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2024 video game

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a 2024 first-person shooter game developed by Treyarch 🧬 and Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the sixth installment in the Black Ops sub-series and the seventeenth 🧬 installment in the overall Call of Duty series, serving as a direct narrative continuation of 2010's Call of Duty: Black 🧬 Ops.[3] The game was released on November 13, 2024, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series 🧬 X/S.

Black Ops Cold War is set during the early-to-mid 1980s of the Cold War, beginning 13 years after the events 🧬 of Black Ops. Its story centers around a pursuit of the alleged Soviet spy Perseus, whose stated goal is to 🧬 subvert the United States and tilt the balance of power toward the Soviet Union. The game's multiplayer introduced new game 🧬 modes as well as new map dynamics and elements, carrying over some design choices introduced in 2024's Modern Warfare.[3] For 🧬 the Zombies mode, Treyarch introduced several changes to the mode's core gameplay and the new "Dark Aether" storyline, which acts 🧬 as a sequel to the "Aether" storyline that ran from 2008's World at War to 2024's Black Ops 4.

The game 🧬 was originally developed by Raven and Sledgehammer Games and was not intended to be an entry in the Black Ops 🧬 sub-series. However, the development suffered from disagreements among the two teams, resulting in Activision placing Treyarch in charge of the 🧬 game's development in 2024, with Raven acting as a co-developer to them. Marketing for the game began in August 2024 🧬 and was done in different forms, including certain Call of Duty content creators receiving slide projectors, puzzles made to be 🧬 solved online by fans, and a website showcasing historical Cold War events. A public multiplayer beta for the game was 🧬 also made live in October.

Upon release, Black Ops Cold War received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its campaign 🧬 and selection of multiplayer game modes, while criticizing its technical issues and lack of innovation. It became the best-selling title 🧬 of 2024 in the United States. A sequel, reported to be set during the Gulf War, is expected to be 🧬 released in late 2024.

Gameplay [ edit ]

Campaign [ edit ]

Black Ops Cold War's campaign allows players to assume a custom 🧬 character, codenamed "Bell", with the ability to choose their intelligence agency, skin tone, nationality, and gender; as well as different 🧬 personality traits that provide in-game perks.[4] For the first time since 2012's Black Ops II, the campaign features multiple endings, 🧬 dependent on player choice throughout the campaign.[5]

Multiplayer [ edit ]

Multiplayer features new and returning game modes, as well as maps 🧬 that accommodate both the traditional 6v6 format, as well as larger 12v12 combat. The game also introduced a new game 🧬 mode named "Fireteam", which can support up to 40 players.[6] The Create-a-Class system from Modern Warfare returns, with two major 🧬 differences: field upgrades are implemented as part of class loadouts, and each class has a wildcard choice out of four 🧬 possible ones: Gunfighter (allows up to 8 primary weapon attachments), Perk Greed (allows 2 perks from each perk type for 🧬 a total of 6 usable perks), Danger Close (double grenade equipment), or Lawbreaker (allows mixing and matching any weapon/perk type 🧬 in any slot).[3] Like Modern Warfare, Cold War also support cross-platform play and cross-platform progression.[3] Following an update, the progression 🧬 system for multiplayer is integrated with Call of Duty: Warzone, allowing for a unified level system across Cold War, Warzone 🧬 and Modern Warfare. In addition, Operator characters and weapons from Cold War are also added to Warzone to be used 🧬 alongside Modern Warfare Operators and weapons, though the multiplayer modes remain separated and do not share Operators and weapons.[7]

Zombies [ 🧬 edit ]

