Call of Duty: Vanguard

Vanguard's campaign features similar gameplay mechanics previously introduced in Modern Warfare, such as the player being able to mount wielded weapons to flat surfaces, interact with doors and execute takedowns. New gameplay features allow the player the ability to use a more advanced tactical approach in combat such as blind firing from behind cover, breaking through destructible environmental elements or creating new paths to complete objectives by climbing walls.[10][11]

Vanguard's multiplayer mode has 20 total maps, 16 of which are featured for core game modes, while the other 4 are for a new game mode titled "Champion Hill", stated to be the next iteration of Gunfight, a 2v2 arena mode previously featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The main goal of Champion Hill is, whether you play Solos (1v1), Duos (2v2) or Trios (3v3), is to survive as long as it takes to be the last man standing in a squad-based deathmatch, round-robin tournament where players combine strategy and tactics in a close-quarter, fast-paced gunplay. All eight squads share a pool of 12 lives (or 18 in Trios) between squadmates one by one, while simultaneously battling with each other across 4 maps specifically designed for this game mode. Once the lives are expended, the game is over and the last squad with remaining lives wins the tournament. Although every player starts with the same loadout and equipment, Buy Rounds "make the combat preparation more exciting" as during these rounds, in order to accommodate different playstyles, players can purchase more effective weapons, lethal, tactical gear and also perks with the available in-game currency acquired throughout the matches.[12][13]

For the first time in Call of Duty franchise, the feature "Combat Pacing" is introduced to Vanguard's multiplayer matchmaking, which allows the player to have more control over the intensity and density of core multiplayer game modes. Players can choose from three pre-defined pacing filters (Tactical, Assault and Blitz) favouring different playstyles in order to tailor the multiplayer gameplay experience. These preferences can also be mixed by selecting the "All" pacing option in the Quick Play menu. "Tactical" pacing offers a classic Call of Duty experience with traditional combat timing in a 6v6 lobby. "Assault" pacing on the other hand increases the lobby to 10v10 or 12v12 with a balanced, more action-packed combat throughout the maps. Lastly, the "Blitz" pacing offers the 24v24 player count, high-action lobbies with similar combat experience like Modern Warfare's Ground War mode. Every combat pacing variations can be played on each of Vanguard's multiplayer maps.[14]

In addition to the Gunsmith system returning in a more advanced form, Vanguard multiplayer also features a so-called "Caliber system" which brings immersive elements of destructible and reactive environment to its maps. Yet the newly introduced blind fire gameplay mechanics which allows the player to shoot around corners blindly is also able in the multiplayer mode. Vanguard is also the first Call of Duty title to feature Ricochet Anti-Cheat, a proprietary anti-cheat system using a combination of server-side protection and a kernel-level driver. As with Cold War, Vanguard will integrate with Call of Duty: Warzone, allowing players to progress and use weapons, operators and other cosmetics items across both titles, in addition to the existing Modern Warfare and Cold War items in Warzone.[15][16] Like the previous main installments of the Call of Duty franchise since 2019, Vanguard's multiplayer is also fully cross-platform play compatible with a support for cross-generation gaming regarding eighth and ninth generation home video game consoles.[17]

The cooperative Zombies mode returns in Vanguard, developed by Treyarch in collaboration with Sledgehammer Games. The mode is considered an expansion of the Dark Aether story, and acts as a prologue to Black Ops Cold War's story.[18] At launch, the game features a new gamemode titled "Der Anfang" which combines aspects of round-based survival gameplay with the objective-based gameplay of Outbreak and Onslaught, both new gamemodes introduced in Cold War. Gameplay elements from Cold War return in Vanguard, such as Essence and Salvage as currencies, and Dark Aether-powered field upgrades, in addition to classic Zombies gameplay items like perks and the Pack-a-Punch machine. A new gameplay feature, the Altar of Covenants, grants players randomized buffs in every match, allowing a variety in combat builds.[19] Post-launch updates for Zombies are slated to feature additional objectives for Der Anfang, as well as a main quest for story progression, as well as new Covenants and field upgrades.

NOTE: The story of Vanguard is told throughout various points in time in a non-chronological order.

