Game Updates

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Treyarch is going back-to-back with Black Ops releases. The new game brings a futuristic setting for multiplayer, the largest round-based Zombies map ever, and a new Resurgence map for Warzone called Haven’s Hollow. GameSpot went hands-on with Black Ops 7 during Call of Duty: Next, and while the jump into the future does enough to distinguish the multiplayer from last year’s offering, and the latest iteration of Zombies creates a new experience, Warzone’s upcoming integration currently falls flat for Black Ops 7.

Futuristic and refined multiplayer

I’ve always believed that Call of Duty was at its best with a rotating developer cycle. I liked flip-flopping between developers and the different series within Call of Duty. Going from Modern Warfare to Black Ops was refreshing because the different teams each introduced different styles, modes, and features to their takes on the game, lessening the yearly “CoD fatigue.”

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Now Playing: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | Multiplayer Gameplay Reveal Trailer

So, with another Black Ops title coming so soon, my biggest concern was how Treyarch would make Black Ops 7 feel fresh enough. I didn’t want another year that felt like more of the exact same, because we already lived through that with back-to-back Modern Warfare titles. Thankfully, I can happily report that Black Ops 7 does enough to remain an invigorating multiplayer experience.

Taking Black Ops out of the ’90s of last year’s entry and into the year 2035 does a lot to change how multiplayer feels. Treyarch leans into the tech of this future, providing more interesting scorestreaks such as the dog-like robot called the D.A.W.G. and the Rhino, which is a robotic take on Call of Duty’s juggernaut enemy type from previous games.

Loadouts can also be equipped with other tech and gadgets from the future to further differentiate Black Ops 7 from its predecessor. There are field upgrades that let you launch drones, temporarily cloak yourself, and even place decoy holograms of your operator to trick your enemy. These aren’t new mechanics in Call of Duty, but we haven’t seen equipment like this since the days of the high-tech jetpack games, and they add immersion to Black Ops 7’s futuristic warfare.

Treyarch also enhanced the omnimovement system introduced in Black Ops 6, making the movement faster, more fluid, and oftentimes flashier. The team removed the tactical sprint (you now need a specific perk to use it), increased the base movement speed, and added a wall jump. On paper, these changes to omnimovement seem minimal, but the adjustments do feel impactful. Wall jumps can be chained together, and these hops can be used to reach windows and other areas not previously accessible in boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty games.

During my hands-on time, I was able to perform a few fancy wall jumps where I could tap the wall, giving me extra height, and then spin around in the air to catch an opponent off guard. I could also toss a stun grenade into a window to daze a sniper, and then wall jump high enough to reach and eliminate them, which is a play the previous game’s movement didn’t allow for. I’m not super savvy with advanced movement, so there will be players who perform much more impressive plays, but it does give you more options on how you approach areas of the maps, as well as your gunfights. This also may or may not sound like a huge feature to some, but fundamentally impacting the moment-to-moment gameplay in this way can really freshen things up for Black Ops 7.

The maps I played were also large enough to give space for pulling off these over-the-top action moves. One complaint I ended up having in Black Ops 6 was that most of the maps were on the smaller side, with a focus on chaotic and in-your-face action, but the Black Ops 7 maps we played gave me much more room to breathe. These aren’t huge designs, but they are all medium-sized Call of Duty maps.

In an interview with Treyarch associate design director Matt Scronce, and senior director of production Yale Miller, the developers explained how this year’s maps were meant to feel more like classic maps inspired by Black Ops 2.

“The big things we talk about with map design are being fair and fun,” Miller said. “It’s also because this is a spiritual successor to Black Ops 2, so it’s really leaning into those core beliefs on three-lane maps. Each lane needs a really clear purpose. If one side has a power position, there should probably also be a power position on the other side.”