Zombies features a new storyline titled "Dark Aether" which expands on the original Aether story, concluded in Black Ops 🧬 4, while also staying true to the main narrative of the campaign. Instead of playing as predefined characters, players can 🧬 take on the role of Operator characters from Multiplayer, as part of a CIA response team codenamed "Requiem". Progression from 🧬 Multiplayer is shared with Zombies, as players are able to use any weapon to start a Zombies match, alongside Gunsmith, 🧬 scorestreaks and field upgrades, in addition to returning mechanics such as wallbuys, the Mystery Box, Pack-a-Punch and past fan-favorite Perks. 🧬 For the first time in Zombies, players can opt to "exfil" the map, which will put them in a difficult 🧬 wave with increased enemy spawn that they must survive before they can escape. Collectible intels are also scattered around the 🧬 playable maps, allowing players to keep track of and unfold the main story as they progress.[8] A skill upgrade system 🧬 is featured in the game, allowing players to enhance weapons, perks, ammo mods and field upgrades with Aetherium Crystals, a 🧬 currency acquired from reaching round milestones. A new game mode, Onslaught, was introduced exclusively to PlayStation players until November 1, 🧬 2024. In this mode, which are played within Multiplayer maps, up to 2 players defend areas grounded off by the 🧬 Dark Aether orb, which must be powered by zombie kills. Sufficient kills will move the orb to new positions, forcing 🧬 the players to move or die outside of the orb's protection zone.[9] The Season Two update introduces "Outbreak", a large-scale 🧬 mode where players fight off zombie hordes and complete objectives in an open-world area, composed of locations featured in the 🧬 larger Multiplayer modes.

Plot [ edit ]

Characters and settings [ edit ]

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's campaign is set 🧬 during the Cold War in the early 1980s. It follows Green Beret turned CIA SAD/SOG officer Russell Adler (Bruce Thomas) 🧬 and his mission to stop an international espionage threat known as Perseus (William Salyers) in 1981. The story is inspired 🧬 by actual events. Featured locations include the Netherlands, Turkey, West and East Berlin, South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and Cuba. 🧬 Adler is supported by returning Black Ops characters Alex Mason (Chris Payne Gilbert), Frank Woods (Damon Victor Allen) and Jason 🧬 Hudson (Piotr Michael), alongside fellow former MACV-SOG operative Lawrence Sims (Reggie Watkins), Mossad fixer Eleazar "Lazar" Azoulay (Damon Dayoub), and 🧬 MI6 intelligence officer Helen Park (Lily Cowles), with additional support from KGB Head of Security and undercover agent Dimitri Belikov 🧬 (Mark Ivanir) and the CIA Deputy Strategist Emerson Black (Creed Bratton). Players take on the role of "Bell", a mysterious 🧬 operative who assists Adler and his team in finding Perseus for the majority of the campaign; Mason and Belikov are 🧬 also playable in certain segments. Perseus' inner circle consists of Iranian terrorists Arash Kadivar (Navid Negahban) and Qasim Javadi (Farshad 🧬 Farahat), Russian mafia boss Anton Volkov (Rafael Petardi), rogue KGB Agent Major Vadim Rudnik, and ex-CIA officer Robert Aldrich. The 🧬 campaign also features a brief appearance by Imran Zakhaev (Dan Donohue), father of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare antagonist Victor 🧬 Zakhaev, and Colonel Lev Kravchenko (Andrew Divoff), a former nemesis of Mason and Woods whom they last encountered in Laos 🧬 in 1968, as well as appearances from the historical figures Ronald Reagan (Jeff Bergman), Mikhail Gorbachev (David Agranov), Alexander Haig 🧬 (Jason Culp) and James Baker (Casey Campbell).

The multiplayer mode's seasonal story takes place from late 1983 to 1984, and follows 🧬 Adler on a new mission to investigate the resurgence of Perseus and his agents, led by Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin (Chris 🧬 Parson), who seeks vengeance on Adler for personal reasons. Stitch's followers and fellow Perseus operatives include Laotian warlord Kapano "Naga" 🧬 Vang (Greg Chun), ex-NIS operative Freya "Wraith" Helvig, ex-MI6 agent Roman "Knight" Gray (Mark Sheppard), mercenary Owethu "Jackal" Mabuza (Gabe 🧬 Kunda), ex-yakuza Kaori "Kitsune" Tanaka (Erika Ishii), and ex-Spanish Army demolitions expert Benito "Fuze" Ortega. Several NATO allies appear throughout 🧬 the seasons assisting Adler and the CIA in fighting Stitch's forces, including: DGSE operative Zeyna Ossou (Mara Junot), SRT Marine 🧬 Wyatt "Bulldozer" Jones (Jeff Schine), Delta Force sniper Terrell Wolf (Zeke Alton), guerrilla fighter Karla Rivas (Krizia Bajos), Unit 777 🧬 officer Jabari Salah (Ayman Samman), and CIA SAD/SOG operative Colton "Stryker" Greenfield (Christian Rummel). Captain Carver Butcher (Ron Bottitta), founder 🧬 of Task Force Vanguard and a protagonist of the Call of Duty: Vanguard multiplayer seasonal story, makes an appearance in 🧬 the final Cold War multiplayer season.

