Call of Duty: Warzone is about to get its biggest update in years with the arrival of an all-new mode: Black Ops Royale. Inspired by the fan-favorite Blackout of Black Ops 4, this addition is intended to breathe new life into the free-to-play title.
"It's been a little stagnant," explained Warzone game director Pete Actipis in a briefing seen by TechRadar Gaming. "What we wanted to do is make sure, from the ground up, that this mode would have a very different flow to it."
To do this, the development team has been "embracing" the "Black Ops and Blackout experience" while still offering a "brand-new" big map for players to explore, he said.
This was reiterated by Black Ops Senior Director of Production Yale Miller, who described the mode as "a bold new take on battle royale."
New tricks
The mode takes place in a version of the Avalon map from Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's co-op campaign and Endgame modes that has been modified based on feedback from the community. One of the biggest changes is the addition of considerably more land, reducing the amount of water that players will need to traverse in order to get around the map.
This change adds new areas to discover and will be exclusive to Black Ops Royale. The map will be altered even further come the launch of Season 3, with a few tweaks to add even more walkable areas.
Although underpinned by the same last-squad-standing formula of traditional Warzone modes, Black Ops Royale still has its fair share of unique gameplay mechanics to set it apart. Core systems from Blackout, like armor upgrades and the trauma kit consumable item, return with unfamiliar twists, with the kit now providing buffs in addition to healing.
Unlike the iconic Gulag of Warzone, defeated players will be able to redeploy via consumable tokens or with a teammate's visit one of the many redeploy towers littered around the map. These present a careful balance of risk and reward, generating significant amounts of noise that reveals your location to those nearby.
With an in-depth weapon rarity system that has five color-coded tiers with varied attachments and core stats, there are plenty of activities in Avalon that you can complete to get kitted out with good gear. Finding surprise shipments, busting locked strongboxes, or taking out roaming surveillance drones (all mechanics clearly drawn from Endgame) offers bonus loot.
Individual pickups aren't shared across your squad either, so a full team of players will need to pursue multiple activities to ensure everyone has the best possible loadouts.
Two cradle breach events start to kick off in the middle of the match, flooding areas with Black Ops 7's toxic red gas and spawning waves of zombie foes. Venturing in gives you the best shot at the rarest gear - but powerful enemies, not to mention other competing squads, should be expected.
Other major mechanics include the introduction of consumable perks, temporary buffs that replace the usual permanent perk system and do everything from increasing your looting abilities to enhancing your close-quarters combat effectiveness.
With a range of Operator Orders, a spiritual successor to Blackout's character unlock missions, to discover with special rewards including camos and blueprints, I'm certainly eager to dive in.
The mode launches today at 9pm PT or tomorrow on March 13 at 12am ET for those on the East Coast. You can play Call of Duty: Warzone for free on PC, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.