Forge was easily my favorite multiplayer map. We played Domination on Forge, which is set at a Guild research and development center. There are two large wings of the facility to fight indoors, and the B flag for Domination is located outside at the center hub of the map. Uniquely, the B flag is surrounded by sections of cover that continuously rotate around the point. This center hub provided a lot of interesting opportunities while fighting for B. Sometimes the rotating cover would move at just the right time to expose an enemy, while other times it would catch me off-guard and leave me vulnerable. There are also exterior building walls that curve around this center hub, giving plenty of opportunity for those flashy wall-jump plays.

Forge was also the map the developers said proved to be most challenging.

“Not from a sheer design point, but just everything that went into it,” Miller said. “There is rotating cover, and like, how is that going to work?”

The map is also complicated from a technical standpoint, he said.

“There’s a lot of glass. Glass canopies and other stuff,” Miller explained. “To make the map look right when light is coming through the glass, you need reflection and refraction, so it drops a little bit of shade.”

Scronce and Miller also confirmed that last year’s training grounds would return in Black Ops 7 to give you a safe place to practice the game’s updated omnimovement. Black Ops 7’s training takes place on Forge, and the map’s design makes a great location to practice wall jumps and other moves, as this was the map that provided me the most real estate and opportunity for performing these actions.

There is also an intelligent movement setting in Black Ops 7 that helps you with the wall jump.

“It’s listed as a wall jump assist in your movement settings,” Scronce said. “Then, you can jump at the wall, and it will wall jump for you.”

This, combined with the practice map, should help players like me improve their movement skills.

Most of the standard Call of Duty weapons, perks, and attachments remain in Black Ops 7, so it was the map design, refined movement, and future tech that sold the multiplayer for me. I had a blast wall-jumping and launching drones into the air, and I look forward to trying out the rest of the map pool at launch.

The Wonder Vehicle changes the Zombies experience

Black Ops 7 introduces Ashes of the Damned, the largest round-based Zombies map ever, but this time the design is more road-like than that of a standard map. It’s inspired by Black Ops 2’s Tranzit and features a figure-eight layout with separate chunks of map locations that are all connected by dangerous stretches of road. In Tranzit, you navigated the roads via a bus that would continuously loop around the map, but Ashes of the Damned puts you in the driver seat of Ol’ Tessie, the map’s new Wonder Vehicle. Tessie is an old junker of a truck that you gain access to at the start of your match, and you can drive and upgrade the vehicle on your journey.

Design director Kevin Drew and lead game designer Steve Bianchi explained that Ashes of the Damned was specifically designed around Tessie.

“We created it around the vehicle,” Bianchi said. “The scale of the map matches having a vehicle as a core element to the map. It’s the fifth member of your squad.

“The fog and the roads between are treacherous to travel, so we wanted those to be very streamlined but also really cool for the vehicle to travel,” Bianchi continued.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – Ashes of the Damned Zombies Cinematic Trailer

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In my short time with Zombies, I did get to ride around in Tessie, and it was very satisfying to run over the hordes of zombies in my path. I didn’t get to experience the full upgrades available, but I did get to the portion of the map where you can upgrade the vehicle to include a Pack-a-Punch machine. That’s right: The truck becomes a moving Pack-a-Punch machine, and you can upgrade your weapons on the fly.

If you decide to take the roads on foot, you’re met with a fast-moving enemy type called Ravengers. These creatures swarm you and make it difficult to proceed, so it’s a lot safer to travel with Tessie. It also made for awkward and tense moments when our vehicle was destroyed while traversing these roads. Enemies and crashes can cause enough damage to disable the Wonder Vehicle, and while Treyarch told us there was a way to repair Tessie, we didn’t figure that part out.

Like other Zombies maps, Ashes of the Damned features a main storyline quest, a unique Wonder Weapon, and plenty of mysteries to uncover. Features like Wall Buys, GobbleGums, and the iconic Mystery Box return. I also appreciate that Treyarch isn’t drip-feeding the perks to us this year. Black Ops 6 started with a small selection, and each seasonal update expanded the list of perks. Black Ops 7 includes all the perks available in Black Ops 6 and introduces a new perk called Wisp Tea. I didn’t get to try this perk out for myself, but it spawns a spectral orb-like protector to help you fight off zombies.