The Dark Aether story in Zombies mode takes place from late 1983 to 1985, and 🧬 continues several narrative elements from its predecessor, the Aether story. The central protagonists of the story are Requiem, a classified 🧬 CIA task force dedicated to studying and eradicating the global rising undead threat. Players take on the role of a 🧬 four-person Strike Team, taking orders from CIA officer Grigori Weaver (Gene Farber), who coordinates Requiem's various operations. Other Requiem members 🧬 include: Major Mackenzie Carver (Keston John), Head of Containment and Security Division; Doctor Elizabeth Grey (Amy Pemberton), Head of Unnatural 🧬 Sciences; Doctor Oskar Strauss (Thure Riefenstein), Head of Energy Research; "Raptor One" (Derek Phillips), a pilot who is tasked with 🧬 extracting the strike team from outbreak zones upon completion of their missions; and the enigmatic Director who monitors the strike 🧬 team's activities. Opposing Requiem is Omega Group, a Soviet Union-backed organization lead by Colonel Kravchenko, who is largely responsible for 🧬 the new undead outbreak threat. Through the course of the story, Requiem agents come into contact with Kravchenko and other 🧬 Omega operatives, including: Doctor William Peck (Zeke Alton), an American scientist who betrayed the United States government to defect to 🧬 Omega; Doctor Aleksandra Valentina (Sadie Alexandru), Lead Scientist in Psychotronics Research, whose secret identity is Angelika Vogel, daughter of Nazi 🧬 scientist Ulrich Vogel (Michael Gough); Doctor Hugo Jager, Research Lead of Necro-Analytics department; and Commander Gorev (Zeke Alton), Kravchenko's right-hand 🧬 man. Assisting Requiem in their battle against Omega Group and the undead are Samantha Maxis (Julie Nathanson), a former BND 🧬 operative and acquaintance of Weaver with a mysterious past; and Sergei Ravenov (Andrew Morgado), an Omega Group soldier who lost 🧬 faith in the organization's mission and acts as Maxis' mole. Both Requiem and Omega also regularly establish contact with Kazimir 🧬 Zykov (Andrew Morgado), a Soviet engineer who is trapped in the Dark Aether dimension and wishes to escape with either 🧬 group's help.

Synopsis [ edit ]

Campaign [ edit ]

In January 1981, CIA SAD/SOG operatives Russell Adler, Alex Mason, and Frank Woods 🧬 are sent to target Qasim Javadi and Arash Kadivar for their roles in the Iran hostage crisis. With intelligence gained 🧬 from interrogating Qasim, the team tracks Arash to Turkey, where the three witness him executing everyone in the vehicle he 🧬 arrived in. Arash boasts that Perseus was the one responsible for organizing the hostage crisis before being executed. US President 🧬 Ronald Reagan authorizes a black operation team to neutralize Perseus after being briefed of his threat by Jason Hudson and 🧬 Adler.

Adler's team consists of CIA operative Lawrence Sims, American born Mossad operative Eleazar "Lazar" Azoulay, and MI6 intelligence officer Helen 🧬 Park, with Mason and Woods providing tactical support. The final member of the team is an agent known only by 🧬 the codename "Bell", who served with Adler and Sims in MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. The team starts by asking 🧬 Bell to recall Operation Fracture Jaw in 1968, where Adler believes he, Bell, and Sims first encountered Perseus. Afterwards, the 🧬 team proceeds to East Berlin to apprehend/kill Anton Volkov, a Russian mafia boss with ties to Perseus.

Following an infiltration into 🧬 a secret Spetsnaz training facility by Bell and Woods, the team discovers that Perseus had infiltrated Operation Greenlight, a top 🧬 secret American program that secretly planted neutron bombs in every major European city to deny their use to the Soviets 🧬 in the event of an invasion. Mason and Woods are deployed to Mount Yamantau in the Ural Mountains, where they 🧬 infiltrate Nikita Dragovich's destroyed base in hopes of retrieving his list of sleeper agents.[c] However, the team finds out that 🧬 Perseus has wiped the data from the Yamantau base's mainframe, leaving their only option to infiltrate KGB Headquarters to retrieve 🧬 the list. Enlisting the help of one of their KGB double agent allies, Dimitri Belikov, they manage to get Adler 🧬 and Bell inside the Lubyanka Building. The team learns that an Operation Greenlight scientist is one of the sleeper agents 🧬 and has fled to Cuba. Hoping to catch Perseus there, the team launches a raid. They learn that Perseus has 🧬 managed to steal the detonation codes for every Operation Greenlight bomb, meaning he can devastate Europe and lay the blame 🧬 on the United States. The team comes under heavy fire and Lazar and Park are injured in the process, leaving 🧬 Bell only enough time to save one of them.

