'Call Of Duty Black Ops 4' Reveal: Zombies, Battle Royale And More Confirmed

As always, there will be another “Call of Duty” game flying off shelves this holiday season. The 2018 edition of the long-running shooter franchise is “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4,” and during a live reveal event on Thursday afternoon, developers from Treyarch shared some of the ways it deviates from prior entries in the series.

No Traditional Single-Player Campaign

By far the biggest change in “Black Ops 4” is that the game will not feature any kind of normal single-player story to play through. Instead, the game will fold narrative elements into each of its competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes, according to Kotaku.

Some of the most memorable “Call of Duty” experiences have come in the franchise’s explosive story modes, but publisher Activision must not have felt the return justified the investment. Recent “Call of Duty” campaigns have featured performance-captured celebrity talent from the likes of Kevin Spacey and Christopher Meloni, which probably drove up the games’ budgets.

However, data showed most players simply were not playing through campaigns. Instead, the “Call of Duty” fanbase is more interested in shooting at their friends or at zombies.

Boots On The Ground In Multiplayer

Recent “Call of Duty” games have given players the ability to run on walls, boost around and do other science fiction techniques in competitive multiplayer. “Black Ops 4” gets rid of all of that for a more grounded experience that longtime fans will be more accustomed to.

Players will now have to heal themselves instead of simply waiting for their health to recover after being shot, a major shift in “Call of Duty” design. One of the playable classes in multiplayer can heal their teammates, meaning teamwork is a more important than before.

Overall, it looks like it has plenty of the same near-future gadgetry as “Black Ops III,” just without any of the wall-running antics.

More Zombies Than Ever

Like prior installments, players can team up with each other and take on hordes of zombies in a series of weird, secret-filled levels. It seems like the lack of single-player modes means the zombie experience will be fleshed out a little more this year, with Treyarch teasing several different scenarios that looked radically different from one another.

This one, for example, is set in a gladiatorial arena environment and might not even feature guns.

Chasing Trends With A Battle Royale Mode

The event ended with the unveiling of a brand new mode called Blackout. With Blackout, Treyarch confirmed long-held rumors that the newest “Call of Duty” would feature a battle royale mode along the lines of mega-popular games like “Fortnite.”

Blackout will apparently take place on the largest map in the history of the franchise, with players able to pilot cars, boats, and aircraft in their quest to be the last one standing. The number of players present in a given Blackout match was not confirmed during the event.

“Call of Duty: Black Ops 4” will launch on Oct. 12 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.