In August 1941, 2nd Lieutenant Lucas Riggs is stationed at Tobruk, Libya as part of the Australian-led Rats of Tobruk garrison. After a failed ambush attempt against a German convoy, Riggs is assigned to recover supplies for the British Army, alongside fellow Rat Private Desmond "Des" Wilmot and British Lieutenant Richard Jacobs. Riggs, Des and Jacobs manage to find intelligence relating to General Erwin Rommel, and destroy a German depot in the process, but they were detained by Major Henry Hamms for insubordination. In 1942, during the Second Battle of El Alamein, Riggs and the Rats are ordered by Hamms to form a defensive line, but Riggs disobeys the command and tries to retake a hill and call in bomber support with Des supporting him. The two of them succeed, though Des is killed in action. Angered by the disregard for the Rats' contribution to the fight, Riggs punches Hamms out of frustration, resulting in him facing prison time.

In June 1942, United States Navy pilot Lieutenant Wade Jackson participates in the Battle of Midway alongside his tail gunner, Aviation Machinist's Mate Mateo Hernandez. In November 1943, while assaulting the Imperial Japanese Army in Bougainville, Jackson and Hernandez's plane is shot down, and the two are captured by IJA soldiers. They are rescued by the 93rd Infantry Division, who later help them acquire an Imperial Japanese Navy Aichi D3A to assist the division in reclaiming the island.

In August 1942, Red Army nurse Polina Petrova witnesses the Germans invade Stalingrad. She fails to save her father Boris from being executed by enemy troops, but is able to escape with her brother Misha and several Soviet partisans. Petrova eventually acquires the nickname "Lady Nightingale" as she pursues Leo Steiner, the Wehrmacht commander responsible for the invasion. In January 1943, Petrova and Misha attempt to assassinate Steiner in Stalingrad, but Misha is severely wounded. He sacrifices himself to buy Petrova time to escape. Petrova eventually confronts Steiner and kills him and his personal army, inspiring the citizens of Stalingrad to reclaim the city from the Nazis. She then sets her sight on Steiner's superior, Hermann Freisinger.

In June 1944, British paratrooper Sergeant Arthur Kingsley takes part in Operation Tonga, where he and the Parachute Regiment help destroy the Merville Gun Battery and several other bridges to assist the Allied forces in invading Normandy. Kingsley befriends fellow paratrooper Sergeant Richard Webb, who would later become Kingsley's right-hand man.

Kingsley, Webb, Petrova, Jackson and Riggs, alongside a sixth soldier named Milos Novak, would eventually be recruited by Captain Carver Butcher to form the first special operations task force, callsign Vanguard.[lower-alpha 3] Kingsley is appointed as the leader of the task force. In April 1945, Task Force Vanguard hijacks a train to Hamburg, Germany, in search of intelligence regarding Project Phoenix, a secret Nazi program run by Freisinger. While infiltrating a Kriegsmarine submarine, the squad is captured by Freisinger's men, minus Jackson who evaded them, and Novak who is bludgeoned to death by Freisinger. Vanguard is delivered to the Gestapo headquarters in Berlin, where Freisinger appoints Schutzstaffel officer Jannick Richter to interrogate them. Jackson is also captured after attempting to steal a plane; Richter demoralizes the squad by executing Webb.

Being unaware of Project Phoenix's purpose and Freisinger's involvement, Richter attempts to learn more by interrogating Petrova and Riggs about Steiner and Rommel's connection to Freisinger. He deduces that the project was a coup attempt, in order to appoint Freisinger as the new Führer of the Fourth Reich. As Berlin falls under siege by the Red Army following Adolf Hitler's suicide, Riggs breaks out of interrogation and frees the squad, while Kingsley kills Richter to avenge Webb. Vanguard pursues Freisinger to the airport, where they finally apprehend him and burn him alive. The four then board Freisinger's Luftwaffe plane, discovering numerous German documents and assets, revealing global Nazi covert operations. Kingsley decides to follow up on Project Aggregat, a secret V2 rocket facility, and orders Jackson to fly there in pursuit.

