The Call of Duty Zombies community is in an interesting place following the debut of Call of Duty: Vanguard. While Treyarch attempted to do something fresh with Der Anfang, the experiment was not successful, as the objective-based mode stripped away many classic features fans had come to love. While some things are interesting, like the Altar of Covenants and the hub area, the mode has failed to take off.
While Treyarch is attempting to win players back with the addition of some Wonder Weapons, a main quest, and a new map called Terra Maledicta, the style of the mode will likely prevent players from connecting with this new location. However, one thing that Terra Maledicta is absolutely doing right is its setting. While the map will feature arenas in the desert, its main setting is the Dark Aether. Terra Maledicta should only be the first of many trips to this alternate dimension, however, as a future Outbreak map could make even better use of the location.
Terra Maledicta’s Promising Look
While the concept of the Stalingrad hub area was interesting, the area itself drew criticism from Der Anfang players. This is because the map was simply a reskinned version of Red Star from Call of Duty: Vanguard multiplayer, with Treyarch also reusing Shi No Numa’s main hut and the Merville farms from the Vanguard campaign. With no new assets, players did not feel like they were playing a proper Zombies map.
Fortunately, Terra Maledicta seems to be a direct response to this criticism, as the new play space sees players thrust into the Dark Aether. Given that the name for the current Call of Duty Zombies narrative is the Dark Aether story, the area is as important as it gets. Home to the undead hordes, giant creatures like Orda, and powerful entities like Kortifex, the parallel dimension is intriguing and ripe for future content. However, players only briefly visited it in Die Maschine, with the Dark Aether constantly talked about but hardly explored.
Terra Maledicta is taking Zombies fans to the Corrupted Lands, a part of the Dark Aether with a red sky and massive crystals floating in the air. The location looks like a place where the new enemy Zaballa The Deceiver would reside, with the area’s demonic look standing out clearly. Entering another realm is huge for the Dark Aether storyline, as one of the biggest criticisms about the new Zombies universe is how grounded the maps have been. Terra Maledicta’s hub map does not look generic in the slightest, and with it being so interesting, it should only be the beginning of Dark Aether-focused maps.
Realizing The Potential of Outbreak
Considering that the Dark Aether is an entire dimension, there is undoubtedly a lot for players to explore behind this one map. With so much ground to cover, it is hard to think of a better way to explore the Dark Aether than through Call of Duty Zombies’ Outbreak mode. The popular attempt at an open world Zombies mode from Black Ops Cold War, while not perfect, could make great use of the setting.
One of the biggest criticisms about the original version of Outbreak was the Ural Mountains play space. This is because, much like Der Anfang’s use of Stalingrad, the areas were all reused assets from multiplayer. Gamers did not feel like they were playing a unique Zombies map filled with details and secrets like Mob of the Dead, as the mode always felt like Zombies were just being thrown into a Fireteam map. The Dark Aether would instantly fix this problem, as players would have some unique areas to explore that they cannot find in any other Call of Duty mode.
Letting players travel between different Dark Aether zones like the purple area from Die Maschine or Terra Maledicta’s Corrupted Lands would be an excellent place to start, with Treyarch showing more and more layers of the Dark Aether as the mode expands through post-launch Seasons. Players would actually look forward to searching every area, as instead of some random Russian architecture, they would be seeing structures build by human survivors and the demonic entities that inhabit the Dark Aether.
Beyond being a needed visual change for Outbreak, a Dark Aether play space could allow Treyarch to go all out with unique objectives. In the original version of the mode, the scope was limited to experiments being performed by Requiem. In a Dark Aether-focused Outbreak map, players could be tasked with learning more about the dimension and rescuing trapped survivors. Assisting NPCs, completing puzzles to get rare weapons made by Dark Aether entities, and exploring never-before-seen monuments could be some of the many unique activities for players to do.
Alongside the freedom to engage with activities that are more interesting than Dragon Rockets and chest opening, more unique enemies could instantly be introduced. This is already being seen with the addition of Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Zaballa The Deceiver enemy type, but the sky is the limit for Dark Aether entities of all kinds. Players can find hulking threats on par with the Forsaken when exploring, or stumble upon mini bosses that range from the Abomination to Mimics. Any Zombies enemy type from the past could appear in the Dark Aether, guaranteeing that players have no idea what to expect when they explore. Even little details like Outbreak’s fishing mechanic could allow players to collect different creatures from the Dark Aether, learning more about the strange dimension.
While some found Outbreak boring, those complaints stemmed from the reused areas players had to explore, a lack of side easter eggs, and a predictable gameplay loop. These flaws are fixable, and with the mode played by many despite its issues, there is clearly some interest in the concept of open world Zombies. Considering that the Dark Aether could use a large map to be properly fleshed out, and with Outbreak needing a more interesting area for players to explore, the two seem like a perfect match. As such, when Call of Duty 2023 comes around, Outbreak should return and a Dark Aether map should serve as its setting.
