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Call of Duty: Vanguard is the latest entry in the long-running FPS series. This time, developer Sledgehammer Games is putting a rather unique spin on the franchise's origins. Call of Duty: Vanguard returns to World War II and tackles four theaters of war, including the Pacific and African theaters. The campaign will follow a group of spec ops soldiers in their own corners of the global conflict.
Call of Duty: Vanguard has leaked several times over the course of 2021, suggesting players would be going back to WWII well in advance of the August 2021 reveal. That said, the only context given was that it would focus on the Pacific side of the war. It turns out Vanguard will actually cover many different settings. Not only will this likely provide some freshness in the campaign, but it will also open up the multiplayer to a variety of map locations.
Sledgehammer has reportedly developed Call of Duty: Vanguard under a time crunch. The studio was reportedly pulled off of Call of Duty 2020 in 2019, meaning it only had two years to make a new game from scratch. Whether or not the team had to repurpose assets or mechanics from WWII or Call of Duty 2020 in order to build Vanguard in the limited window remains to be seen. In the meantime, there's a lot of new info to pore over.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Release Date
Call of Duty: Vanguard will be released on November 5, 2021, for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise, as Call of Duty traditionally releases around the holiday season. That said, Activision has been accused of rushing COD in order to hit this window each year, so it's possible problems could arise.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Story Campaign
Call of Duty: Vanguard's story features four playable characters in four different areas of World War II, including the eastern and western parts of Europe, the Pacific, and Africa. Each character is described as the "prototype" for modern-day spec-ops soldiers and will likely have their own unique traits. The trailer highlighted a sniper character and a pilot character, as well as some traditional soldiers who may fulfill the familiar run-and-gun Call of Duty gameplay.
Prior to its reveal, some speculated there would be an alternate history angle to Call of Duty: Vanguard, and this appears to be partially true. Vanguard will see the main protagonists combatting something called Project Phoenix, which sees the Nazis attempting to find a successor to Hitler after the fall of Berlin, seemingly not having lost the war once and for all. That said, it will likely still be grounded in some reality, as opposed to the alternate histories proposed in works of fiction like Wolfenstein.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Gameplay
Call of Duty is known for formulaic gameplay, but there will be some notable shakeups to the action in this entry. Players will have the ability to blind-fire out of cover and slide mounted weapons across surfaces, allowing them to act more strategically while applying pressure to enemies. Similarly, players can use their surroundings to their advantage, with destructible and interactive environments.
If a player throws a grenade in a room, for example, the objects inside will be thrown around or impacted. Players can also destroy doors and other obstacles to gain access to new areas or open up new sightlines. Ideally, this will prevent Call of Duty: Vanguard's multiplayer maps from becoming too static or stale over time.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Multiplayer
For those fearing Call of Duty: Vanguard would be similar to Black Ops - Cold War, Sledgehammer is promising some changes. Vanguard will launch with 20 maps, 16 of which are made for 6v6 core game types. Black Ops - Cold War took a while to achieve 16 maps post-launch, and many of them were remasters of other maps. Players will also be able to change their "combat pacing" settings, which allow players to alter match player counts for faster or slower gameplay. More details and the first footage of Call of Duty: Vanguard's multiplayer will debut on August 22 at the CDL Championship.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Alpha & Beta
An open beta for Call of Duty: Vanguard will be held sometime before launch. Players can get early access by pre-ordering the game. The beta will be on PS4 and PS5 first, then make its way to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. An alpha for Call of Duty: Vanguard is also reportedly being launched exclusively on PlayStation at the end of August. It's said to feature a new mode called Champion Hill, which is similar to the Arena mode in Apex Legends.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Trailer
Lastly, a Call of Duty: Vanguard trailer was revealed at the end of a Warzone event that saw players destroying a WWII-esque train. It emphasizes the global conflict element of the story and gives a brief idea of the characters players will inhabit in the campaign. Sledgehammer Games will also debut a gameplay demo of a level from Call of Duty: Vanguard at Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25 at 2:00 PM ET.
Call of Duty: Vanguard will be released on November 5, 2021, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.