Summary
For better or worse,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Zombies is shaping up to be the most unique iteration of the mode thus far. The upcoming mode is confirmed to be open-world and has been rumored to feature up to 24 players, with four squads of six supposedly battling through a modifiedWarzonemap. Rumors of aModern Warfare 3Zombies betasuggest that Treyarch has some confidence in the mode, as it is possibly planning to let players try it before launch. Regardless of how this ambitious Outbreak successor turns out, fans now know that it will not be pulling any punches when it comes to its story.
Alongside an image featuring a Mimic mini boss fromBlack Ops Cold Warwhich suggested as much, Treyarch confirmed thatCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Zombies will be part of the Dark Aether timeline. Considering that it takes place long after the events ofBlack Ops Cold War- and seeminglyCall of Duty2024 - many likely expected the story to be inconsequential likeCall of Duty: Vanguard. However, the Cinematic Trailer forModern Warfare 3Zombies is anything but, as it has already brought one big story revelation: the heads of Requiem that players bonded with inBlack Ops Cold Warare seemingly dead.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Killing Requiem Has Massive Implications For CoD 2024
Requiem’s four major players were in a bad spot the last time that players saw them. At the end of theForsaken main quest, players’ suspicions are confirmed and Richtofen is revealed to be Requiem’s secretive director. And, like he was known to do in the Aether timeline, Richtofen betrayed all of his allies to further his own agenda. During the final cutscene, Weaver, Dr. Grey, Carver, and Dr. Strauss are placed under arrest. Players are left to wonder if Richtofen is having the characters killed or simply locking them away, but now, fans may have their answer.
About a minute intoCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Zombies’ first trailer, a villainous group led by Victor Zakhaev stumbles upon a container of aetherium, with the element inevitably being used to start a new undead outbreak. However, Zombies reappearing in the modern day is not the most interesting part of the trailer, nor is the presence of campaign characters likeSoap MacTavishand a much older version ofBlack Ops Cold War’s Ravenov. Instead, players’ eyes have been drawn to the four bodies around the aetherium canisters.
WhileCall of DutyZombies fans do not get a clear look at all the bodies, one in particular is focused upon: a man with short hair and an eyepatch. The resemblance toBlack Ops’ Grigori Weaveris uncanny, and with a female body nearby that is presumably Dr. Grey, it can be assumed that these are the four characters Richtofen had detained. With the bodies having been decomposing for some time, it also seems like these characters died long ago, and a few possibilities immediately present themselves.
The first scenario is that the characters were interrogated and killed in the same room immediately after Forsaken’s cutscene. This would mean they have no role inCall of Duty2024, with Treyarch instead focusing on a different group of protagonists. However, this does not explain why they died sitting near an aetherium device, as Richtofen positioning them around such a powerful item would make little sense. Additionally, Peck’s epilogue scene in Forsaken implied that players would be trying to rescue Requiem, and though he may have been referring to some other “friends," the scene was framed to suggest a rescue.
The other scenario is that Treyarch has just spoiledCall of Duty2024 Zombies; 1990s storyline. Even if players do rescue the four Requiem characters, they are destined to die together in a dimly lit room around a powerful aetherium device. Perhaps this is tied to some sacrifice Requiem will eventually make inCall of Duty2024, though for now, fans are being left to wonder about how these characters died and why they are so close to the device. The Forsaken may have showed players that theRequiemheads would die, but the scene it displayed is much different from the one in this trailer, and it will be interesting to see how everything plays out.
Modern Warfare 3Zombies essentially makingCall of Duty2024 a prequel would be a bold move, but since it is unclear whether Requiem dies right after Forsaken or later on in the story, it is impossible to say if that will be the case. InCall of Duty2024, players could end up experiencing the Requiem heads' final days or a story about a different cast, with Requiem already being dead. Either way, killing off four of the biggest players in the Dark Aether story thus far shows thatTreyarchis willing to take risks.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3launches on November 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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