Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is ditching the singleplayer model altogether and will be leaving fans with online modes such as Battle Royale, Zombies, and the standard PvP modes they have played quite a few times before.

Having received its full reveal just before E3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has been confirmed to be an online-only experience. Activision and developer have confirmed that the game will not feature a stand-alone campaign, something we have not seen before in the franchise, and could very well be the sign of the end for the stories that have yet to be told.

Traditional singleplayer campaigns are a thing of the past

Instead, when the game releases on October 12, 2018, players will find themselves with a wide array of modes to choose from and even plenty more experiences to be had. Treyarch and Activision did confirm, however, that players will get to experience a story that takes place between Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 3 via single-player missions that will help them learn each of the games specialists.

Unlike the past few releases, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is going back to the “boots on the ground” based combat, something we’ve only recently seen with the release of Call of Duty: WWII. This means, outside of “specialist” abilities, you won’t see people jumping about, wall running, or even jumping from platform to platform like they belong in a sci-fi movie. Instead, weapons will get some additional time in the spotlight, each having their own unique attachments, mods, and even an operator mod for that very weapon.

With the newly announced mods, players can expect a great deal of differentiation from one weapon to another. An example of this is one weapon may penetrate walls dealing extra damage compared to others, another could suppress a targeted enemy, inhibiting their vision and accuracy if they choose to fire back.

Fog of War exists and changes the overall approach to combat

But this isn’t the only noticeable change we’ve seen. Another is the predictive recoil. What this predictive recoil means is you will need to sit, learn, and adjust to how a gun might act due to its kick when firing. Another change to the overall series is healing. You won’t see healing automatically initiate anymore. This means you will need to work closely with your team, you will have to manually initiate your healing capabilities, and or rely on some specialists, such as the medic, who can assist with healing while on the go.

Much like you know with RTS games, Fog of War will play a role and it will limit what intel you receive from the minimap. This means weapon attachments such as suppressors will be a valuable commodity, making it so you can sneak about the map without breaking the fog, and even makes specialists such as scouts or recon characters, even more useful than they already are since they can open up the minimap to the rest of your team.

From the look of the trailers and past experiences with the specialists in each of the games, it seems that Activision and Treyarch are putting all their chips into a single pile and they’re going all in with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. So much so, the company has even announced one of the biggest changes yet.

Activision and Treyarch confirm Black Ops 4’s Battle Royale mode

While the mode is confirmed, we know very little about it in regards to how many players will be on it, how weapons will be chosen, and just how the mode will work, which includes specialist abilities, and weapon upgrades (scopes, etc).  However, we do know the map will be rather large (1,500 times bigger than any known map in the franchise).

The team has confirmed that vehicles will play a role, which includes aerial, ground, and sea-based modes of transportation. Outside of what little footage we have seen (as seen in the trailers above), we don’t know just a whole lot about this mode, and we’re likely going to have to wait for E3 2018 to see the full reveal and beta test dates for this mode among many others.

Call of Duty’s Zombies are back and bigger than ever than before

Unlike previous entries, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is expanding upon the previously established Call of Duty: Zombies modes that we’ve come to know. Now, Zombies is receiving an entirely new storyline that will feature new characters that are inspired by both real and mythological history from around the world. The Zombie modes will feature a 4-player cast, just as before, but will feature entirely new customization options, difficulty selections, and even an offline mode with some bots.

With the new features comes challenge sharing, a feature that allows players to share a code from their previous missions so that their friends can try to attempt to one-up their achieved progress from before. This includes competing for higher scores and completed challenges. It has also been revealed that Call of Duty: Zombies will receive steady updates and season events known as Callings that will be deployed over the duration of the life of the game.

In one of the modes revealed (and as the image shows above) players will fight against a swarm of zombies, meleeing their way through it in a gladiatorial arena while taking on an ancient Egyptian cult. In the snippet, players will be using maces, swords, and plenty more while taking on massive bosses. However, Activision and Treyarch haven’t commented or handed out any details on this newly revealed mode

The next mode we got to see is called “Voyage of Despair,” which will take place on the Titanic itself. The only difference here? Zombies are the problem instead of the historical iceberg tragedy that we had once known. In this mode, players will use a wide array of new abilities, characters, and an overall change from previous zombies modes.

Lastly, the next mode is called “Blood of the Dead,” which Activision and Treyarch have seemingly kept tightly under wraps in order to show it off during E3 2018.

Call of Duty is leaving Steam to join Destiny 2 on Battle.net

In what some could see as an odd and deceptive move, Activision has revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will not be released on Valve’s Steam Store and will be the first in the franchise to switch over to Battle.net. This newly implemented change does allow for new prospective social interactions, gameplay systems, and even more ways for fans to enjoy their games, which includes uncapped framerate and plenty more.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on Oct. 12, 2018.

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About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console game reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPGs, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.