What you need to know
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, developed by Treyarch Studios and published by Activision, will be released on October 25 for PC and consoles, as well as Xbox Game Pass.
- A cinematic trailer released earlier this week introduces the characters of Zombies mode.
- The fan-favorite Zombies mode will return to its roots with round-based gameplay, as seen in the latest trailer.
- More updates on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released through official channels on August 28 during the Call of Duty: Next showcase.
A brand-new trailer showing off Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s Zombies gameplay is here to haunt us. The first official look at Terminus gameplay is set to the tune of Rob Zombie’s “Dragula” and shows off the new cast, weapons, and map for the mode’s return to round-based gameplay.
The gameplay trailer picks up where the cinematic trailer ended, with our plucky squad escaping a gulag and encountering their first horde of zombies. The cinematic opening shows brief clips of gunplay against the horde and shows Black Ops 6’s new omnimovement system before showing off a disgustingly sneaky new trap system scooping up zombies with creepy tentacles. Terminus continues the Dark Aether story from recent Call of Duty titles, and it only takes 30 seconds into the trailer to see the Aether sucking up a group of zombies into a rift.
If the Zombies of yesteryear weren’t terrifying enough, the trailer for Terminus shows off some of the new horrors waiting to chase you around. The horde includes new nightmarish ghouls, Vermin, and Parasites, and they can evolve to become even more problematic as rounds progress.
A massive intel drop from the Treyarch Zombies Team was also released on the official Call of Duty blog to provide additional details. The intel barrage does include some light spoilers, so tread lightly. The team also shares that some details can possibly change between now and the official release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on October 25 and urges players against making assumptions about specific gameplay elements.
A tale of two maps
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch with two round-based Zombies maps for players to choose from. The Terminus Island complex is the first, set in the Philippine Sea. Terminus began its life as a pre-WWII coal mining operation around 1932 but then became a U.S. Naval base in the 40s. Sitting dormant until 1965, it was then converted into a CIA outpost until Project Janus took over the island in 1986, constructing a subterranean laboratory in the abandoned mining caves.
While you can use any operator for your zombie playthrough, selecting one of the operators from the Requiem crew—Grigori Weaver, Elizabeth Grey, Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Carver, and Maya Aguinaldo—will provide “the richest story experience,” according to the Zombies team.
Terminus is the map we’ve seen the most at this point. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s Zombies will also take us to the quaint little town of Liberty Falls in West Virginia. We’ll have to wait until Call of Duty: NEXT to learn more about that.
What’s old is new again
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Modern Warfare Zombies were introduced with the launch of Modern Warfare 3 and significantly changed how zombies were presented in Call of Duty. Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode is more of a return to form for the classic third mode, eschewing the open-world map of the MWZ for round-based gameplay instead. Still, there are plenty of returning elements that veteran zombie players will recognize, along with some new ones to keep things interesting.
Some old-school features include the return of power-ups, gobble gum, and perk-a-colas. Wall guns return because you can’t have Call of Duty Zombies unless you’re buying guns from a vague outline on the wall. They’ll also be joined by wall armor, so you can stay plated up as you attempt to complete your main quest. Essence also returns as your currency for Black Ops 6, which you will rack up by taking out zombies. Essence is used to unlock doors, turn on power stations, summon Tactical rifts, and buy perks or other upgrades.
Salvage is also back as a currency. Salvage originally appeared in Black Ops Cold War’s Zombies in normal and high-grade variants, though in Black Ops 6, there will only be one type to worry about managing. Players can use salvage for the fancy stuff that essence doesn’t work for, like upgrading weapon rarity, crafting special equipment at crafting tables, or buying ammo mods from The Arsenal machine.
If you’re curious about wonder weapons, they will return in Black Ops 6 Zombies with a unique new LMG-like weapon. The Beamsmasher features two firing modes: a primary mode with a solid beam of energy and a secondary mode with focused soundwaves that incapacitate and slows enemies. You’ll be able to pack a punch with this big bad wonder weapon up to three times, but the rest of the details are redacted.
Meeting the neighbors
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You can’t talk about Call of Duty zombies and not actually introduce the zombies. Classic shamblers and explosive-defying armored zombies return, starting at sluggish and easy-to-manage speeds and graduating to full-on aggressive running as you progress through rounds. Don’t let your guard down; you’ll quickly become overwhelmed, even by the more sluggish hordes. More advanced zombies, like amalgams, are towering beasts of body horror nightmare fuel. There are also two new variants, including the spider-like Vermin and flying Parasites. To shake things up a bit.
Don’t worry, though. There will be an arachnophobia mode to modify the Vermin appearance for those afraid of spiders.
Call of Duty: NEXT
Zombies are but a fraction of the content that will be part of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at launch. We’ve only seen a drop in the bucket of the content that awaits players on October 25, even as Activision has been hard at work swatting down leaks of Black Ops 6’s multiplayer. Call of Duty: Next is scheduled to take place on August 28 and will be live-streamed on both the official Call of Duty Twitch and YouTube channels.
Popular Call of Duty streamers and esports players will also be live to showcase gameplay. The developers from Treyarch and Raven and representatives from other supportive dev teams share details on what is to come for Black Ops 6, zombies, and Warzone this fall.
