Treyarch has officially revealed Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War as the next annual title in the first person shooter series. Going back to a setting first explored in 2010, the game will also revisit a major conflict post-WW2 and decades across the 20th century during tense diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Russia.
According to IGN, its teaser trailer showed tons of historical footage from the setting, which was voiced over by former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov who outlined steps to destabilizing a global superpower. This included elements of espionage, including the infiltration of a government and taking down its infrastructures. Black Ops: Cold War suggests this will be a Soviet enemy with the codename “PERSEUS,” who has been embedded in U.S. intelligence.
Players could be working to find out who Perseus is, while footage of the White House suggests Washington, D.C. as one of its campaign levels. Along Perseus’ mission to “subvert the U.S. to ensure Soviet dominance in the arms race,” players could likely be tracking leads across the U.S. and in parts of Russia and conduct clandestine black operations. This would also include a new or familiar squad in the form of Alex Mason, Jason Hudson or Frank Woods from the original Black Ops games, as previously rumored.
Further war footage showed U.S. troops during the Vietnam War – a conflict which was touched on by the original Black Ops game and a setting players could be going back to under a next-generation filter. This would include gritter battle scenes, highly-detailed jungles and possibly an open-ended map that makes campaign missions more expansive and choice-driven. Knowing Treyarch’s consistent Black Ops Zombies mode, it’s likely to make a return alongside the single player story and core multiplayer components. The Zombies lore could also see some new connections with a cast of notable characters for easter eggs.
The game was heavily teased and leaked earlier in 2020, as the name and logo were found across various development dumps of the game. The title was also repeatedly seen be insiders and leakers who continued to cite Black Ops Cold War until today’s trailer confirmed it.
Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War is having a worldwide reveal on August 26, 2020.