The first extended look at Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies is here. In a detailed interview with Treyarch’s principle zombies developers, we learned a lot more about the upcoming and beloved undead-slaying mode. The new launch map will be called Der Anfang. Excitingly, CoD Vanguard zombies will continue the Dark Aether storyline, last seen in Black Ops: Cold War.
CoD Vanguard Zombies Crossover Explained
Yes, while Vanguard‘s single-player and multiplayer are developed by Sledgehammer Games, the Zombies portion is in Treyarch’s hands. They’re the studio who created the mode in 2008’s World at War. However, it’s the first time they’ve collaborated with a different Call of Duty studio to bring their mode to a separate mini-series within the franchise.
The new information comes from the official Call of Duty website. We learn that the time-hopping events of Black Ops: Cold War directly play into Vanguard. A time loop opened following a cataclysmic event in the previous game’s Die Maschine map. From that, the evil Oberführer Von List managed to bond with Dark Aether energy. Him and his soldiers were granted the power to bring back the dead – hence where the zombies come from.
In Vanguard, you play as a group of special service agents. They’ve been trapped by a Dark Aether lord called Kortifex. In this alternate dimension, real-life settings have a zombified twist, as they fight to escape this mystical realm. Expect more horror and sci-fi influence than ever before. Of course, there will still be the classic zombies gameplay, though new objective-based quests are here, too. They’ll grant more longevity to the mode, as you strive to complete them all in one playthrough.
Most excitingly, it’s the first time the Zombies franchise has crossed over between separate Call of Duty properties. Previous Zombies spin-offs, like that seen in 2014’s Advanced Warfare, were detached from the mainline continuity. That isn’t the case with Vanguard – and as such, this is a Zombies mode with a lot more at stake. It’ll push the overarching story forward, and provide plenty of challenge while it does it.
