Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 brings back the classic round-based Zombies mode, something players have wanted for some time now. And it’s also adding a suite of new features, including the ability to take a break during a solo zombie game and pick it back up later.
Activision’s next big entry in its Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, launches this October and will of course feature a full multiplayer mode and single-player campaign. The game’s omnidirectional movement system looks awesome and impressive, and this will be the first CoD game to launch on Game Pass since Microsoft bought Activision. But many players aren’t excited about any of that. Instead, they are hyped for the game’s Zombies mode, as the devs behind this entry, Treyarch, are the original studio behind Zombies in Call of Duty and a lot of folks were curious to see what the team has been working on. Turns out, it’s a lot of good stuff.
On August 8, after some teasing, Treyarch offered a huge in-depth look at its upcoming Zombies mode, including the new map “Terminus” as well as a host of new features and options. And a brand new trailer, too.
One of the biggest new features added to Treyarch’s round-based Zombies mode is the ability to take a break during solo runs and return to your game later. This will let players who might be getting tired or who need to eat something stop and save their progress, and come back to continue their run when they’re ready.
While some players worried that this would make it too easy to reach higher levels, others pointed out that it would still take a lot of skill, it’s just that now you can actually go to bed at 2 am instead of grinding away all night on a good run.
Another cool feature added to this year’s CoD Zombies mode is the ability for friends to jump into your co-op match while it’s in progress. Perhaps you’re playing with a friend but they have to leave, or their internet connection drops. Well, now you can invite another friend to hop in and help out without having to restart the run. (This is only available in co-op matches, so a solo player can’t hit round 100, take a break, and call in some friends to help later.)
Treyarch is also looking to get more people involved in completing main quests in this year’s Zombies mode. In the past, main quests have been really hard to pull off, often involving various steps that aren’t telegraphed or explained to the player. This time around, Treyarch is going to offer a “guided” option so that casual or new players will be able to see what to do next to complete a map’s main quest.
But don’t worry, the guided mode won’t be available right away. Instead, Treyarch says they will be added later, so the community can still hunt for how to complete the main quests and all of a map’s secrets.
There’s a lot more to be learned from Treyarch’s impressively long blog post about its Zombies mode, including changes to weapon upgrades, equipment, economy tweaks, and much more. A lot of the stuff in the blog goes over my head as I’ve not played Zombies since Black Ops 3, but I’ll admit that I’m more excited to check out BLOPS6‘s undead action thanks to some of these smart changes that will make the game a bit easier and more casual-friendly.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 launches on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 25. It arrives on Game Pass on day one.
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