Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War Zombies Outbreak: New Trailer And Everything You Need To Know

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's big Season 2 update is nearly here, and one of the most exciting new additions is the large-scale Outbreak mode for Zombies that promises to shake things up in a big way. Treyarch has now posted a new trailer for the mode and announced details on what to expect. These details were posted on Activision's website, and we've rounded up the key points below.

What It's All About:

Outbreak is an objective-based mode that challenges teams of four to take part in what's called Operation Threshold. Taking place across different environments in the Ural mountains of Russia, Outbreak is a large-scale mode that requires players to work together strategically.

Outbreak also adds new Aetherium Crystal types--Refined and Flawless--which players can use to upgrade weapons, gear, perks, and ammo.

"After several desperate attempts to catch up to their adversaries, the CIA-backed international research group and task force have finally discovered a major breakthrough: the largest Outbreak zone on the planet," reads a line from Outbreak's description. "Following this discovery, Requiem launched Operation Threshold, a multi-faceted campaign involving all of Requiem's research departments. Already, Requiem’s Science and Military Research departments have identified three massive regions in the Outbreak zone to explore and investigate."

In Outbreak, you team is called upon to explore these dangerous regions and successfully exfiltrate or enter "rifts" to take on even more challenging missions. These exist within something called the "Phase." Treyarch described this as a "supernatural force [that] renders familiar areas deadly and can put previously out-of-bound zones in play."

Players will begin Outbreak missions by dropping in from a helicopter with a single starting weapon and one field upgrade.

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"Unlike any other Zombies experience thus far, there are no set paths to and from the objective," reads a line from the description. "Agents can take as much time as they wish to explore the area, searching for rewards either in loot chests, encountering various random events, or activating a Trial Computer. For a small cost of 500 Essence, Requiem agents can also take jump pads found in the region that launch them high into the air, allowing them to reach objectives safely and, if they are skilled enough, parachute to collect essence containers during the descent that can cover the cost of their flight fee, and then some."

Five Types Of Outbreak Missions:

There are five different types of objectives in Outbreak missions:

• Defend -- Teams must obtain a sample of the infected creatures, place it into a machine, and then defend it as it uploads the data.
• Escort -- In this game type, teams are challenged to escort a rover--holding the zombie specimen--and then protect the rover until it can exit the Outbreak zone through a portal.
• Retrieve -- Teams must carry find and ... retrieve Aetherium canisters away from harm.
• Eliminate -- Teams will find "elite" enemies marked on the map and the goal is to take them out.
• Holdout -- In this variant, there is a "massive, unstable" Aether Crystal that is emitting dangerous Dark Aether energy so your task is to survive for as long as possible against Zombies whoa re trying to destroy the crystal and take everyone out.

The Beacon:

Teams who successfully complete one of the missions will then be asked to travel to a "mysterious beacon" on the map to get the heck out of there. Once the beacon is activated, helpful machines appear on the map including the Crafting Table, Arsenal for Armor, Der Wunderfizz, and the Pack-a-Punch machine.

Players can call in an exfil to get out of the Outbreak zone or they can elect to travel through a "dimensional portal" to take on a different Outbreak mission.

Here's how the two play out, with descriptions written by Activision:

Exfil -- "Taking the first choice – Exfil – works like it does in round-based Black Ops Cold War Zombies experiences: get to the Exfil zone, eliminate any hostiles to clear the helicopter for landing, and hop aboard to leave the area. Doing this successfully will offer additional rewards on top of what was collected in the Outbreak zone."

Portal -- "If you take the portal, your squad will begin a new, more challenging mission, travelling to the next Outbreak region to survive against even more dangerous odds. Each trip through the portal amplifies your potential rewards, but also increases the lethality of the awaiting undead horde."

Rewards

Teams that complete a mission will get "large" XP rewards in addition to allotments of three different types of Aetherium Crystals. These include Raw Aetherium Crystals, along with the new ones added for Outbreak:

• Raw Aetherium Crystals – "Requiem agents know this resource well. These are used to upgrade Skills for Weapon Classes, Field Upgrades, Perks, and Ammo Mods through the first three Tiers of power."
• Refined Aetherium Crystals [NEW] – "A more matured crystal structure. A greater energy source used to upgrade Skills to Tier IV."
• Flawless Aetherium Crystals [NEW] – "This is the highest maturity an Aetherium Crystal can reach. This incredibly powerful resource is used to upgrade Skills to Tier V."

Additional Secrets

As Zombies fans have come to known, there will be numerous secrets and Easter eggs to find in Outbreak. Treyarch teased that there is "plenty" of additional secrets to find in Outbreak. "So it's up to you and your squad to explore the regions and report back to Requiem with your findings," Treyarch said.

Deep Dive On New Skill Upgrades

Over on Activision's website, the developer posted a ridiculously in-depth blog post about the new skill upgrades for Zombies coming in the Season 2 update. The blog post runs down all the key details on the new Aetherium Crystals that players can use to upgrade their weapons, field upgrades, perks, and weapon mods. The post also covers the new skills for Tiers IV and V. You can read the full Zombies blog post here.

Black Ops Cold War Season 2 begins February 25, so keep checking back with GameSpot for lots more.