Famously known for being the only numbered entry in the franchise without a campaign, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has always had an air of mystery regarding its missing single-player component. Although Treyarch has always stated that a “traditional” campaign was never in the works, reports have come out since the game’s 2018 release that state a co-op mode was planned for the game, but it has never been fully detailed. A massive independent report has dived deep into the planned co-op campaign for Black Ops 4, including details about the gameplay and story featuring scrapped concept art and design schematics.
The report comes from Reddit user Purpletoaster20, who claims to have compiled this information through research and discussion with those involved with the project. As also reported by Jason Schreier, the user states that Black Ops 4’s co-op campaign was originally titled Career, a 2v2 “race to the finish” mode that was scrapped in early 2018. Allegedly, Treyarch’s main goal with the campaign was to have a live-service model where the game incentivized players to play the co-op mode and the multiplayer mode, tied together through the game’s specialists. Black Ops 4 was planned to follow the same narrative framework as previous titles, where player decisions heavily impacted the overarching story.
Narratively, Black Ops 4 would be set in 2070, following the story of two factions: the Free People’s Army and the World United Nations. Both factions would compete in a post-pandemic, climate disaster-stricken world, structured around 15-20 minute long missions including PvP and PvE sections. Purpletoaster20 detailed four early missions titled Air Assault Convoy, Data Control, Data Escape, and Snatch and Grab, each taking place in massive levels with a cat-and-mouse approach to its PvP gameplay. A VFX reel posted by FXVille in 2020 is the closest that fans can get to watching cutscenes from the scrapped Black Ops 4 campaign.
Moreover, Black Ops 4’s post-launch content was supposed to include new seasons of story DLC, three missions apiece, making it the first Call of Duty to have post-launch content that wasn’t multiplayer or Zombies-focused. Speaking of Zombies, Career mode allegedly had plans to tie into Zombies and serve as a sequel to Black Ops 3’s Nightmares mode, using the original Zombies AI and introducing unique enemies. Purpletoaster20 reports that many of the scrapped Zombies concepts eventually found their way to Black Ops Cold War’s Outbreak mode. The user ends by reiterating that they will post a 30-minute-long video on August 18, diving deeper into Career mode, detailing story beats, the ending, and specialist arcs.
Purpletoaster20’s original post is still up on Reddit at the time of this writing and is extensive in its research and compilation of seemingly legitimate artwork and design schematics. Much of their reporting is in line with rumors of the time stating that Black Ops 4 would be adopting a live-service model with a hero focus to compete with the growing popularity of Overwatch. Although ultimately scrapped, it would have been interesting to see how Career mode would have been received by the community seeing as its concepts are unique and haven’t been attempted again in any later Call of Duty entries. For more details, players will have to wait until August 18 for the full breakdown.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Reddit
