CALL of Duty Vanguard is finally official – and it’s taking us back in time…again.
We’ve had a sneak peek at the upcoming World War 2 shooter, including a glimpse of the first Campaign mission, Operators and a HUGE Multiplayer change.
Call of Duty Vanguard release date and reveal
Vanguard is the next major entry into the wildly popular Call of Duty franchise.
The Activision-published, Sledgehammer Games-developed production returns to World War 2.
And it’ll spread across all the major conflict fronts, including North Africa, the Pacific, and the Western and Eastern fronts.
To make that feel cohesive, Vanguard is focusing on the beginnings of special forces, as they developed throughout the early 1940s.
The Call of Duty Vanguard release date is November 5, 2021.
Supported platforms include PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC via Battle.net.
Call of Duty Vanguard Campaign – Operators and story
The Campaign is following the birth of special forces units, following four Operators in particular.
All of the characters are inspired by real people in some way.
First up is Sgt. Arthur Kingsley, of the 9th Parachute Battalion, who is inspired by Sidney Cornell, a real serviceman from Portsmouth, England whose father was African American.
Next up is Lt. Polina Petrova, of the 138th Rifle Division.
She’s inspired by Lyudmila Pavlichenko, an expert sniper renowned for being the most successful marksman in World War 2 – with a staggering 309 kills.
Lyudmila began her military career as a nurse, and this story is mimicked in game, where she becomes a leader during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Third is Captain Wade Jackson, of Scouting Squadron Six, inspired by Canada’s Vernon Michael – a distinguished airman.
And finally here’s 2nd Lieutenant Lucas Riggs, of Australia’s 20th Battalion.
He’s inspired by New Zealand soldier Charles Upham, who received the Victoria Cross not once but twice.
The Vanguard Campaign is focused on Project Phoenix, a fictional Nazi campaign to identify a successor to Hitler.
Allied command hears about this, and tasks Operators with uncovering the plot – and stopping it.
Sledgehammer Games devs said they’ve tried to get an up-close and cinematic feel for the Campaign, capturing the feeling of “what would you do?” If you were really there in the moment.
We got a glimpse of the first mission, Operation Tonga.
*Spoiler Warning*
It takes place on June 5, the night before D-Day, with paratroopers dropping in behind enemy lines.
In a possible nod to Warzone, you drop in from the air – plunging through an aerial arena of warfare and dogfighting.
You land in water, surrounded by burning bodies and people drowning, before dashing into the woods.
It’s a visceral and genuinely terrifying scene, that works well to get across the fear soldiers on the ground would’ve felt.
As you creep through the woods, you can hear the ka-thum of anti-aircraft guns firing into the skies.
The next few minutes are very stealthy, reminiscent of Modern Warfare’s beloved All Ghillied Up.
Eventually you make your way into a settlement, and enter combat with soldiers – before finding yourself on the run again out into the fields.
There’s lots of shooting through floorboards and windows, which is brilliant.
It’s a great and powerful start to the Campaign, and bodes well for the rest of the missions.
The game is also very cinematic, even during the parts where the player is in control – again, very on-brand and highly effective.
*Spoiler Over*
Call of Duty Vanguard Multiplayer – what do we know?
Multiplayer looks set to be very exciting.
There will be 20 maps at launch, 16 of which are core 6v6 maps – with a further four 2v2 maps.
They’re set across all four fronts – Western, Eastern, North African and Pacific.
Importantly, Sledgehammer Games says it’s focused on smaller and tighter maps with more tactical combat.
Every map and mode can be played in three ways, thanks to the new Combat Pacing system: Tactical, Standard and Blitz.
Standard is regular 6v6 gameplay, while Blitz packs many more players into the map and mode for a target-rich, high-intensity gameplay.
And tactical is smaller teams making their way through the map more deliberately.
There’s also a new mode called Champion Hill that’s a mix of Battle Royale plus Gunfight, with progression between rounds – but that’s all we know so far.
In terms of systems, Gunfight is back.
And now you’ve got custom ballistics and ammo types so you can further fine-tune the experience.
Weapon mounting is included, and can be moved on and across surfaces.
You’ll also be able to blind fire over cover and some other elements of the map.
Perhaps the biggest change is Reactive Environments.
You can shoot through opaque windows, blow holes in walls, blast books off shelves and destroy doors.
This means the environment is very interactive, especially around Domination points or Hardpoints.
Maps start off fresh and pristine, but are quickly destroyed by combat.
Lighting is also reactive to environment changes.
So if you blow a hole in the wall of a dark room, it’ll be flooded with light.
And when lots of guns are fired in a space, a weapon fog will begin to thicken in the air.
Call of Duty Vanguard Warzone – what do we know?
Warzone is now a staple of the Call of Duty universe.
And while many players will be buying the main game for Campaign or Multiplayer action, much of the fanbase will exclusively want to spend their days in Warzone.
Sadly, we’ve heard very little about Warzone – including how much it will change.
We do know that Raven Studios is leading development on a brand new Warzone map, which will launch later this year.
As Activision says that Warzone will feature the “same tech as Vanguard for seamless weapon and Operator integration”.
It’s unclear how far this will go.
It might be difficult to reconcile adding WW2 weapons while keeping Modern Warfare armaments – but that risks upsetting long-time Warzone players.
And the new Gunsmith system with custom ballistics and ammo types in Multiplayer might not work in Warzone without a serious overhaul of weapons systems.
Forgetting balance issues, it might be thematically strange to have WW2 gear and Operators dropping into a relatively modern Warzone – so potentially expect a trip back in time.
We’d also definitely like to see the reactive environments come to Warzone.
After all, rival Battle Royale game Fortnite changes significantly all the time – so it would be good to see Warzone take bigger risks.
We’ll update you as we know more about Warzone.
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