Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0

Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is a free-to-play battle royale video game developed by Infinity Ward and Raven Software for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It is a sequel to 2020's Call of Duty: Warzone. The game is a part of 2022's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and will be subsequently connected to 2023's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, but does not require purchase of any of the parent titles. It was introduced during Season 1 of Modern Warfare II content. The game features cross-platform play and a new extraction mode titled DMZ.
Warzone 2.0 was officially revealed by Activision at Call of Duty Next in September 2022, and was released on November 16, 2022 as part of a single cross-game launcher known as Call of Duty HQ.
Overview
Gameplay
Similar to its predecessor, in Warzone 2.0s primary game mode, Battle Royale, players compete in a continuously shrinking map to be the last player(s) remaining. Players parachute onto a large game map, where they encounter and eliminate other players. As the game progresses and players are eliminated, the playable area shrinks, forcing the remaining players into tighter spaces. A new feature in Warzone 2.0, Circle Collapse, allows multiple circles to spawn within the map, which close independently of one another, before converging into one single safe zone. Like the first Warzone, upon death, players are sent to the "Gulag", a small-sized arena where killed players battle one another for a chance at respawning into the map. In Warzone 2.0, Gulag matches were initially introduced in 2v2 format, and included an artificial intelligence (AI) combatant called "the Jailer", whom players can hunt down to acquire a key and escape, in addition to the traditional method of winning Gulag matches. This change was reverted for Season 2 to the original 1v1 format, while the Jailer is also removed in favor of the overtime point capture system. In-game cash currencies also return, allowing players to buy various items at several buy stations scattered across the map, including custom loadouts with personalized weapons and perk setups.
A new extraction game mode, named DMZ, is also featured at the release of Warzone 2.0. In DMZ, players battle against both AI-controlled and player-controlled opponents while attempting to exfil with loot they found within the playable area (also known as the Exclusion Zone). Players start out with a limited inventory, which allows storage of extracted loot from matches; said inventory can be expanded by completing Faction missions, allowing for more guaranteed loadout weapon slots or the opportunity to unlock base weapons and cosmetic rewards, usable in both Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare II.
At launch, AI combatants were a prominent feature Warzone 2.0, as they defended various strongholds and black sites throughout the main map, in both Battle Royale and DMZ. Players were able to engage in combat with the AI-controlled enemies in order to seize the strongholds and gain access to the loot items within. Following numerous balancing updates and changes, AI combatants were completely removed from Battle Royale modes in Modern Warfare II Season 4.
In Season 2, Warzone 2.0 featured the return of Resurgence, a game mode in which player combatants can respawn and rejoin matches after being killed, provided that at least one member in their squad remains alive following a short cooldown period. Squad members can help reduce the cooldown period by completing contracts or killing other players.
Season 3 reintroduced the game mode Plunder, in which teams have to search for stacks of Cash scattered around the map to accumulate $2 million. Once found or if time is almost up, the game goes into overtime, multiplying all Cash sums twice. The team who has gathered the most money when the clock runs out is declared the winner. Players respawn automatically in this game mode. In addition, for the first time, a Ranked competitive mode was introduced in Warzone, developed in partnership with Treyarch using the official Call of Duty League ruleset.
In addition to shared progression with Modern Warfare II, Warzone 2.0 also features shared cross-platform progression and social aspects with Warzone Mobile, a new Warzone title made exclusively for mobile devices.
Maps
Al Mazrah
Al Mazrah is a large desert-themed map with nearly 20 points of interest, and is used as the primary Battle Royale map. The map is larger compared to the previous two Battle Royale maps in Warzone, Verdansk and Caldera, and features more water-based areas, allowing players to take advantage of new swimming and underwater combat mechanics introduced in Modern Warfare II.
Ashika Island
Ashika Island is a small-sized Asian Pacific-themed map, which serves as the primary locale for the Resurgence mode. Introduced in Season 2, the map notably features several surrounding water-based points of interest, complemented by Japanese towns, markets, and a castle area at the center.
Building 21
Building 21 is a DMZ-exclusive location, introduced in the mid-season update for Season 1. It is accessible only by acquiring a specific keycard item looted from the Al Mazrah map in DMZ. Unlike Al Mazrah and Ashika Island, Building 21 is only open for access during the weekends. This small map pits four squads of players against each other as well as heavily armored Shadow Company mercenaries, who are more aggressive and difficult compared to enemy combatants in other DMZ locales.
Koschei Complex
Koschei Complex is the second DMZ-exclusive location, introduced in Season 3's mid-season update, and is accessible via one of four hidden entrances located within the Al Mazrah map. This map is characterized by flooded areas and darkly lit rooms, requiring the use of night-vision goggles to navigate. Similar to Building 21, the map features highly difficult AI combatants.
