Activision officially revealed Call of Duty: Blacks Ops Cold War today, giving fans of the first-person shooter franchise a glimpse into its campaign that follows players on a covert anti-soviet operation at the behest of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The game will release on current and next-generation consoles with cross-play and cross-progression, and mechanically players can expect a different experience than Modern Warfare, according to developers Treyarch and Raven Software.
In a "virtual briefing" with Call of Duty news site Charlie Intel, Treyarch Co-Head Dan Bunting said the team is using a new engine for Black Ops Cold War, one that "shares the 'underlying technology'" with Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare engine, but revamped with tools Treyarch has used since Black Ops 3. The technology it uses was created in 2015, according to Bunting, and is "intended to be scalable and broad to work on future platforms" like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
One key difference for this new engine is how it will handle lighting in a way to "push Call of Duty visual boundaries," according to Raven Software Lighting Director Alberto Noti. Black Ops Cold War is aiming to look vintage through location-specific color palettes, real-time lighting tech, and more immersive elements like fog, all without sacrificing photorealistic and visually-sharp "modern" graphics.
Though the developers have apparently been focusing on capturing the Cold War-era aesthetic in Black Ops Cold War, the single-player portion of the experience will also stand out by letting players customize their character's name, gender, background, and more. This part of the game will serve as a direct sequel to 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops with returning characters such as Frank Woods and Jason Hudson.
The campaign's story is being primarily handled by Raven Software, which has worked on DLC for the Call of Duty series since being acquired by Activision in 1997. A number of other Activision studios; including Beenox, High Noon Studios, and Sledgehammer Games; are also assisting Raven Software and Treyarch.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's multiplayer mode, being handled by Treyarch, will be revealed on September 9. Between that and the single-player campaign showed off today, players should have a good idea what this new engine used for the game will be capable of on current and next-gen consoles.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War launches November 13 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.
Sources: Charlie Intel, Variety