Following Vanguard's success in Berlin, Kingsley, Petrova, Riggs and Jackson are tasked with leading new task forces of their own, with Butcher overseeing Operation Vulcan, a top-secret Special Operations Executive mission to hunt down Axis soldiers and scientists who fled to the South Pacific. Butcher deploys with Task Force Trident to Caldera Island, but their plane is shot down by anti-air, leaving the three Trident members stranded from Butcher. As the task force attempts to navigate the island, Butcher stumbles upon the entrance to a Nazi bunker at the beach where he crash-landed.

In March 1944, following the activation of the cyclotron in Projekt Endstation by the Nazis in Morasko, Poland[lower-alpha 4], various ancient artifacts recovered by the SS unit Die Wahrheit are activated, allowing several entities from the Dark Aether dimension to reach out to the real world. One such entity, Kortifex the Deathless, forms a symbiotic bond with Oberführer Wolfram Von List, Die Wahrheit's commander, and bestows him the power to resurrect the dead. A team of special force operators responds to an emergency broadcast from Professor Gabriel Krafft, a demonologist forced to work for Von List, and is drafted into a new battle against Von List and Kortifex's undead army. Krafft assists the task force in battling the undead, by also supplying them with Dark Aether artifacts which allow them to form bonds with four other Dark Aether entities: Saraxis the Shadow, Inviktor the Destroyer, Norticus the Conqueror and Bellekar the Warlock, all of whom wish to thwart Kortifex's plan.

In August 2021, some insider sources began to leak information about Vanguard prior to its official reveal, including its editions and reveal trailer content. The Call of Duty social media accounts acknowledged this leak in a "humorous" fashion, and proceeded to tease the game's reveal. Around the same time, the first teaser for Vanguard went live within Call of Duty: Warzone, where winning players in any given Battle Royale matches may be sniped from afar by Vanguard protagonist Polina Petrova during the extraction cutscene. A week after, the title of the game was announced, alongside a reveal event taking place in Warzone. Players got to participate in a limited-time game mode titled "The Battle of Verdansk" where every player works together to take down a train, before attempting to escape as WW2-era planes drop bombs on them. The reveal trailer was played at the end of the event, before being posted publicly on YouTube and other social media websites.

On August 25, during Gamescom, Sledgehammer Games revealed the first extended playthrough of Vanguard's campaign missions set in the Eastern Front called "Stalingrad Summer". This mission gives an insight regarding the initial invasion of Stalingrad in 1942 from the perspective of Petrova (voiced by Laura Bailey) as she tries to find a way home after an aerial attack while eliminating hostile German infantry search crews.[10]

On September 7, during a nearly 30-minute live broadcast on YouTube, led by the members of Sledgehammer Games development team, creative director Greg Reisdorf, lead designer Zach Hodson, and associate art director Matt Abbott, in-depth details of Vanguard's multiplayer had been revealed, showcasing some components of tactical gameplay, the variations of competitive gamemodes, while emphasizing the details of the newly introduced environmental destruction gameplay features.[25]

An open beta version of the multiplayer was also made available for all platforms in September 2021, presenting a selection of five maps and some multiplayer playlists, such as Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed and Search and Destroy, with the newly introduced Patrol and Champion Hill game modes. Those players who reach Level 20 in beta will receive a weapon blueprint available to use in Vanguard at launch and in Warzone at a later date.[26]

A tie-in comic series had been announced for Vanguard with the official reveal taking place on October 10, 2021, at the New York Comic Con. Attendees at the panel were given a free copy of the first issue, featuring one of the protagonists, Polina Petrova.[27] On November 4, 2021, Activision announced the comic series would be released for free on the official Vanguard website, with the first issue going live the same day.

The game released worldwide on November 5, 2021. Pre-orders of all editions grant "early" access to the open multiplayer beta, a cosmetic weapons pack for use in Vanguard, as well as a Mastercraft cosmetic blueprint and the Vanguard character Arthur Kingsley as an operator, both for use in Cold War and Warzone.[lower-alpha 5] The Ultimate Edition grants access to three additional cosmetic skin packs, plus access to the Battle Pass of a Season for Vanguard (dependent on the time of purchase), and double XP tokens. The Cross-gen Bundle and Ultimate Edition grant console players two versions of the game for use on the previous console generation (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) and the later generation (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X).[28]