Vondel
Vondel is a medium-sized Baroque European-themed map, released at the launch of Season 4. The map is initially playable in Resurgence and DMZ modes, while a standard Battle Royale version is introduced in the mid-season update. The map features 15 points of interest including a castle, town houses, a stadium, and a canal system among others. It also introduces dynamic fog and a new land/water hybrid vehicle initially exclusive to this map.
Urzikstan
Urzikstan is a large-sized map, and serves as the third main Battle Royale map, set to be released with the launch of Modern Warfare III's first content season. Urzikstan is also used as the main playable map for Modern Warfare III's Zombies mode. The map features 11 points of interest, with more connectivity between each point utilizing new mechanics such as horizontal ziplines.
Fortune's Keep
Fortune's Keep is a small-sized island map, previously introduced in the first Warzone as part of the Call of Duty: Vanguard content season. The map takes place in a Mediterranean setting, with seaside town areas and coves, in addition to water-based areas. The map is set to release in early 2024.
Rebirth Island
Rebirth Island is a small-sized island map, previously introduced in the first Warzone as part of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War content season. The map based on the real-life Vozrozhdeniya Island. The map is set to release in 2024.
Story
Similar to the first Warzone, Warzone 2.0's story is told via cinematics included at the launch of each seasonal update. Al Mazrah is featured in the campaign mode for Modern Warfare II, while Amsterdam, which the map Vondel is heavily based on, also briefly appears in several missions.
The DMZ mode also features story missions, which revolve around various factions all vying for control of Al Mazrah, Ashika Island and Vondel. At launch, three factions were introduced: White Lotus, Legion, and Black Mous. A fourth faction, Crown, was introduced in Season 2, with missions exclusive to Modern Warfare II owners, and a fifth faction, REDACTED, was later introduced in Season 3 for all players. In Season 4, Legion and REDACTED factions were removed, followed by the introduction of a new faction, Phalanx. In Season 5, Shadow Company - implied to be the REDACTED faction from Season 3 - was added as a new faction.
Modern Warfare II story arc
Following Task Force 141's successful operation in taking down Iranian Quds Force Major Hassan Zyani, CIA Station Chief Kate Laswell begins to oversee new covert missions taking place in the city of Al Mazrah, in order to undermine the activities of the terrorist organization Al-Qatala. At the same time, several private military companies begin to move into Al Mazrah, looking to wrestle control of the city from AQ forces as well as each other. At some point, the Shadow Company PMC was discovered to be running new operations in Al Mazrah, as well as the Asia-Pacific island Ashika and the elusive underground facility Building 21.
In April 2023, Valeria Garza, leader of the Mexican Las Almas Cartel, manages to escape captivity, having been imprisoned for several months by the Mexican Special Forces squad Los Vaqueros. She then gathers the cartel to Al Mazrah to conduct new activities. Valeria's former comrade and Los Vaqueros leader, Alejandro Vargas, is requested by Laswell to infiltrate Al Mazrah and apprehend Valeria. Several months later, a terrorist attack was reported in the city of Vondel, Netherlands, with a mysterious special forces group calling themselves the Peacekeepers seizing control of the city following its evacuation. Laswell establishes contact with the Black Mous organization and partners with them in order to investigate the Peacekeepers and learn their true intentions. They soon learn that the Peacekeepers are actually a Russian PMC known as the Konni Group, and the attack on Vondel was orchestrated by them.
In August 2023, the leaders of the Urzikstan Liberation Force, Farah Karim and Alex Keller, meet with Shadow Company Commander Phillip Graves, who had faked his death since his last encounter with Task Force 141 in Mexico. Graves proposes an alliance between the Shadows and ULF in order to prevent an invasion in Al Mazrah from the Konni Group. Later that month, Graves, under the command of General Shepherd, leads an assault on the Konni-occupied Zaya Observatory in Al Mazrah as part of Operation: Rogue Arsenal. After destroying the observatory with missile launchers, Shadow Company locates an underground weapons facility containing chemical weaponry and begin extracting gas canisters, but are forced to exfil when the tunnels begin collapsing. However, per the orders of the Ultranationalist terrorist Vladimir Makarov, Konni operatives masquerading as Shadow soldiers managed to infiltrate their ranks and hijack the planes carrying the gas shipment, rendering the operation a failure.
Reception
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
Notes
References
2022 video games
Activision games
Battle royale games
First-person shooters
Free-to-play video games
Infinity Ward games
Raven Software games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games with cross-platform play
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games
PlayStation 5 games
Video games set in Japan
Video games set in the Middle East
Video games set in the Netherlands
Windows games
Xbox One games
Xbox One X enhanced games
Xbox Series X and Series S games