We’ve been expecting today’s reveal, of course, ever since Activision confirmed back in July that Black Ops 7 would be part of Opening Night Live’s line-up this year. This is technically the game’s second “reveal”, because its first outing was at the very end of the Xbox Showcase back in June.
Today’s showcase was a lot more detailed, offering a look at gameplay that went beyond just a simple teaser of the game’s setting.
First things first, the leaked November release date turned out to be accurate. Black Ops 7 is set for launch on November 14. As for today’s reveal, its focus was mainly on the larger systems, features, and new mechanics arriving with the game. As previously announced, the co-op campaign (four-player) returns, but Treyarch is adding a pretty unusual twist to that.
The campaign’s final mission is what the developer calls Endgame, and it’s essentially a replayable, open-world section with some RPG and extraction elements. You get to customise your loadout and take on missions and other challenges within runs, where you can also level up and earn new abilities.
We also got a look at some of the futuristic weaponry we’ll be able to wield, and a few of the locations we’re going to be visiting. There’s a big emphasis on movement in Black Ops 7, which builds on Black Ops 6’s Omnimovement system with new possibilities, including the return of wallrunning.
Round-based Zombies is a core feature of the game, of course. This year, you can look forward to vehicle-based gameplay, as well as the return of Survival maps. Multiplayer was touched on, but the full reveal won’t arrive until Call of Duty: Next on September 30. There’s going to be a beta following that, too, taking place October 2-8.
Black Ops 7’s story takes place in the near future, a decade after the events of Black Ops 2. The game is the first consecutive Black Ops release in Call of Duty history, following last year’s Black Ops 6.
As beloved as the Black Ops name is, however, this year’s game faces tough competition in the form of Battlefield 6, a game whose beta has been breaking records throughout the month, overtaking even the most popular Call of Duty release on Steam.
There’s still a lot yet to be revealed for Black Ops 7, but community sentiment so far has been a lot more in favour of Battlefield 6 over it. Call of Duty rarely misses, though, and even with it does, it still manages to be the best-selling game in the year of its release.