In addition to being the largest round-based map, Ashes of the Damned also includes the largest cast yet. The map features eight playable characters: the crew of four from Black Ops 6, as well as the iconic cast of Takeo, Dempsey, Nikolai, and Richtofen. You can mix and match any of these characters for up to four-player co-op. They all have unique voice lines, and Drew said some dialogue will depend on which characters are included in your party. Much of the character dialogue was blocked from our hands-on session, as Treyarch wanted to preserve the story elements for the full launch, but I am excited to see where Tessie and this new story will take me in Black Ops 7.

Warzone lacks meaningful changes

Black Ops 7 will integrate with Warzone during Season 1. A date hasn’t been confirmed for this first post-launch update, but the content will include map changes for Verdansk and a new Resurgence map called Haven’s Hollow.

Due to the popularity of Verdansk, I’m not surprised the developer is bringing it back as Warzone’s big map battle royale. However, I am surprised by how uninspiring the map’s changes proved to be in our hands-on session.

The Season 1 update will add two POIs: Factory and Signal Station. Factory is a large factory-style building next to Superstore, and it’s a very forgettable location. Signal Station is a little more interesting as it offers objectives you can complete in order to get rewarded with extra intel. Completing the objectives will upgrade your Tac Map to reveal enemy density for a portion of the map. The Tac Map will highlight quadrants in orange or red based on how populated those areas are. Intel is always handy, and maybe this will become a hot spot for players, but ultimately my time on this version of Verdansk played the same as any other match pre-integration.

The season’s new map is a smaller one for Resurgence. Haven’s Hollow is set in the same town as Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode. Of course, this version of Liberty Falls is designed pre-outbreak, meaning there are no Zombies elements or destruction here; this is just a quaint West Virginia town. It does include the church, bowling alley, bank, and other major points of interest, but the playable area also extends beyond the areas within the Zombies maps.

Haven’s Hollow is a vibrant map, and it’s filled with rich color not often seen in a Warzone map. I do appreciate the effort to make this map easy on the eyes, and I wish other maps had been this colorful, but unfortunately, it’s not a memorable location to fight for a victory royale. Liberty Falls was the least interesting of all the Zombies maps, and when you take away the Zombies elements, it feels even truer for Warzone . A boring ’90s version of West Virginia feels like another missed opportunity to do something futuristic and fitting of the Black Ops 7 theme. Of course, this was just my initial impression after a few matches on Haven’s Hollow, so maybe this map will grow on me with time, but it lacks any initial wow factor.

It would’ve been nice to see a futuristic new map or an upgraded version of Verdansk with new lighting and robots to fit the Black Ops 7 theme. Warzone’s yearly integration with a new title usually brings something new or fresh-feeling, but this is definitely the battle royale’s most uninspiring yearly update yet.

Treyarch did announce the return of Black Ops 4’s popular Blackout battle royale mode on the Avalon map. This new Blackout battle royale experience won’t arrive until sometime in Spring 2026, and we didn’t get to play or learn any details about the mode at Call of Duty: Next. While Warzone is leaving me disappointed and wanting a whole lot more, I am excited to see what the return of Blackout looks like in Black Ops 7. I just hate that we’ll be waiting long after launch to play it.

Final thoughts

Warzone really missed the mark with uninspired maps, and it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Fans like myself will likely need to wait until the springtime to get any major or impactful changes to battle royale, and that is a huge disappointment for the yearly integration. However, multiplayer and Zombies content make me excited for the full launch of Black Ops 7. Redefined omnimovement makes the game even more satisfying to play, and if the rest of the maps have the same quality as the ones I sampled at Call of Duty: Next, it can be another enjoyable and action-filled year for Black Ops.

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