-of-life updates. Sacrifice will be a new objective added to the current maps of Der Anfang and Terra Maledicta, but the developer notes that the shift to round-based maps means that Sacrifice will be the last new objective-type added into the Vanguard's current Zombies maps.

While waiting on the new map for Vanguard, players can expect new content to arrive in Black Ops Cold War's Zombies mode. This content will include two all-new weapons that will become available across multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone, as well as a new Zombies-themed operator bundle.

Outside of Zombies, here's everything we know about Season 3 for Vanguard and Warzone. Activision is teasing something monstrous for Warzone, which may even include an event themed around Godzilla.