Zombies are back with this year’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. Activision, Sledgehammer Games, and Treyarch launched a trailer for the mode Thursday morning, offering players their first look at some old-school zombie-slaying action. While Sledgehammer is developing the majority of Call of Duty: Vanguard, the Zombies mode will be a Treyarch joint — the studio behind the original undead experience, dating all the way back to 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War.
With a return to the World War II setting, it looks like we’re going to get some more occult action in Vanguard’s Zombies. The trailer shows a Nazi captain using a special relic to gain new knowledge and the ability to raise the dead. We see players using WWII-era weapons, jumping into portals, activating crystal swords, placing rings of fire on the ground, and listening to Billie Eilish.
The trailer shows a variety of crystals and relics that players can use as well. But it looks like they’re going to need all the help they can get, as we also see a few special zombie types throughout the trailer — including a multiarmed, three-eyed, flaming zombie god.
The Zombies mode took a different turn during the development of Treyarch’s most recent entry in the franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Namely, the maps are now all free updates for players, rather than expensive DLC packs. The developers have also added Zombies modes like Outbreak, which mix up the round-based formula a bit. It’s currently unclear if the studio will experiment with other modes or release the maps for free in Call of Duty: Vanguard; Treyarch will reveal more details about the mode at a later date.
Call of Duty: Vanguard launches Nov. 5 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
