The successful launch ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6has been a breath of fresh air for the longstanding franchise, with the game doing well to meet a lot of the lofty expectations that were being placed on its modes prior to release. Of the Zombies, campaign, and core multiplayer experiences of the title, it was its Zombies mode that arguably had the most work to do, with the mode having gone through a lot of divisive identity changes in recent years.
The two launch Zombies maps ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6have done extremely well to kick things off positively for the mode’s latest iteration, offering an early range of enclosed and wide-spanning experiences. While the progression opportunities, Easter eggs, rewards, and maps ofBlack Ops 6’s Zombies have worked well to provide an enjoyable start, though, the next steps for Zombies will still be absolutely crucial. While a new map is slated to come to Zombies as a part ofBlack Ops 6’s first in-game season, the pace of the mode’s fresh content is expected to slow in the coming months, and Treyarch may need to pull out all the stops to maintain the positive buzz surrounding Zombies during this down-time.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies Needs a Solid Plan For Season 2 and Beyond
The Zombies experience has grown to become a staple of the widerCall of Dutyfranchise, particularly the titles that are developed by Treyarch, with the mode first coming to the IP all the way back in 2008 with the release ofWorld at War. The tense and varied survival gameplay of Zombies has proved a hit for the franchise ever since, although more recent iterations of the mode have moved away from these traditional mechanics and premises.
For example,Cold Warintroduced the Outbreak Zombies gameplay approach, which did away with round-based experiences in favor of open-world exploration, with this general framework being echoed in more recent releases likeModern Warfare 3. This has proven to be quite a divisive change within the Zombies community ever since, with many fans hoping for a return to tradition inBlack Ops 6’s Zombies prior to launch.
Treyarch delivered on these hopes with thetwo launch Zombies maps forBlack Ops 6, Liberty Falls and Terminus, with both experiences reverting to the classic round-based approach while being jam-packed with Easter eggs for players to delve into. While Liberty Falls is a more close-quarters experience, Terminus offers a good blend of exploration while maintaining the claustrophobia of classic Zombies, offering a blend of gameplay that has seenBlack Ops 6’s Zombies be quite well-received so far. However, maps like these take time to develop, andCall of Duty’s seasons change after only a few months.
Black Ops 6 Zombies' In-Between Content Will Be Just as Important as its Brand-New Maps
Though the variety is set to continue withBlack Ops 6’s Season 1 Reloaded update, which is slated toadd the Citadelle Des Morts map to Zombies, it seems likely that this pace cannot continue based on previous games' post-launch formulas, as a new Zombies map for each in-game season seems like quite a stretch of realistic expectations. This may mean thatBlack Ops 6’s Zombies goes some time before a new map is released following Citadelle Des Morts, and this lull needs to be supplemented with fresh content to keep fans engaged.
Whileplayers can still work on researching Augmentsor completing Easter eggs during this down-time, Treyarch would do well to perhaps add community-wide challenges tied to things like global Zombies eliminations, with rewards coming in the way of unique operator and even Wonder Weapon skins. Limited-time modes akin to the Turned experience ofBlack Ops 2could also be an excellent way to fill this stop-gap, as would small segments of larger maps that function as the Survival areans from TranZit. Hopefully, Treyarch will find ways to keep players engaged with Zombies during the periods where no new map is being released, as it would be disappointing to see the latest iteration of Zombies lose momentum.
