The Evolution of Zombies in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Note: This review specifically covers the Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. For our thoughts on the other modes, see our single-player campaign review or our multiplayer review in progress.

You ever wonder how we got here? Not in an existential, “where did we come from?” kind of way, but more specifically “how did a one-off, co-op survival mode in a video game that used to put quotes about the horrors of war on screen when you died turn into this?” 16 years on, it’s hard to reconcile what the original Nazi Zombies mode from 2008’s World at War used to be with the outrageous, Resident Evil 6-inspired campfest I spent several red-eyed hours playing late last night. I’m not saying any of this in a bad way, mind you; Black Ops 6’s take on the mode is thrilling and unique thanks to all new movement mechanics and good map design. Zombies hasn’t been the thing it was in World at War for a while, and I still have a lot more of this year’s version to play before I am ready for my final review, but that one thought has still hit me pretty hard so far: How did we get here, man?

The Maps and Storyline

Let’s carve out the bloody guts of this thing, shall we? Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode features two all-new maps: Terminus, a prison complex-turned-bio-research-station, and Liberty Falls, a small town in West Virginia whose slice of quaint Americana is about to test itself against The Worst Day Ever (spoiler: it doesn’t seem to be going well for the Americana). The story itself is a direct sequel to the Zombies campaign in 2020’s Black Ops Cold War, and if you, like me, have largely forgotten what happened in the intervening four years, there doesn’t seem to be much attempt to catch you up. That means you’re going to hear a lot of proper-noun-filled dialogue that could be important or fun references, but instead had me going “I vaguely remember that person,” a little too often.

Gameplay and Mechanics

So the story is a mixed bag so far, but you know what isn’t? The gameplay. The biggest change here is Omnimovement (Zombiemovement?), Black Ops 6’s complete overhaul of Call of Duty’s basic movement mechanics. You can sprint, slide, and dive in every direction, even chaining these moves together. You’ve also got a full 360 degrees of motion, which means you can do sick stuff like sprint backwards, pull off a retreating dive, mow down the zombies approaching you from every angle, and then get up and keep moving before they even get close. We haven’t seen zombie-killing moves like this since Resident Evil 6, minus a few suplexes here and there. (Dear Treyarch, please add suplexes. Love, Will.) Even if Treyarch misses what might be the easiest post-launch, patch-introduced layup with that, though, the point I’m making is that this feels good, and I like it. I like it a lot.

The story may be a mixed bag so far, but the gameplay feels good.

I also like the maps themselves. I think I prefer Liberty Falls over Terminus so far because I dig its height, with extremely entertaining ziplines that let you zoom from roof to roof. I also enjoy its more traditional structure of “pay Essence to open doors and access new places” over Terminus’s “restore power to the generators and defend them from zombies so you can earn the ability to open doors” twist, but that’s not to say Terminus doesn’t do anything cool. At one point, I found a little outboard-powered raft that allowed me to venture to the smaller islands around the main area. I died pretty promptly, because when I landed on a beach a horde of zombies popped out of the ground like a bunch of really angry, undead cabbages, but c’est la vie, right? C’est la undead? I don’t speak French.

Progression and Customization

I’m a bit more mixed on the way the maps handle progression through the story. Based on what I’ve played so far, you don’t really do much “defending” in Black Ops 6’s version of zombies. Instead, you’re constantly moving, unlocking new areas and trying to complete that map’s Main Quest during rounds. You can pretty much do this however you want. In my experience, that means a lot of running for your life and trying to earn enough Essence (which you get from offing zombies) to open the way to the next area, buy a new weapon, or upgrade a gun you like at a Pack-a-Punch Machine, which does exactly what it sounds like. Treyarch plans on providing an optional, more guided, story-focused version of the mode later on to preserve the sanctity of the Easter Egg hunt (whatever that means) – that will disable Easter Eggs and Side Quests, but I kind of wish it was here now so I could see the difference it makes. These maps are really big, and as someone with an absolutely terrible sense of direction, I’d just like to get a feel for where I’m supposed to go and how to get there before I focus on optional stuff.

One thing I really don’t like, at least so far, is the meta-progression. You don’t unlock the ability to make your own loadouts until you hit level four, and even then, you probably haven’t unlocked anything fun to customize on any of the guns you have yet. What’s more, progression feels painfully slow; I hit level four after an hour and a half of game time, which feels too long to wait for that basic functionality. I’ve only played by myself as of now, which I’m sure has slowed me down, but the delay still doesn’t feel great. What’s more, the lack of customization in the early going made my runs (two on Liberty Falls, one on Terminus) feel samey in a way I didn’t like. Hopefully, playing with friends will solve this problem, but it’s something I’m wary of as I continue.

There’s a lot I haven’t touched on yet, like in-map progression and upgrades (my early impression is actually “there might be too many mechanics here”), so I want to spend more time with this year’s Zombies mode before I finalize this review and put a score on it sometime next week. For right now, I’m excited to play more, and still kind of in awe at how we got here. Undeath sure is strange, huh soldier?