After rescuing Bell, Adler continues to press them by provoking their memories 🧬 of Vietnam once more. At this point, Bell's true identity is revealed as an agent of Perseus, having been shot 🧬 by Arash in Turkey out of jealousy. Bell was found by Adler and was brainwashed using Project MKUltra into believing 🧬 they were his comrade. With Bell's memory returned, Adler interrogates them on the location of Perseus' headquarters. Bell can then 🧬 either choose to remain loyal to Perseus and lie to Adler, or choose to betray Perseus and reveal his location.

In 🧬 the non-canonical endings where Bell chooses to stay loyal to Perseus, they lie by telling Adler to head to the 🧬 Duga radar array, where the team will be too far away to stop Perseus from activating the nukes. If Bell 🧬 has established contact with the Soviet Army beforehand, they will lure the team into a trap and kill them with 🧬 the help of Perseus and the Soviet Army before they activate the nukes. If Bell refuses to kill the team, 🧬 Bell is executed by Adler but the nukes will still go off. Europe is devastated by the explosions and public 🧬 opinion of the United States plummets. The CIA is forced to erase the existence of Adler and his team in 🧬 an effort to cover up the United States' involvement in Operation Greenlight. Perseus boasts that his agents in Europe will 🧬 take advantage of the chaos to infiltrate every European government and turn them towards the Soviet Union, while his agents 🧬 in the United States will continue to undermine the country.

In the canonical ending where Bell decides to betray Perseus and 🧬 help the CIA, they along with the team assault Perseus' headquarters in the Solovetsky Islands and destroy the transmitters needed 🧬 to send the detonation signal. With the failure of Operation Greenlight, Perseus goes into hiding, though Adler swears to continue 🧬 pursuing him and dismantle his spy network. Later, Adler takes Bell out for a private conversation, assuring them that their 🧬 choice to turn against Perseus was of their own free will and that they are a hero. Adler then admits 🧬 that Bell must be eliminated as a loose end and both draw their guns, with the scene fading to black 🧬 as gunshots are heard.

Two years after Operation Greenlight's failure, a Perseus cell infiltrates the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and successfully hijacks 🧬 a nuclear ICBM during military exercise Able Archer 83. Operators from NATO and Warsaw Pact countries are deployed to various 🧬 hot zones, where Perseus activities are sighted. On January 20, 1984, a Perseus cell, led by Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin, raids 🧬 a CIA safe house in West Berlin in order to gain intel on Adler. Stitch, who was in charge of 🧬 Nova-6 production on Rebirth Island, vowed vengeance on Adler, who captured and tortured him during the CIA's assault on the 🧬 island in 1968. Stitch leaves behind a message to taunt Adler that leads him to a mall in New Jersey. 🧬 At the mall, Adler's team runs into an ambush by Stitch, who has also set up a cache of Nova-6. 🧬 The team attempts to escape, but Adler is ultimately captured and taken away by Stitch and his men.

Three months later, 🧬 Woods leads a squad to Laos where Adler was last sighted, only to learn that he has been transported to 🧬 Verdansk. Hudson authorizes a search and rescue operation to retrieve Adler. On June 2, 1984, two Perseus operatives, Freya "Wraith" 🧬 Helvig and Roman "Knight" Gray, infiltrate the Yamantau secret military base and retrieve data related to Dragovich's numbers program, which 🧬 Stitch plans to use in order to create more sleeper agents across the nation. They then detonate the base, intending 🧬 to shift the blame toward the U.S. and spark another war. Eight days later, Woods manages to locate Adler in 🧬 Verdansk and rescue him.

