New Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Campaign Details Revealed

When Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War releases later this year, the game's single-player campaign will deviate from past franchise entries. Notably, the game will feature optional side missions, and solving different puzzles will unlock additional side missions. Two of the game's side missions will even have an impact on the game's ending. The player will have more choices than they had in previous games, and the whole thing sounds like it could encourage multiple playthroughs, as a result. In an interview with PlayStation Magazine (via Segment Next), Treyarch creative specialist Miles Leslie compared the side missions to the kind that might be found in an RPG.

"This culmination of ideas and experiences are crystallised and harnessed into Black Ops Cold War, so you've got some RPG and some action," Leslie told PlayStation Magazine. "We're throwing in all the experience-ingredients into the pie and what comes out of the oven is Black Ops – Cold War, which hopefully is gonna be super-tasty."

Side missions have always been a staple of RPGs, but it makes a lot of sense to use them in a first-person shooter, as well. After all, it's not hard to imagine how one particular decision during the Cold War could have had a monumental impact on world history. It remains to be seen how far Activision and Treyarch will take that concept, but it should make for an experience unlike other Call of Duty campaigns!

It's definitely interesting to see how Activision and Treyarch are finding ways to be more experimental with the narrative of Black Ops Cold War. In addition to side missions, the game will also feature multiple dialogue options, and these can also have an impact on the overall story and the ending that players receive. It certainly seems like the game will have plenty for players to discover!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is set to release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. The game will release on current-gen systems on November 13th, and on next-gen systems at launch. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

What do you think about the inclusion of side missions in the game? Do you plan on buying Black Ops Cold War? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!