The battle royale hit Call of Duty: Warzone is in its 3rd season. The latest event took the map of Verdansk back in time for a cold war era feel. This also lead to some changes in the gulag. Almost all of the weapons have changed with the latest Warzone update, and this also impacts what is randomly given in the gulag. The level design has also drastically changed from the fan-favorite prison design that debuted with season one of Warzone.
Call of Duty got into the battle royale competition early in 2020 with Warzone, and it was an instant sensation. Smooth gameplay and new ideas propelled fighting in Verdansk to the top of a flooded battle royale market. One of these new ideas was the implementation of the gulag, a system where players could fight 1v1 for a chance to come back to the big fight. Warzone's gulag was originally a simple system of players with pistols fighting in a tiny prison bathroom, but this system did not stay simple for long.
Not long after its debut, changes started happening frequently to Warzone's gulag. Stronger weapons were added and new maps were created to eventually turn the afterlife fight into its own separate mode. Call of Duty can go two different routes with the gulag now - either fully embrace the second-chance opportunity as a wild and different experience, or go back to the basics of what fans liked in season one. Going back to the original Warzone gulag could be seen as a step backwards by fans, so maybe steering into the ridiculousness is what Call of Duty needs to do next.
Back To The Original Gulag, Or Think Outside The Box?
Outside of weapons and level design, some new features in Warzone's gulag could be fun. Pairing players together for 2v2 or 3v3's could be irritating, yet entertaining, and pairing off with a squadmate against a rival squad for a 2v2 would make the gulag fights have even higher stakes than before. A simpler change could be the addition of a procedurally generated Warzone gulag map design. This would help a lot with less experienced Call of Duty players getting killed easily by those who know exactly where to look as soon as a gulag match starts. A set map with randomly placed items to block fields of view would put every 1v1 on even playing field.
Experienced players tend to get upset at constant changes after spending hours learning specific guns and level design, but change is not always a bad thing. Warzone has done a good job of making fun changes to keep fans engaged without shaking up the foundation of the game. Whatever Call of Duty Warzone decides to do in their battle royal juggernaut, not everyone is going to agree completely on what should happen next, especially when time is of the essence in the gulag.