Some times later, Stitch orders Perseus operative Owethu "Jackal" Mabuza to assault Jumpseat Satellite Ground Station in 🧬 South Africa. The station's surviving specialist is forced to obey Stitch's order as he de-orbits two CIA satellites, which end 🧬 up crashing in Verdansk and Algeria, respectively. Following his recovery, Adler immediately leads a squad to investigate the satellite crash 🧬 in Algeria. As they approach the crash site, Adler recklessly charges in and eliminates Perseus agents, while secretly recovering a 🧬 data recorder from the satellite debris. A month later, Woods leads a response team, accompanied by Colton "Stryker" Greenfield, to 🧬 the ECHELON Listening Station in Teufelsburg, where they attempt to apprehend Perseus operative Kaori "Kitsune" Tanaka. Kitsune, who has just 🧬 finished uploading the numbers protocol, activates the sequence, turning the response team against Woods and Stryker, who narrowly escape death. 🧬 Afterwards, Hudson meets with Woods in private and reveals an inconsistency in Adler's statement about the data recorder from the 🧬 Algeria satellite crash site, as well as his recent unmonitored activities in Verdansk. Recognizing that Adler may have been compromised 🧬 due to the numbers program, Hudson orders Woods to contact Mason for help.

On August 2, 1984, Stitch and Perseus operative 🧬 Benito "Fuze" Ortega attempt to defuse several explosive charges planted all across Verdansk by Adler. Meanwhile, Adler is put through 🧬 extensive torture by Mason and Hudson in order to break his programming. Mason succeeds in deprogramming Adler, while Stitch's team 🧬 fails to stop most of the charges from detonating. Woods, Adler, Mason and Hudson are deployed at a heavily destroyed 🧬 Verdansk to confront Stitch for the final time. They eventually find Stitch in the woods, where Adler learns that he 🧬 had taken over the mantle of Perseus, while the previous one passed away from cancer in 1983. Having finished his 🧬 work, Stitch willingly surrenders his life, while taunting Adler of his actions. A gunshot is heard as the scene cuts 🧬 to black.

A few days after, Adler, Mason, Woods and Hudson investigate an underground Nazi bunker in the ruins of Verdansk, 🧬 where they meet Captain Carver Butcher, a retired Special Operations Executive agent and founder of Task Force Vanguard. Butcher begins 🧬 telling Adler and the others of his mission in leading various special operations task forces to hunt down remnants of 🧬 the Nazi empire in the Pacific.[d]

Zombies [ edit ]

In 1983, CIA Special Officer Grigori Weaver is contacted by an acquaintance, 🧬 former BND operative Samantha Maxis,[e] who provides him with secret KGB intelligence. Weaver learns from Maxis that during World War 🧬 II, the Nazis attempted an experiment in a secret bunker in Morasko, Poland where they managed to reanimate dead soldiers 🧬 into zombies. Afterwards, the bunker was discovered and sealed by the Soviet Union, only to be recently uncovered by Omega 🧬 Group, a KGB-Spetsnaz joint research team working in favor of the Soviet Union. As a result, several Dark Aether anomalies 🧬 begin to appear around the world, unleashing zombies in their wake. A classified task force codenamed Requiem is assembled to 🧬 combat the global undead threats as well as conduct research into the anomalies for technological advancement.

In November 1983, Requiem deploys 🧬 a strike team to the bunker in Morasko, dubbed Projekt Endstation, where they discover a rift that acts as a 🧬 gateway to the Dark Aether dimension, responsible for other global dimensional breaches. Upon further investigation, the strike team uncovers a 🧬 device in the facility called Der Wechsler, which can restore a zombie's brain functionality. The strike team uses it on 🧬 one of the roaming zombies in the facility, who was a former Omega Group member named Orlov. In turn, he 🧬 agrees to help the team close the dimensional rift. Orlov successfully seals the rift, destroying Endstation and sacrificing himself in 🧬 the process, while allowing the strike team to escape.

Following Endstation's destruction, Maxis investigates further into Omega Group's activities, and travels 🧬 to Outpost 25, located in A Sầu Valley, Vietnam, but is captured by Omega forces and thrown into the Dark 🧬 Aether dimension. In June 1984, the Requiem strike team arrives at Outpost 25, and makes contact with Captain Sergei Ravenov, 🧬 Maxis' mole within Omega. Ravenov guides the strike team through the undead-infested facility, while also dealing with Doctor William Peck, 🧬 an American scientist who defected to Omega. After learning from Peck of Maxis' current situation, the strike team attempts to 🧬 open a portal and stabilize it long enough for Maxis to escape the dimension. They eventually succeed and exfiltrate with 🧬 Maxis, while Ravenov elects to remain undercover as Omega continues their operations in the Ural Mountains. Following Requiem's success, Omega's 🧬 leaders, Colonel Lev Kravchenko and Doctor Aleksandra Valentina, travel to Outpost 25 to confront Peck about his failure.

