Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is unveiling new details about its highly anticipated open-world Zombies Outbreak mode. The first of its kind, Outbreak is designed to throw the traditional boxed-in, round-based format of the regular Zombies mode mostly out the window.

Developer Treyarch's fifth entry in its Black Ops series launched back on November 13, 2020. The game has since been met with a fairly positive reception, with some players praising its innovative campaign, while others are critical of ongoing gameplay issues. While the franchise does usually harbor its fair share of critics, Call of Duty is as successful as its ever been, with Black Ops Cold War now one of the best-selling games of all time.

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Initially confirmed in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's Season 2 gameplay trailer, Outbreak is being touted as a "massive new Zombies experience," where squads of up to four Operators will be tasked with various objectives across multiple regions of Russia's Ural Mountains. Titled "Operation Threshold," the Outbreak mode directly follows the events of Die Maschine and Firebase Z, in which Requiem discovers the Russian mountains may hold the answers to the Dark Aether's power. The biggest fundamental difference between Outbreak and traditional Zombies is the fact that there are no set paths to and from objectives, which can take one of five forms:

• Defend: Players must claim a fully intact zombie sample, place it into the genetic code machine, and defend the device while it uploads the data.
• Escort: Players must escort and protect a Dark Aether-detecting rover as it finds dimensional portals around the map.
• Retrieve: There are two Aether harvesting units that need their canisters extracted to a safe zone via a set of rockets. Players will need to manually carry these canisters from the harvesters to the rockets, which not only disables weapons and equipment, but slows the carrier down. However, the carrier can make use of an Aether energy burst Field Upgrade, which knocks down nearby zombies.
• Eliminate: The exact locations of HVTs (high value targets) are revealed. Players have one of two options when taking down the elite enemies; either avoid the HVT long enough to clear the ensuing zombie wave, or damage it enough to force it into the next wave, which will wipe out the current one.
• Holdout: In a premise most Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War players will find familiar, a massive, unstable Aether crystal sends players into the Dark Aether. There, players must survive in a confined space with repairable windows for an allotted time

After successfully completing one of the objectives, players must then locate a beacon that, upon activation, gives them several useful machines, and one of two choices: Exfil or take a portal to another region in the Ural Mountains. The first option functions how the regular Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies Exfil does, but the second is where it gets interesting. Should players opt to keep going, they'll be transported to another region in the Ural Mountains for another objective, where reward quality and zombie lethality both increase.

Along with the new Outbreak mode, Black Ops Cold War's Season 2 introduces Refined and Flawless Aetherium Crystals. Used to upgrade Skills to a respective fourth and fifth tier, the new resource will require extensive research from Outbreak players. However, the new crystals can also appear in traditional Zombies following the start of the new season. Info on exactly what those tiers do is expected in the coming days.

The official Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War blog alludes that there is more content to come for Outbreak, so gamers will want to keep their eyes peeled for any further incoming intel. While Black Ops Cold War continues to be one of the most successful in the Call of Duty franchise, there are a sizable amount of players who prefer the Infinity Ward-developed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. While the 2019 title hasn't held the spotlight for quite some time, diehard fans will be pleased to know that details have leaked online for Modern Warfare Season 7.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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Source: Call of Duty