Now that Call of Duty: Warzone has finally launched as both a new mode for COD: Modern Warfare and its own free-to-play standalone title, players are starting to see what the game has to offer to set itself apart from the other big battle royale shooters out there. And while a bigger map and player count than the norm might be the first thing they notice, it shouldn’t take most long to spot the unique way Warzone handles one of the more mundane aspects of battle royale: reviving teammates.
Thanks to Apex Legends introducing the ability to revive fallen teammates, more and more battle royale games in the past year have added their own take on the concept, Warzone included. There are, in fact, multiple ways for players to revive teammates and themselves in Call of Duty: Warzone, but of these, it’s the Gulag that offers the most interesting spin on it.
It works like this: when a player is eliminated in a match for the first time, they aren’t left to wait for their teammates to revive them like normal. Instead, they are thrown into the Gulag, a confined Gunfight-esque map where they are randomly paired up against another fallen player and forced into a 1v1 shootout. Whoever loses is taken out permanently, unless their teammates can revive them, but whoever wins is immediately redeployed back into the match, dropping them right above their team’s location.
Fans of battle royale games will definitely find this a welcome addition, as it gives them more agency upon elimination. When this happens in games like Apex Legends and Fortnite, players are often left with no choice but wait for their teammates to head to a point where they can be revived (which can take several minutes depending on how far away the respawn point is) and hope that their team isn’t taken out before then.
But with the Gulag, players don’t have to wait around passively. Provided they can hold their own in a 1v1, they can actively get around the waiting game and back into the action as soon as possible. This is actually a pretty brilliant move on Infinity Ward’s part, as it allows players to maintain Call of Duty: Warzone’s high-speed pace even at a point in most battle royale situations where the action can be brought to a grinding halt for eliminated players.
It’s worth repeating, though, that this only applies to the first time players are eliminated. The Gulag system is there to serve as a way to give players a second chance, not to cover for them if they are taken out repeatedly. In short, they’ll have to still be careful how they play through Warzone’s battle royale if they want to avoid being forced to play the waiting game again.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.