Yesterday, Call of Duty and Treyarch released new footage and details for their upcoming Zombies’ map Terminus. At the end of the trailer, Treyarch teased upcoming footage at Call of Duty Next for the Liberty Falls map. In our last post, we shared what we could observe from the Terminus gameplay trailer.
In addition to the Terminus gameplay trailer, we checked out MrRoflWaffle’s 18-minute Terminus gameplay video. The video showed off a little bit more of the overall Terminus gameplay and showed off some of the map’s more distinct features. After the Terminus gameplay trailer was released by Treyarch, a massive Call of Duty blog post was released.
If you have not already seen the post, we can’t emphasize how massive it truly is. The intel post goes over how Pack-a-Punch tier upgrades will work, scrap usage, perks within the map, the new Wonder Weapon, and changes to the overall gameplay.
The two most exciting announcements coming from the intel drop were that single-player zombies’ matches can be paused and saved in order to return at a later date and that players will be able to join sessions in progress in case they disconnect or need an additional player.
Below we will share with you the key details.
Essence and Salvage: The Currency of Round-Based Zombies
Additional and new routes through a Round-Based Zombies map involve accessing blocked areas, either by unlocking doors or removing obstacles, and both cost Essence. As some areas have multiple routes to discover, you must weigh up the costs in unlocking these thoroughfares, while at the same time spending Essence on Perks and Pack-a-Punched weaponry to strengthen yourself against the ever-growing undead hordes.
As your knowledge grows, you’ll utilize other gameplay elements to your benefit, creating powerful offensive weaponry, and studying areas of the map where there’s a good amount of maneuvering space, when larger, higher-round zombie hordes require rounding up and “training”.
In Black Ops 6 Zombies, Essence takes the form of points you rapidly accrue by slaying zombies, and occasionally appears as vials of Dark Aether Essence that sometimes drop from tougher enemies. You use Essence in the following ways:
- To access Objective-related devices (in Terminus, these are devices that power the station) to further your progress.
- To unlock doors, with some allowing you to pay for half the unlocking cost, sharing the Essence amount with a teammate for the first time in Black Ops.
- To summon a Tactical Raft for aquatic expeditions.
- To purchase Perk-a-Colas from Perk Machines (to add specific advantages to your Operator, via a single machine, or a Der Wunderfizz that vends all Perk Cans on a particular map).
- To purchase upgrades for currently utilized weapons from the Pack-a-Punch Machine (Tier I, II, or III) that increase weapon potency and ammunition reserves, as well as occasionally offering unexpected effects…
- To purchase ammo from the Ammo Caches.
- To purchase an additional weapon with a rarity rating from a Weapon Wall Buy.
- To upgrade additional armor from an Armor Wall Buy (Tier II, Tier III).
- To purchase a random weapon with a rarity rating from a Mystery Box, and more.
- To start a special Trial challenge.
You use Salvage in the following ways:
- To access an Ammo Mod and apply a special elemental power to your current weapon, via an Arsenal Machine.
- To upgrade the Rarity Tier of your weapon so it inflicts more damage, via an Arsenal Machine.
- To build specific Tactical Equipment via a Crafting Table.
- To build specific Lethal Equipment via a Crafting Table.
- To build specific Support Equipment via a Crafting Table.
Easter Eggs – Not at Launch
While Treyarch is focused on making their Main Quests for each of Black Ops 6’s maps more challenging than those found in Black Ops Cold War, the studio is also adding an all-new guided mode to welcome more players into the world of Zombies. This mode is planned to release later in-season after each map’s launch to protect the sanctity of the traditional “Easter Egg hunt,” where the community puts their heads together to find and complete the Main Quest and Side Quests every time a new map launches.
Heads Up: Display Options
The Heads-Up Display (HUD) that appears on your screen is designed to offer deep customizable experiences, across almost all aspects of the interface.
There are far too many options to discuss in this blog. However, highlights include:
- The ability to choose from a variety of HUD layouts. Yes, that includes a “Legacy” setting that removes the minimap and positions elements in the same place as the HUD in Black Ops 3.
