Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 3 has been officially revealed, and plenty of content is set to come to the game over the next few months. Fans have gotten their wishes regarding more 6v6 maps, as three new multiplayer maps will be coming throughout the season. Fans of large-scale modes are getting access to a new multi-team location called Duga, with a new game mode called Elimination coming as well. Even party game fans are getting some love, with Stick and Stones making a return for Season 3.
Despite all these additions that are being made to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War multiplayer, Season 3 is noticeably light on Zombies content. While the addition of new weapons benefits Zombies, and the Cargo Truck and FAV are welcome, none of these additions are game-changing. In fact, based on Season 3’s roadmap, original Zombies content is limited to a new Outbreak location, fresh intel, a Field Upgrade, and gameplay improvements. Looking to be the lightest Season in terms of Zombies content yet, this update may be a worrying sign of what will happen in future Seasons.
The Season 3 Zombies Content
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies’ biggest addition is the new Duga region. Like other Outbreak locations, the map is a multiplayer asset, as Duga is a repurposed multi-team map. It will see players exploring a woodland area around a massive satellite array in the Ural Mountains, and the map should be entertaining enough. Exploring with the Cargo Truck and FAV should help keep things fresh, and the map’s addition results in 5 Outbreak maps — giving the open world mode a decent bit of gameplay variety.
The new Field Upgrade for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies is called Toxic Growth, and it allows players to fire off thorns in the direction of the undead hordes. Movement speed of Zombies is halved by the thorns, with toxic damage also dished out. Upgrades will allow poisoned Zombies to explode, double the damage of the thorns, and give players more charges with them. While interesting, the ability sounds eerily similar to the Hand of Gaia from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Ancient Evil map.
Outside of the Field Upgrade and Outbreak location, though, players are getting some fairly by-the-books addition. While new intel is fun for story fans, it is hardly a game-changer, and Outbreak objectives appearing on all maps is just a quality-of-life feature that makes old maps play better. Being able to access the upgrades for the DIE Shockwave Wonder Weapon in Outbreak is also nice, and the ability to warp to regions faster should speed up matches in a positive way. However, there is very little that is truly new to see in this update, and this pattern may unfortunately continue going forward.
The Lack Of New Survival Maps
While Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War offers some great mechanics in its Zombies mode, its Survival map count is noticeably low. The game only launched with one map, Die Maschine, and players quickly grew tired of mowing down Megatons and Zombies in the old Nazi base. While the addition of Firebase Z in early February seemed like a good sign, this has been the last Survival-related update to come to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies. With only one map on launch and only one DLC release thus far, players are going through a fairly large drought.
While Outbreak is a fine mode, some Zombies fans prefer classic Survival. However, Treyarch has seemingly noticed the mode’s popularity, with Season 2 Reloaded and now Season 3 providing more Outbreak content and updates. While this is great for the fledgling open world offering, Survival content has grown stagnant. With classic, round-based gameplay being the mode’s main draw for over a decade, fans are understandably a bit disappointed to see Survival taking a backseat. While there are many positives to its success, one big negative to Outbreak being so popular is that the classic mode is seemingly getting less support.
While code for a Berlin-based Zombies map has supposedly been seen in the game’s files for some time now, Treyarch has not begun to tease the location. Further, this is the only Survival map left in the code for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, meaning that there is a chance that the game ends with only three original Survival maps. With Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Zombies offering three full maps on launch day — and four if players purchased the Season Pass — this would be a major step down in terms of content. If Treyarch continues to double down on Outbreak, though, it does seem like a genuine possibility, meaning that players could be looking at equally limited Seasons going forward.
A Sign Of What’s To Come In Seasons 4-6?
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 3’s roadmap suggests that no new Survival map is coming this Season, meaning that players should not expect the rumored Berlin location until Season 4. Going by this current pattern, Season 5 would also lack a Survival offering, with Season 6 possibly providing one final Survival map. Even if this turns out to be the case, Zombies fans would be looking at a three-map DLC Season. Not happening since Call of Duty: World at War, Zombies players have seen at least four post-launch maps added to every Treyarch game since 2008. With only one launch map, Zombies fans are seemingly looking at four total Survival maps in the best-case scenario, with three total Survival maps also being a possibility.
While this may be a huge let down for some, it is understandable. Aside from Outbreak seemingly doing well for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the mode is likely far easier for Treyarch to develop. Much like the Toxic Growth Field Upgrade re-uses an old Wonder Weapon ability, Outbreak repurposes the game’s Multi-Team maps. This saves resources and time for Treyarch, as working around a finished map like Sanatorium requires far less effort than making a Zombies-exclusive location from the ground up. While this does have its benefits, as it allows Treyarch to add more Outbreak content at a consistent pace, the new Zombies mode lacks personality because of the reused maps.
Treyarch still has a chance to surprise fans by dropping a new Zombies map in every remaining Season. While this would please fans and create a traditional, four-map DLC cycle, the current focus on expanding and improving Outbreak makes extra Survival content seem less likely. While the rumored, standalone Call of Duty Zombies game could provide plenty of Survival maps, it seems like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies’ future is defined by Outbreak. For fans of the open world style, this is likely a good thing. For those that prefer something more like Die Maschine and Firebase Z, though, Season 3 has painted a bleak picture.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
