The moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived: Call of Duty: WWII has been fully revealed, and even though we all knew it was coming, that knowledge did not preclude our excitement. Coinciding with Call of Duty‘s appearance at San Diego Comic Con, Activision unveiled the full trailer for Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty: WWII.
While that news alone is promising, what’s even better are the details that came along with the trailer. Together, they paint a picture of what could be the series’ best use of Zombies ever. See the trailer for yourself below:
Is Call of Duty up to its old tricks? Sure. They’ve announced a Nazi Zombies weapon camo exclusive for those who pre-order the game. Is there reason to be cautious about Call of Duty: WWII in general? Sure there is. But with the announcement of Nazi Zombies, we can now at least upgrade that to cautious optimism.
We know that Nazi Zombies will be using a lot of the same formula we’ve already grown to love. You’ll have Perks and Mystery boxes. You’ll have what appears to be a diverse roster of enemy zombies. But in all of these ways and more, it appears that Call of Duty: WWII Nazi Zombies has upped the ante.
For one, the zombies look more interesting. While previous Call of Duty games had different undead creatures, such as hellhounds, the actual zombies all looked and acted pretty much the same, with few exceptions. With this trailer alone, we already have eyes on what could be three variations of traditional zombies, one”normal” zombie, one smaller zombie on fire, and another with a spiked, metal club for a hand. With more zombie variation, WWII Nazi Zombies will certainly be the most unique.
And, maybe this is because of graphical advancements, but the detail on these zombies is top-notch. You can see for yourself in the screenshot above, but you have zombies with detailed facial scaring, barbed wire wrapped circlets, burnt, peeling flesh, and Frakenstein-ian stitching and other patchwork. These guys are terrifying and gruesomely detailed.
And then Activision themselves have promised to up the ante even further, announcing a “brand new reward system,” and saying that WWII is going to be “the hardest Easter Egg hunt you’ve ever been on.” This penchant for hidden secrets and increased progression will make it an infinitely replayable experience, if it’s anything like what Sledgehammer has promised.
But the story and characters may be the most interesting. Rather than shamelessly plugging popular celebrities who play themselves just to get a chuckle out of the playerbase, WWII Nazi Zombies, while using popular actors, has created a fleshed out backstory for each of them and a unique premise for them to be there in the first place: each of these characters is trying to excavate valuable artwork stolen by the Nazis, using the chaos of war as a cover. Except they obviously find a lot more than art.
It’s basic effort, really, but it’s much more than we’ve seen in previous Zombies experiences. More than that, I think I speak for everyone when I say “Yay! No exo suits!!!”