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Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies Mode Detailed

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is bringing back the undead, and Activision has shared much more information on what to expect from this spooky incarnation.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will mark the return of Zombies, and Activision has taken the wraps off this next iteration of the popular multiplayer mode. The announcement notes that this version is something of a reboot, featuring a fresh start to the story and new tweaks to the progression system. You can check out a Zombies first-look trailer below.

Black Ops Cold War Zombies Story

The story of Zombies in Black Ops Cold War will get rebooted, but it's featuring characters and Easter eggs from other Call of Duty games. Grigori Weaver from the original Black Ops leads the CIA team Requiem, exploring a bunker that has nods to the Nacht der Untoten map from Call of Duty: World at War. Requiem skirmishes with the Soviet force Omega Group while searching the bunker, which is seeking to unlock the secrets behind some supernatural events occurring worldwide.

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You'll interact with various characters in both Requiem and Omega Force, including a KGB mole named Sam. Activision promises that the story of Zombies will slowly unfold in unexpected ways over time. It should still serve as a good starting point for newcomers who may have been turned off by the ongoing narrative of some of the previous games.

You may also remember one of the locations featured in the new Zombies mode. Die Maschine draws heavy influence from the Nacht der Untoten map from the World at War Zombies mode--the one that was featured after the campaign credits as a secret feature. That map focused heavily on defending set points and less on immediately moving on or completing objectives.

New Progression and QOL Features

Activision promised in the announcement that Zombies will allow cross-play and cross-gen, letting you squad up no matter which platform or console generation you happen to be on. You'll also have a persistent battle pass shared across Warzone, traditional Multiplayer, and Zombies. Your loadouts will come over between modes, too.

Weapons and attachments in Zombies will have rarity ratings, with greater damage output for higher rarity ratings. The studio says this is aimed at allowing any weapon to be sustainable even through later rounds, and makes it more rewarding to open the Mystery Box.

You'll also have plenty of combat options outside of weaponry. You can set and deploy Field Upgrades after building up your meter by killing zombies. These can have a variety of effects ranging from buffs to healing or stealth. In the heat of battle, you can craft three varieties of equipment: lethal, tactical, and support. Lethal includes multiplayer weapons like frag grenades, and support is high-powered offensive options like grenade launchers. Finally, Perks are coming back, now without limits to how many you can consume. Those will include some fan-favorites like Juggernog and Speed Cola.

And if you get too swarmed by zombies, you can get out with a new Exfil option. That will severely increase the zombie threat while you make it to the chopper, but if you can escape, you'll get rewarded.

Beta and Release Date

Preordering Black Ops Cold War will get you early access to the multiplayer beta before it opens to the community as a whole. This doesn't appear to include any Zombies content.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is coming November 13, just after the launch of Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PlayStation 5. For more details, check out our Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War preorder guide.

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