In an effort 🧬 to catch up to Omega Group's progress, Requiem launches Operation Threshold, a large-scale mission across the Ural Mountains where the 🧬 largest outbreak zones have been identified. Over the next several months, Requiem operators are deployed in multiple Ural regions in 🧬 order to eliminate undead targets, capture specimen and commence further research on the mysterious Aetherium element. Meanwhile, Maxis is quarantined 🧬 under isolation due to her time spent inside the Dark Aether dimension. In November 1984, Maxis secretly contacts the Requiem 🧬 strike team during their mission, requesting them to meet with Ravenov. At the missile silo in Ruka, Ravenov reveals that 🧬 Peck has been using Aetherium crystals to supercharge nuclear warheads, which would allow Omega Group to create new outbreak zones 🧬 wherever they choose. Not wishing to let either side possess the warheads, Maxis instructs Ravenov and the strike team to 🧬 work together and direct the warheads toward the Pacific Ocean where they can be safely dumped. After clearing out a 🧬 massive zombie horde guarding the silo, the strike team succeeds in deploying the warheads and manages to exfil.

Afterwards, Ravenov contacts 🧬 Weaver via Maxis' secret radio channel, and requests Requiem's help in extracting several Omega scientists who wish to defect from 🧬 the group. Though angry at Ravenov and Maxis' secrecy, Weaver agrees to help him carry out the operation. Some times 🧬 later, the strike team receives intel from Ravenov that he has lost contact with the scientists. The team is sent 🧬 to the State Sanatorium U-23 to investigate a crash site and help extract the scientists; however, they were all murdered 🧬 by Doctor Hugo Jager, an Omega scientist who was secretly a mole planted by Kravchenko to root out the defectors. 🧬 The strike team attempts to exfil, but is captured by Kravchenko and Omega forces.

Amidst the operations at the Ural Mountains, 🧬 both Requiem and Omega come into contact with Kazimir Zykov, a Soviet engineer who was originally sent to the Endstation 🧬 bunker in 1945 to shut it down, and has been trapped inside the Dark Aether since then. Zykov, who wishes 🧬 to escape the dimension, has attempted to reach out to the real world, giving both Requiem and Omega warnings of 🧬 a mysterious entity commanding the undead forces from within. Meanwhile, Valentina continues to further her own agenda: to open a 🧬 gateway to the Dark Aether in hopes of freeing her father, who seemingly has been communicating with her from the 🧬 other side since her childhood. Omega Group eventually deduces Valentina's real identity as the daughter of Ulrich Vogel, a Nazi 🧬 scientist who previously lead Projekt Endstation.

Two months after the strike team's capture, an outbreak occurs in East Berlin, where Valentina 🧬 was last sighted. Having learned of her true allegiance, Kravchenko decides to deploy the Requiem strike team at the Berlin 🧬 site to stop her, while overseeing their mission. Upon arriving in Berlin, Kravchenko and the strike team learn that Valentina 🧬 has been mutated with Dark Aether energy by the Forsaken, the entity mentioned by Zykov, who was also masquerading as 🧬 Vogel to trick Valentina into doing his bidding. The strike team reaches an abandoned CIA safehouse and reactivates Klaus, a 🧬 combat robot customized with an artificial intelligence module created by the Director of Requiem. With Omega Group's instructions, the team 🧬 constructs a miniature Aetherium warhead using components left onsite by the CIA. Valentina attempts to stop them, but is ultimately 🧬 defeated, and her energy is used to refine the Aetherium for the warhead. As the Forsaken taunts Requiem of his 🧬 imminent arrival, Klaus carries the warhead through the portal to complete the mission. Kravchenko attempts to betray the strike team 🧬 at the last minute, but Maxis, using her Dark Aether power, manages to open a portal, allowing the team to 🧬 return home safely. Meanwhile, the Director monitors Maxis, and sends a group memo to an unknown recipient, noting her growing 🧬 power as a concern toward Project Janus.

