While many were hoping that Call of Duty: Vanguard Season 2 would serve as a turning point for the game’s Zombies mode, that has unfortunately not been the case. After all the time fans spent waiting for the Ray Gun, it proved to be incredibly weak upon release. The other new Wonder Weapon turned out to be lacking, too, while the Zaballa mini boss’s immunity phases have made it an annoyance to fight.
However, the biggest source of disappointment is the main easter egg of Terra Maledicta. For the first time in years, Zombies launched without a main quest, and fans were stuck waiting until Call of Duty: Vanguard Season 2 for it to debut. Unfortunately, that patience was not rewarded with a memorable quest on par with classics like Der Eisendrache. The easter egg for Terra Maledicta is a letdown in a few major ways, and it is hard not to be concerned about future Zombies modes offering similar quests.
Why Terra Maledicta’s Story Quest is So Lackluster
Perhaps the biggest downside to Call of Duty: Vanguard’s first main quest is its length. Players can complete the easter egg in around 15 minutes once the map has been opened up, as there are no clever puzzles to solve or unique challenges to complete. Instead, players activate some runes, shoot some crystals, and complete objectives that they would see in their normal matches. While the final step offers something slightly different, as players need to slam four connecters with the Decimator shield, this is a slog due to the long recharge time on the shield.
Another issue with the easter egg is how easy it is, as players will be able to fly through the quest with no trouble whatsoever. While it is nice that lengthy guides are no longer needed like with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s quests, players needing to put in no effort to complete the easter egg is not exactly fun. Unfortunately, the main quest’s rewards are not worthwhile, either. While the talking Decimator shield looks interesting, it has only one ability. Further, the only thing players get for the quest is a couple of crates, which can just be looted between objectives normally. Given how easy the quest is, though, these rewards may be appropriate.
The final downside to Terra Maledicta’s main quest is the amount of downtime it has. More-so than any other easter egg, players are standing around and waiting for the story to progress. While it is entertaining to hear the Dark Aether Entities interacting a bit, standing around and waiting for a portal to open while they talk for a few minutes is quite boring - especially for those not invested in the story of Vanguard Zombies. While dialogue between the entities is a good thing, playing it while players are actually completing tasks would be a lot better than how it is used in Terra Maledicta.
Terra Maledicta Does Away With Black Ops Cold War’s Improvements
When Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War made its debut, Treyarch discussed its choice to make Zombies’ easter eggs easier. This was understandable given how convoluted they were before, with the complexity of the quests ensuring that a vast majority of Zombies players never engaged with the content at all. With so much effort going into the creation of the quests, it makes sense that Treyarch would want more players to actually experience them.
While Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies had significantly easier easter eggs, they still required some degree of puzzle solving. Players could complete them without a guide by searching the map thoroughly and making good use of the hints provided by Treyarch, but they were never as simple as touching some runes and surviving some objectives. While none of the quests were wildly long, all took more time than Terra Maledicta to finish. They also featured varied steps, from trapping an ethereal monkey to stopping a train with the robot Klaus.
Most of all, some of Black Ops Cold War’s easter eggs provided a proper challenge. Forsaken’s Valentina boss fight and Outbreak’s Legion encounter were some of the most difficult battles in the mode’s history, after all. While there is still hope that Call of Duty: Vanguard’s future quests could become more difficult going forward, as Die Maschine’s quest was simple and lacked a boss, there is a chance that they stay simplistic. This would be a shame, especially if Treyarch takes a similar route with Call of Duty 2023.
Why Terra Maledicta’s Main Quest is Worrying For Call of Duty 2023
For the last two Call of Duty Zombies offerings, a trend has been established where easter eggs have gotten significantly easier. If this pattern continues in Call of Duty 2023, there could be so much handholding that players are given an objective marker telling them exactly where to go to carry out the main quest. This would be a huge shame, as while accessibility is worth keeping in mind, part of the fun is searching a map for secrets and finding something special in every room. One of Black Ops Cold War’s biggest downsides was how quick the easter egg hunts were, as everything had been found in days. In Vanguard’s case, everything had been found in Terra Maledicta before release, proving even more problematic.
There is also the worrying trend that Vanguard has started where a Call of Duty Zombies easter egg is not present with the launch of a new game. Getting more half-finished experiences in Call of Duty 2023 would be a devastating blow for the already fractured community, though it is not out of the realm of possibility. It is easy to imagine a scenario where a new map launches at the start of the Season and the main quest is held until the midseason Reloaded update, with Zombies losing even more of its identity due to the Seasonal approach.
Hopefully, Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies and the Terra Maledicta main quest are not a sign of what the future will look like. In Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies, Treyarch almost found the perfect balance, as the initial hunt lasting longer was all that was missing from the game’s main quests. Fortunately, the Black Ops Cold War team will be working on Call of Duty 2023 Zombies, so hopefully it will fall more in line with the older versions of the mode. Not only are gamers missing round-based content, but many are yearning for the easter eggs of old as well.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
