If Call of Duty players had a wishlist of things they wanted to see next based on what was in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Treyarch seems to have had those wishlists in-hand when making Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. The new Call of Duty game releasing on October 25th starts crossing things off those lists with returning additions like a more traditional Prestige system as well as the long-awaited return of round-based Zombies, but Black Ops 6 also boasts its own new additions like 16 brand new maps for players to experience plus 12 new weapons that haven’t been seen in Call of Duty games before.
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While Zombies was only touched on briefly during the press preview of Black ops 6, “round-based Zombies” is a term that needs little introduction. This version of Zombies is the clear favorite among Call of Duty players as it mirrors the very first versions of the Zombies experience. Black Ops 6‘s Zombies mode will start with two new maps called Liberty Falls and Terminus. The first of those is played in a bright town set in the ’90s while the other is a much darker Zombies experience set within Blacksite 13. You’ll be able to use different Operators in the Zombies mode to make sure you’re getting the most out of your content, but the core cast for this experience consists of four main characters: Elizabeth Grey, Grigori Weaver, Mac Carver, and Maya Aguinaldo.
Again, Zombies was only discussed very briefly during the Black Ops 6 preview, but Treyarch had plenty to say about its multiplayer plans. Similar to “round-based Zombies,” “new maps” and “new weapons” are phrases that’ll have players’ ears perked up.
Black Ops 6 will launch with 16 new multiplayer maps with 12 of those catered to the 6v6 experience while the remaining four are considered Strike maps that can be played either in 6v6 or 2v2 formats. Some complaints levied against past Call of Duty games accused map pools of banking on nostalgia and rehashing old maps as opposed to adding new ones, so having 16 new maps in the game should address those concerns pretty handily.
As for the new weapons, some of them do look familiar even if they’re technically “new” such as the Spring Mine. It’s a planted explosive that triggers when enemies get too close, but it’s basically several Claymores rigged together for a bigger impact as opposed to one explosive. During the press preview, Treyarch emphasized weapons like this are meant to highlight the story of Black Ops 6 where our Black Ops operatives are essentially working in exile and have to improvise along the way.
And then there are things like the Homing Knife which are certainly less improvised. This throwable is a knife which players can control and steer once it’s in the air with the option to detonate it remotely at will. A brief demo of it showed the explosive part to be quite effective on its own, so I’m not sure where the knife part comes into play, but it’s a neat addition regardless.
By the time you’ve gotten quite familiar with these new weapons and maps in Black Ops 6‘s multiplayer mode, you’ll probably be about ready to Prestige. Entering the Prestige circuit is a core part of the perpetual multiplayer grind in Call of Duty, and the way it’s done in Black Ops 6 should again look quite familiar.
The leveling system in Black Ops 6 consists of 55 levels to work through with an option to Prestige once you reach level 55. Doing so will relock the content again while giving Prestiged players some accolades to show off their accomplishment. You can do that again and again until you’ve worked your way through the Prestige system 10 times at which point you enter into the “Prestige Master” system. Here, you’ll find 1,000 more levels to keep you busy throughout whatever content comes your way during the Black Ops 6 seasons.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC platforms on October 25th with an open beta to precede that release.
