Treyarch is celebrating 115 Day with a mystery box full of announcements for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies, including the reveal of a new map called The Tomb.
This January 15 celebration serves as a particularly special holiday for Call of Duty players, as it comes with a full blog breakdown of every zombie-themed surprise players can look forward to in the near future. Headlining today’s announcements is the reveal of The Tomb, a sandy new Zombies map that will make its debut with the arrival of Season 2 come January 28. That means another addition to the Zombies universe following Season 1’s Citadelle des Morts is less than two weeks away.
“After surviving the horrific events at Citadelle des Morts, Weaver, Grey, Carver, and Maya follow Gabriel Krafft’s final words to a nearby excavation site to secure the Sentinel Artifact,” a story summary from Treyarch said. “Built on the remains of ancient burial grounds with suspected origins dating back to 2500 B.C.E., these catacombs went undisturbed for centuries until the early 1900s… and what lies beneath may run deeper than anyone ever imagined.”
The team described The Tomb as a mysterious area with ties to a British archeologist named Sir Archibald Fotherington-Smythe but shared little else in terms of how it might connect to the larger Zombies story.
In terms of gameplay, this new location is said to “provide an experience similar to Liberty Falls,” the bright, small-town map that launched with Black Ops 6 in October. Treyarch said this means “tighter play spaces with a focus on replayability” as players discover the many Easter eggs The Tomb hides.
Treyarch also teases a reimagined Wonder Weapon “inspired by our past” and the return of an iconic SMG, though additional details remain a mystery.
Also promised for Season 2 is a solid list of quality-of-life improvements, including a few new features that the community has begged for since launch. For example, players will be able to track up to 10 Calling Card challenges and 10 Camo challenges in both Zombies and Multiplayer. Zombies is also getting a co-op pause option, allowing the party leader to pause a match with their friends mid-run. HUD presets for Zombies and Multiplayer will be separated in Season 2, with the studio also promising to allow players to rejoin Zombies matches with their loadout if they are kicked.
Finally, to help celebrate 115 Day, Black Ops 6 players can enjoy double the GobbleGum earn rate as well as double player, weapon, and battle pass XP from now through 10am PT January 21. We’ve also just been given a look at some stats related to the story-driven Directed Mode, as Treyarch said players have managed to sink in a total of more than 480 million hours into Black Ops 6 Zombies.
“Our goal from the start for Directed Mode was simple: grow the Zombies community by guiding new players through the Main Quests with some guardrails in place, so they can experience the storyline and hopefully become lifelong Zombies fans,” a message from the team explained. “Thankfully, the numbers are promising! Since Directed Mode went live, our average Main Quest completion rate has more than doubled, going from 3.38% on November 14 to 8.23% today.”
Fans will be particularly interested in the voices of the Zombies characters when The Tomb goes live. Last month, Activision admitting some much-loved Zombies characters were recast amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
Taking on Zombies mode? We’ve got Essential Zombies Tips and Tricks to help you get started, plus a guide on How to Exfil. Both Zombies maps are full of Easter eggs and secrets; here’s everything we’ve found in both Terminus and Liberty Falls, including How to Pack-a-Punch in Liberty Falls and How to Get the Meteor Easter Egg in Terminus.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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