Call of Duty: Vanguard preview — A return to the fictional past

Call Of Duty Vanguard Pacific Source: Activision

Phone call of Duty: Vanguard is going back to Earth War II, but that doesn't mean information technology'due south a story players have heard before.

It'due south a game that is "rooted in, simply not beholden to" history. The story is something of a realistic what-if, exploring what the origin of the first special forces task group would look similar as an effort of the Allies to stop a secret Nazi plot in the concluding stages of the war. Alongside this setting, the game features new tech that changes up the gameplay, with a team that is the fruits of an effort kickoff dorsum in 2022 to "rethink the studio for the future," per Sledgehammer Games COO Andy Wilson.

We recently got the gamble to attend a digital presentation on the upcoming title, with Sledgehammer Games providing a brief look at gameplay, while besides diving into the themes, engineering, and ideas powering this blockbuster title. Yet this isn't happening in a vacuum.

The stories in the wake of the recent Activision Blizzard lawsuit are "devastating." That's according to Sledgehammer Games Studio Head Aaron Halon, who notes that he and the rest of the developers at the presentation only can't speak on anything happening correct at present, just do desire to see every squad member treated with respect and that "harassment of any kind goes against what we represent as a studio."

After acknowledging how awkward it is to change topics, the talk most Phone call of Duty begins. Sledgehammer is out to make its boldest game withal, even as information technology acknowledges that going dorsum to Earth War II is hardly new basis. Call of Duty: Vanguard is about the biggest turning points and clashes of the war, but it's also more personal, reflecting the types of stories that emerged through individuals and their deportment.

Call of Duty: Vanguard covers a truly global war, with a global studio making it

Call Of Duty Vanguard Night Battle Source: Activision

World War II is admittedly "well-trodden" territory, per Game Director Josh Bridge, which is why the team is trying something unique. Span explains that dissimilar by titles that focused on select portions of the global war, Vanguard is meant to truly encompass a earth at war, with multiple points of view. To that terminate, the campaign and multiplayer takes players beyond every theater of combat: the Eastern Forepart, Western Front, Pacific, and fifty-fifty North Africa.

As part of making it a global game, Sledgehammer Games has go a global studio. Fifty-fifty with the ongoing pandemic and the rising of the juggernaut that is Warzone, Call of Duty isn't deviating from its yearly release schedule. Part of what makes that possible comes downwardly to the sheer workforce being thrown at it, with every unmarried studio at Activision now working on the Call of Duty brand.

World War Ii is admittedly "well-trodden" territory.

Sledgehammer Games has also greatly expanded. It's no longer just the base squad at Foster City; there's a new team in Commonwealth of australia of over 150 people, while a 3rd team has been opened in Toronto and is already in the "double-digits," says Wilson. Past recruiting a more diverse, global workforce, the squad feels meliorate equipped to tell a story regarding a state of war that affected the entire earth.

The press was shown a portion of one entrada level, which had paratroopers landing in France the 24-hour interval before D-Twenty-four hours. After a frantic opening, the tone is slower, with a focus on how the role player has limited ammo and is evading German forces at night. Every reload feels tense, and the clever use of shooting through floors and doors is necessary to survive. It features some peachy tense pacing. It's not clear how much of the game will accept this, but it's prissy to come across.

Historically fictitious birth of special forces

Call Of Duty Vanguard Petrova Source: Activision

Even with the historic setting, Sledgehammer is telling a decidedly fictitious story. The campaign examines the nascency of special forces, as the Allies put together a team of extroardinary fighters from across the diverse theaters of the conflict. They're not refined or used to working as Spec Ops, but are instead referred to every bit a "hammer instead of a scalpel," according to Bridge.

A g conflict requires a grand score, which is why Sledgehammer solicited the help of Bear McCreary, well-known for his work on God of State of war. McCreary'due south music focuses on modest notes, befitting the individual characters, ascent in grandeur and strength to reflect their role in a greater story as a whole.

Speaking of the characters, players will be setting pes in 4 pairs of boots across the singleplayer entrada, with every character direct inspired by someone from real history. For case, the design and idea behind Russian Polina Petrova draws directly from Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a famous Soviet sniper better known every bit Lady Death. Arthur Kingsley, Wade Jackson, and Lucas Riggs make upwardly the remaining playable bandage.

Their target is a fellow member of Nazi High Command, Heinrich Freisinger, who was inspired by Heinrich Mueller, the head of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. Freisinger is working on a fictional plot known as Project Phoenix. Afterwards the Centrolineal team is captured, they're interrogated, which seems to gear up the stage as a narrative device for understanding how they were all selected for this mission.

Multiplayer features new technology, with support from different teams

Call Of Duty Vanguard Petrova Alt Source: Activision

When it comes to multiplayer, Sledgehammer is going big. We're in a live service age, with smaller initial offerings in games and more content added over time. Players can expect 20 maps at launch, with 16 maps for archetype half dozen-versus-6 gameplay, while there are iv maps for ii-versus-2 modes. These maps are divided across the theaters of state of war featured in the campaign.

No matter what maps or modes you go for, players can set something called Gainsay Pacing, which alters the numbers of players on a per-map basis.

One big modify Sledgehammer touts is something the team refers to as Reactive Gameplay, which is a fancy manner of saying in that location's devastation physics. It doesn't mean players tin can level buildings, but when y'all shoot a door, you'll shoot through it. Shoot it enough and it'll fall autonomously. Props explode realistically and as the carnage continues, layers on a map are peeled back, revealing new sightlines and pathways.

When you shoot a door, you'll shoot through it. Shoot it enough and information technology'll fall apart.

We haven't been shown much gameplay footage, even so, so we'll definitely have to await and see but how well information technology all works in activity. In theory? It could be the development that Phone call of Duty gameplay needs.

As for the other multiplayer modes and tie-ins, Zombies is confirmed to return, with Treyarch handling development. It's set to exist a prequel to the Zombies style seen in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Meanwhile, Raven Software is working on a tie-in Warzone map, as well as a comprehensive anti-crook organisation, both of which are gear up to launch later this year.

There'south besides the new Champion Hill mode and while there aren't a lot of details nosotros can share at this time, Sledgehammer seems to indicate this is the premiere mode at launch, with players going solo or in small teams, facing off in tournament-manner gameplay. Sledgehammer Games too proudly notes that Vanguard is running on the latest version of the Modern Warfare (2019) engine, while the team is working directly with Infinity Ward to share engineering science and ideas.

Lesser line: What do we recall about Call of Duty: Vanguard?

Call Of Duty Vanguard Paratrooper Source: Activision

If you've truly been craving a return to World War II, this looks like it'll exist the game for yous. For a setting that video games, movies, and Goggle box take visited time and time again, Sledgehammer Games has a couple of neat ideas and nosotros're curious about how well fleshed-out the fictional nascency of special forces is. It's also nice that nosotros'll be visiting every theater of war, particularly the oft-ignored campaign in Africa. At the same time, it feels strange to draw and so heavily on real characters, instead of simply telling those stories. Volition it exist 1 of the best Xbox games bachelor? Fourth dimension will tell.

It's also worth reiterating the ongoing Activision Blizzard lawsuit and while steps have been taken, including several staff beingness fired such as the game director on Diablo 4, the work isn't over. We're hoping to come across proof of further change, so that developers can continue to brand the game they truly want to make.

Nosotros'll check in on all this later in the year, every bit Call of Duty: Vanguard is currently scheduled for a November. 5, 2022 release date. It'due south coming to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, PS5 and PS4.