Free Black Ops 4's Blackout Mode Trial Is Live Right Now, But It Won't Last Long

Treyarch has announced a free trial for Blackout, the battle royale mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The trial will be available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC beginning this Thursday, January 17.

Once you've downloaded the trial, you'll be able to participate in Blackout matches with other players. This trial does not include the full game, so you won't have access to either of Black Ops 4's Multiplayer or Zombies modes. The Blackout trial starts on January 17 and continues to January 24. If you're a fan of Call of Duty's battle royale mode, play on PC, and don't care too much about the other parts of Black Ops 4, there's a $30 version of the game that cuts out Zombies and only includes Blackout and Multiplayer.

Treyarch has also released a new update for Black Ops 4 on Xbox One and PS4. The update adds an improved looting interface in Blackout--a highly requested feature on consoles--which replaces the movable pointer. On PS4, Gauntlets and new Elixirs have been added to Zombies as well. These additions are scheduled to come to Xbox One and PC at a later date.

Blackout is the first battle royale mode in a Call of Duty game. Similarly to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite, the mode pits up to 100 players on one map. In order to improve your chances of survival, you need to scavenge for weapons, armor, and items. Survivors are pushed together over the course of a match as the survivable area on the map shrinks over time. Once killed, you won't respawn, so victory is given to the player or squad left standing by the match's end.

Blackout mixes up the battle royale formula by implementing elements from some of Call of Duty's other multiplayer modes, such as computer-controlled zombies. The new mode takes place on Call of Duty's largest map to date, one that's partially composed of other multiplayer battlefields like Nuketown and Hijacked.

Although it's probably the selling point of Black Ops 4, Blackout is hardly the only good part of the latest Call of Duty game. In our Black Ops 4 review, Kallie Plagge gave the game an 8/10, writing, "Black Ops 4 isn't short on content, and its three main modes are substantial. Multiplayer introduces more tactical mechanics without forcing you into them, and it largely strikes a good balance. Zombies has multiple deep, secret-filled maps to explore, though its returning characters don't hold up and prove distracting. Finally, Blackout pushes Call of Duty in an entirely new direction, making use of aspects from both multiplayer and Zombies for a take on the battle royale genre that stands on its own. Sure, there isn't a traditional single-player campaign, but with the depth and breadth of what is there, Black Ops 4 doesn't need it."