Activision on Thursday announced the launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard on November 5 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, as well as Xbox Series S/X with full crossplay support. The new Call of Duty game will pick up from World War II, offering play modes in the single-player campaign, online multiplayer, and co-op Zombie modes. For a few weeks, many cryptic teasers were coming from the game company and now it finally sealed the launch date. The developers Sledgehammer Games describe Call of Duty: Vanguard as historically inspired – “rooted but not beholden” to the history of World War II. Boasting 60fps on consoles, Call of Duty: Vanguard has assured “breath-taking visual fidelity, a photorealistic world, lifelike characters, and optimized performance”.
There will possibly be realistic weapons and equipment suiting the time period of the War. Furthermore, Call of Duty: Vanguard will “seamlessly integrate” with the studio’s massively popular free-to-play battle royale title, Call of Duty: Warzone. Interested games can also pre-order the game, the cost of which starts from Rs. 3,999 on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and $60 (that is Rs. 4,470) on Battle.net for PC. Call of Duty: Vanguard is established in the World War II era that will thrust players into visceral combat across the entire theatre of war, starting from Europe and spreading to North Africa, all the way to the Eastern Front and the Pacific, just as the history goes. Call of Duty: Vanguard will have a more drastic experience for gamers as compared to the earlier version of Call of Duty: WWII, created by the same developers.
The single-player campaign in the new Call of Duty game will revolve around the origin of a multi-national special force outfit called Task Force One. The game will have soldiers from the Red Army, the US Navy, as well as the British Army, while Task Force One will be seen fighting across four World War II theatres, namely, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa. The trailer of Call of Duty: Vanguard discloses more about the doings and objectives of Task Force One which you can watch now on Youtube. Sledgehammer Games, the game’s developer, says that Call of Duty: Vanguard will comprise 20 online multiplayer maps at launch, out of which, 16 will be specially built for “core gameplay”. A new Caliber system delivers “immersive and reactive environments” that will ultimately enhance the fire and destruction rate according to developers.
They are also promising weapon customization by upgrading Gunsmith. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s 2v2 Gunfight mode will get its next iteration on the newly announced Call of Duty: Vanguard. The Open Beta will have more to offer, which will probably be announced September 10–20 according to inside reports. Why Call of Duty: Vanguard is making so much buzz is because it will bring fans to the “tide-turning battles” of World War II. You will see familiar war theatres and some of the bravest battles of the war our history witnessed. Notably, the game will allow players to see the war through the eyes of the soldier’s characters who became martyrs of World War II. The trailer seems to be an extended cinematic though, but a few glimpses showed the gameplay hiding among the shots.
The Director of Call of Duty: Vanguard, Josh Bridge, said, “The game isn’t just about the diverse locations, but about the people. The motif of ‘ordinary became extraordinary’ was something the team found creativity-inspiring”. He also explained that across both single and multiplayer, players would feel a “blunt, visceral” approach to combat, telling that the gunplay had to feel “incredible”. Additionally, a new ‘blindfire’ mechanic will appear in multiplayer so players can fire from behind the cover without looking. Sledgehammer Games also aims to achieve a “unified experience” across Vanguard, Black Ops Cold War, and Modern Warfare. So Warzone is expected to get the new Call of Duty: Vanguard content along with an all-new map.
Treyarch will develop Vanguard‘s Zombies mode for continuity with Black Ops Cold War. If you can’t wait till November 5 to taste the new Call of Duty: Vanguard, then this is your lucky day. Several beta tests are expected to drop off before the release date of the game. Activision has said nothing about these tests, but Modern Warzone claims to have the info dates of Call of Duty: Vanguard beta tests, that is, August 27 – 29 for Alpha, September 10 – 21 for PlayStation Beta, and September 16 – 20 for Open Beta for Al. The Call of Duty fans will for the first time witness the Zombies mode with the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies, the game from last year’s launch. This implies that Treyarch Studios will further enhance the Call of Duty: Vanguard’s co-op Zombies experience, picking up from the Dark Aether storyline fans must have witnessed in Black Ops Cold War Zombies.
More details of the game will be given during Call of Duty: Warzone’s Halloween event, All Hallows Eve. Later this year, a new main map is expected to land in Call of Duty: Warzone which will support the rollout of full integration with Call of Duty: Vanguard. These two games will afterward share new maps, events, modes, free post-launch content, plus playlists with each other. Vanguard will probably join Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War to support universal progression. So players can play any of the four Call of Duty games or even all four in order to build up their Rank and Battle Pass. So far, only one of the maps’ names for Call of Duty: Vanguard has been named, that is, Eagle’s Nest.
But the developers have promised that 16 out of these 20 multiplayer maps will offer core 6v6 modes, while the other four maps will focus on smaller 2v2 skirmishes. The game will also include “reactive gameplay environments” which means that it will feature destructible environments. These will be found hand in opening new pathways through the battlefield. A new feature will also appear called “combat pacing” that will give players the choice for combats they want to play in during multiplayer. There will be three different options. “Blitz” allows for a more frantic, target-rich environment, while “Tactical” will play at a slower pace, with fewer players and plenty of possibilities to set up tricks.
Activision’s general manager for Call of Duty, Johanna Faries, released a statement the same day that said, “Call of Duty: Vanguard is primed to deliver a stunning range of gameplay experiences for the entire Call of Duty community. Vanguard’s breadth of content is a hallmark of the title, with more multiplayer maps on day one than ever before and the first Zombies crossover in Call of Duty history. Warzone fans will also experience a host of exciting new things to come as part of the new launch. We can’t wait to share more soon.” Call of Duty: Vanguard’s price starts at Rs. 3,999, but the Standard Edition can only be played on PS4 or Xbox One. For playing the game on a next-gen console in PS5 or Xbox Series S/X, users will have to pay Rs. 4,999 for the “Cross-Gen Bundle” that will promise an optimized version of the game.
Some bonuses will be available too maybe. The Ultimate Edition, starting at Rs. 6999, will offer even more pre-order bonus content. PC gamers can choose between the $60 Standard Edition or $100 (around Rs. 7,450) Ultimate Edition. Call of Duty: Vanguard will also offer a new game mode to play in, called “Champion Hill”, details to be revealed soon.