- The ability to turn off the health bar and zombie hit point damage numbers that appear with each successful impact. Full Readability options, part of a large-scale undertaking related to accessibility settings for both vision and cognition.
- The ability to select a custom color palette for your interface, icons, and maps, as well as robust minimap settings.
- The ability to turn off Pack-a-Punch weapon camos to preserve the look of your weapon customization.
While the HUD is supremely customizable, it’s still worth showing the Default display, so you can see how and where all the useful information is displayed:
Default HUD: Overview
Top Left: Displays the named area of the map where you’re located, your minimap, and any objectives you are currently undertaking.
Top Middle: The main compass, with the named area of the map you’re in.
Top Right: The current Round you’re playing. Below that intermittently appearing are portraits of the Handlers assisting you in your mission, and a waveform of the conversation you’re having.
Middle Left: Click through to a sub-menu appearing here, which shows your available Emotes (which includes your Weapon Inspect) and Sprays, the latter of which can be used to pinpoint areas of interest you’re investigating.
Bottom Left: You (and your squad’s) details, including:
- Your name
- Armor and condition
- Health Bar and Hit Points
- Armor Plates in reserve
- Self-Revive
- Current Salvage total
- Current Essence total
Bottom Middle: The Perks you currently have active.
Bottom Right: Your offensive capabilities, all grouped together, including:
- Your current weapon, along with the ammo and reserve ammo.
- The rarity of the weapon (denoted by a color behind the ammo and a diamond icon).
- The alt-fire capabilities of the weapon (if applicable).
- The current Ammo Mod the weapon is employing.
- The current Pack-a-Punch level (none, I, II, or III)
- Your current Tactical and count.
- Your current Lethal and count.
- Your current Field Upgrade, with a circular regeneration bar around it.
- Up to three GobbleGums you’ve acquired from a machine, but not yet used.
Middle: During normal gameplay, your target crosshairs and reticle when your weapon is ADS, and when activated. Zombie hit markers are shown in the following ways:
- Enemies you are currently damaging have a health bar.
- Damage in three different colors; White (regular damage), Gold (Critical damage) and Blue. (Armor damage)
- Confirmed enemy kills, along with how they were dispatched.
With the correct button press, a context-sensitive Ping Wheel can also appear here, offering the ability to drop a marker at a location based on Audio, Visual, threat level, or an area to move to.
Gobblegums
GobbleGums cannot be dropped or shared, but you can swap to a different GobbleGum Pack at any time during a match by using the in-game menu. Changing the pack will reset the randomized order of the new pack.
New GobbleGums are earnable in game, simply for playing. Expect to earn one (or more!) random GobbleGums every few rounds. You’ll know when you’ve been awarded a new GobbleGum due to a reward sequence at the start of a subsequent Round.
Any unused GobbleGums are kept between matches, and you won’t lose them if you happen to disconnect from a match.
Idle Hands: Saving and Stability
Due to a variety of important reasons – including improved visual quality and lower file sizes – an internet connection is required to play Black Ops 6 Zombies. Robust systems have been put into place to both maximize the ease of matchmaking and minimize gameplay interruptions. Here are some of these mitigations:
- Private Matchmaking: New in Black Ops 6 Zombies, players can join another Friend’s game no matter how far they are through the game, providing the Host has room in the game and their Party in a joinable state.
- Pausing, Saving, and Recovery: At any point during a game, the following can occur:
- Pausing: You can elect to pause your Solo match to take a quick break. After a finite amount of time without continuing to play, the game will automatically save the match at the point it was paused. Load the save file to continue.
- Saving: For the first time in Zombies, you can elect to save your Solo match at any time, provided you are at full health, aren’t downed, dead, or actively engaged in an Exfil. Load the save file to continue. Again, if enough time passes while you’re AFK, the game will automatically save your game state so you won’t lose your progress!
- Recovery: On the rare occasion that the game’s servers, your internet, or a combination of the two conspire to prevent your continued enjoyment of the game, and you disconnect…
- Solo Players: Load up your save close to the point in time you disconnected and continue from that point.
Squad Players: If you disconnected from a Squad Match but the Host is still active, you can rejoin and continue the match after a small period of time spectating.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is set to launch for Windows PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5 on October 25th.