As Operation Threshold expands into the North Atlantic Sea and Algeria, the Director continues 🧬 to pressure Maxis in isolation, coercing her into using her powers. Meanwhile, Omega Group authorizes a new operation to free 🧬 Zykov from the Dark Aether, intending to use this opportunity to take down the Forsaken with their own warheads. Requiem, 🧬 after receiving intel on Omega's new operation from Ravenov, also intends to free Zykov by their own means. On June 🧬 4, 1985, the Requiem strike team is deployed to an Omega test site in Ukraine, where Kravchenko and Peck are 🧬 conducting the final steps to open a Dark Aether gateway. They succeed in freeing Zykov, only to learn that he 🧬 was the Forsaken all along. As Kravchenko and Peck attempt to escape the facility, Maxis and the strike team make 🧬 their final stand against the Forsaken. Eventually, Maxis sacrifices herself by plunging into a Dark Aether portal, weakening the Forsaken 🧬 enough for him to be captured by Omega's containment chamber. With the Forsaken defeated, all global outbreak zones are collapsed, 🧬 and the undead threat is contained. The Director - revealed to be Edward "Eddie" Richtofen - orders Requiem to be 🧬 shut down, and its department leads apprehended alongside the strike team, while the Forsaken's chamber is delivered to an unknown 🧬 location. Five years later, Peck travels to Japan and charters a boat to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, claiming 🧬 that he is looking for "some old friends".

Development [ edit ]

On May 18, 2024, Kotaku reported that the game was 🧬 in upheaval as developers Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software had increasing tensions between the studios. Two sources described the game 🧬 as a "mess".[10] In response, Activision assigned Treyarch to lead development alongside Raven. This led to a shorter development period 🧬 compared to previous entries as well as the two studios having different responsibilities, with Raven Software leading the development of 🧬 the single-player campaign.[11]

On August 4, 2024, Activision in their Q2 earnings call confirmed that a new Call of Duty title 🧬 was planned to be released in 2024 and that Treyarch and Raven were developing the game.[12] It is the first 🧬 Call of Duty game since Modern Warfare 3 to be co-developed by two studios, as well as the first time 🧬 Raven Software is a main developer, as in previous games they assisted on the multiplayer and extra features.[12] Activision president 🧬 Rob Kostich confirmed during the Q2 earnings call that Black Ops Cold War will be "tightly connected" to Call of 🧬 Duty: Modern Warfare (2024) and Call of Duty: Warzone.[13]

Raven Software's Dan Vondrak said on the idea of multiple endings, "when 🧬 we started creating the story, we had multiple endings in mind right away. And that really helped ... But we 🧬 knew right away that we wanted to do that. I absolutely loved the idea that we could [have a] little 🧬 bit of homage to Black Ops 2 by having these [multiple endings]."[14]

Marketing [ edit ]

Announcements and marketing relating to a 🧬 Call of Duty game have traditionally been around April or May prior to the game's fall release.[15][16] However, Activision began 🧬 teasing the game with an alternate reality game (ARG) in August 2024. Various YouTubers prevalent to the Call of Duty 🧬 community on YouTube were shipped crates. Once authorized to open on August 10, 2024, they were greeted by a slide 🧬 projector, 10 different slides per crate, and a manifest.[17] Starting on August 14, 2024, the game was marketed, after initial 🧬 ciphers solved, by enticing fans to solve ciphers and puzzles on pawntakespawn.[18] The website allowed fans to watch VHS tapes 🧬 containing news segments and footage that pertained to the corresponding year(s) throughout the Cold War.[19] Throughout the VHS tapes, at 🧬 random intervals, two-digit nixie tube combinations appeared, required to solve ciphers, in addition to one set of coordinates per VHS 🧬 tape that led to a location in Warzone.[20]

On August 19, 2024, once all ciphers were solved, the teaser trailer was 🧬 revealed.[21] The teaser trailer contains segments of a 1984 interview with former Soviet PGU KGB informant and defector Yuri Bezmenov 🧬 discussing active measures, taken from a 1984 interview with conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin.[22] The worldwide reveal was on August 🧬 26, 2024.[23][24]

Starting on September 22, 2024, another alternate reality game (ARG) on pawntakespawn, teasing the Zombies mode, began when various 🧬 Call of Duty YouTubers such as NoahJ456 and MrDalekJD were sent crates with 1980s technology and ciphers to solve.[25][26] The 🧬 official reveal for Zombies was on September 30.[27]

