One of the more popular innovations made in Activision's first-person shooter battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone is the Gulag: An area that players are sent to after they die to take part in a 1v1 firefight for a chance at revival. Call of Duty: Warzone's Gulag is popular enough, in fact, that its influence has begun spreading to other games like the sandbox building title Minecraft.
A Reddit user named leonejedi uploaded an image of their recreation of the Gulag, something of a decrepit communal bathroom, made in Minecraft to both the r/CODWarzone and r/Minecraft subreddits. They say that "not everyone who plays Minecraft knows the Gulag, but everyone who plays Warzone knows Minecraft," which seems like a fair reason to try and bridge both communities.
In their post to r/CODWarzone, leonejedi talks about how the Minecraft project created in survival mode (meaning it used no spawned objects) resembles its Warzone counterpart in function as well, since they put a spawn point there to ensure it's where they would go after death. Warzone players have discovered tricks to revive without the Gulag, but this is still a clever nod to the area's official purpose.
While leonejedi says in the comments of their post that they don't typically enjoy pixel-art games, Minecraft and Terraria are exceptions because they offer the same satisfaction of playing with LEGOs without being nearly as expensive. In fact, they say they are interested in potentially making more Warzone-inspired creations in Minecraft because this one turned out better than they'd hoped.
With the recent release of Minecraft's long-anticipated Nether update, there is plenty more content for fans of the sandbox game to enjoy and build with. The new additions to the game include multiple biomes within the Nether that contain mobs like Piglins and Striders, blocks like crying obsidian, mechanics like respawn anchors, and a new Netherite ore more powerful than the game's tried-and-true diamonds.
At the same time, Warzone and its mainline equivalent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare are also continuing to receive new content and cycling playlists, with one of Warzone's recent updates suggesting zombies may be added to the battle royale. The Minecraft Gulag created by leonejedi certainly seems like a nice way to bridge the gap between these disparate gaming giants, so it will be interesting to see if they do more soon.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
