The Call of Duty franchise has a long and storied history with Easter Eggs. Particularly that of the series' Zombies mode, Easter eggs have become increasingly complex and difficult, with completing the task seen as the true way to "beat" a Zombies map. Fortunately, in the case of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, there's at least one Easter egg that doesn't require the usual hours-long investment.

Developer Treyarch's fifth entry in its Black Ops series launched back on November 13, 2020. Although 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. After adding the all-new Outbreak mode, Black Ops Cold War Season 2 is changing up the Zombies meta by introducing additional Skill tiers and, by the looks of it, a throwback Easter egg.

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Outbreak Dragon Easter Egg

While the traditional Zombies maps' Die Maschine and Firebase Z Easter eggs each come with their own set of convoluted steps, this particular Easter egg is fairly overt and straightforward. First off, players will want to start a game in Outbreak mode. Once the match officially starts, players will want to open up their map and locate a dragon symbol, reminiscent of the Mortal Kombat logo. Get to wherever the logo is located, and assuming at least one person has 500 points, activate it. Doing so will cause a purple ring to form, which players will need to kill enough zombies inside of to fill the Aether canisters that pop up. Once the canisters are filled the dragon will take off into the sky, leaving players with a rare loot chest as a reward. To recap:

  • Start a game of Outbreak
  • Once the game officially starts, open the map
  • Look for the Dragon symbol that resembles the Mortal Kombat logo
  • Get to the location and pay 500 points to activate the machine
  • Kill Zombies inside of the purple ring that appears
  • Repeat the process enough times to fill the canisters
  • The Dragon will take off into the sky, spawning a rare loot chest
black ops cold war outbreak dragon easter egg guide

A Callback to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

For those who haven't drawn the comparison, the Dragon is a reference to the Der Eisendrache Easter egg from Black Ops 3, where several of the mythical creature's heads were integral in completing the level. It should be noted that the Dragon Easter egg isn't Outbreak's main one, with Black Ops Cold War developers confirming that the mode's main Easter egg will be arriving with the start of Season 3. In the meantime, players can continue scouring the Ural Mountains for more secrets like the Dragon.

As the content within Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War continues to grow, so does its file size. The game's file size has grown to inarguably colossal levels, to the point where a former Call of Duty developer called out the game's install size for taking up more than an entire 500GB PS4 can handle. If Outbreak's main Easter egg is at all as prolific as Zombies players have come to expect, they might need an entire dedicated console solely for the experience.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's Outbreak blows the doors off the longstanding conventions of what Zombies mode can be, but only time will tell if the open-world version resonates with gamers in the long run.

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: Charlie Intel