Pre-orders of all Black Ops Cold War editions grant early access to the 🧬 open-access beta,[f] a weapons pack, and a Frank Woods operator pack in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of 🧬 Duty: Warzone. The Ultimate Edition grants access to three additional cosmetic skin packs, plus access to the Battle Pass of 🧬 the current Season for Black Ops Cold War (dependent on time of purchase). The Cross-gen Bundle and Ultimate Edition grant 🧬 console players two versions of the game for use on the current console generation (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) and 🧬 the next generation (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X) upon availability.[28]

Controversies [ edit ]

CBR reported that 🧬 the teaser trailer had been banned in China due to a one-second depiction of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.[29][30] An 🧬 edited teaser was released worldwide instead.[31][32] PC Gamer's Andy Chalk wrote: "There's also no mistaking the irony of active censorship 🧬 in a promo trailer for a game whose tagline is, literally, 'Know your history'."[33]

An editorial by Ian Walker in Kotaku 🧬 accused Call of Duty of legitimating the views of Bezmenov when it included footage of his interview with Griffin in 🧬 its August trailer. Among the complaints he had was that Bezmenov's views acted as a magnet for far-right conspiracy theories 🧬 and personalities, that Activision presented Bezmenov's interview without the proper context and that Bezmenov himself held views that Walker argued 🧬 were on the far right.[24]

Post-launch content [ edit ]

All downloadable content (DLC) maps for the game, both for multiplayer and 🧬 Zombies, were completely free. As with Modern Warfare, the game features post-launch microtransactions via the battle pass system and cosmetic 🧬 bundles available via the in-game store.[34][35]

In May 2024, for the mid-season update of Season 3, Activision and Treyarch announced a 🧬 collaboration event, titled "'80s Action Heroes", featuring the addition of John Rambo and John McClane as playable characters, as well 🧬 as new limited-time game modes inspired by the Rambo franchise and the Die Hard film series. Rambo and McClane's appearances 🧬 are based on Rambo: First Blood Part II and Die Hard, respectively, with their voice lines adapted directly from the 🧬 films.[36]

In September 2024, Activision and Rebellion Developments announced a collaboration, bringing the character Judge Dredd of the 2000 AD comic 🧬 book series into Cold War as a cosmetic outfit for the operator Ingo Beck. The Judge Dredd bundle was released 🧬 September 14, 2024.[37]

In October 2024, Activision and Treyarch announced The Haunting seasonal event as part of its sixth season content 🧬 update, which would feature game modes and purchasable cosmetic items based on several horror movie franchises. Ahead of the event's 🧬 release, details were leaked about some of the items, including a Ghostface operator character based on the Scream franchise, as 🧬 well as a Frank the Bunny outfit based on the character from Donnie Darko.[38]

Reception [ edit ]

Call of Duty: Black 🧬 Ops Cold War received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[39][40][41][42]

Game Informer gave the game a 8.75/10 🧬 rating, praising the campaign and saying: "If Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War excels at anything, it's options. This 🧬 isn't uncommon for a Call of Duty title, but with a vast array of game modes for myriad player profiles 🧬 and a fun campaign that retains a summer-blockbuster feel while getting weird and wild, the ride is a good one."[43]

During 🧬 the 24th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Black Ops Cold War for "Online Game 🧬 of the Year".[49]

Sales [ edit ]

The PlayStation 4 version sold 84,475 physical copies within its first week on sale in 🧬 Japan, making it the bestselling retail game of the week in the country. The PlayStation 5 version was the nineteenth 🧬 bestselling retail game in Japan throughout the same week, with 6,045 copies being sold.[50] In December 2024, it was confirmed 🧬 that the game had sold 5.7 million digital units.[51] Within its first six weeks of release, the game earnedR$678 million.[52] 🧬 The NPD Group named it the best selling game of 2024 and also ranked it as the twentieth bestselling video 🧬 game in the United States by lifetime dollar sales by the end of 2024.[53][54]

Sequel [ edit ]

On November 12, 2024, 🧬 Windows Central reported that a sequel to Black Ops Cold War was in development under the code name "Cerberus" with 🧬 a scheduled release in 2024. The sequel is reported to take place in the Gulf War, with a story focused 🧬 on the Central Intelligence Agency.[55][56]

Notes [ edit ]

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