Is Call of Duty Warzone back? It’s a simple enough question, sure, but as we chase the highs of Verdansk and the first stint of this battle royale shooter, it’s one we often find difficult to answer. Well, until now, anyway. Call of Duty has just dropped a dramatic new Warzone Urzikstan trailer and – when you consider everything else we know about how this battle royale will play out alongside Modern Warfare 3 this year – it’s hard not to see that the future is bright for the first time in a long time.
Despite its issues, Warzone is still one of the best battle royale games out there right now, perhaps only saved in recent months by its decent gameplay and the fact that it’s still intrinsically linked to the current Call of Duty game on Xbox and PS5. Now, though, with some truly wild Warzone perk changes on the way – alongside the new Warzone map shown off in the trailer down below – it really does look like Call of Duty is finally making some major (and meaningful) improvements when the MW3 Season 1 release date rolls around – an update which introduces all the new Warzone content, too. Improvements that will cement its spot on that aforementioned list, win fans favor back, and maybe even earn it a place among the best FPS games available at the moment.
As you can see for yourself down below in the trailer confirming the new Warzone map release date for December 6, the introduction of Urzikstan to the battle royale really does seem like the dramatic return to form that players need; they’ve been losing faith in Warzone steadily since Caldera (which, shockingly, was around two years ago now).
Yeah, that’s one good trailer – huh. But, you shouldn’t just take Call of Duty’s word for all of this. Urzikstan features a wonderful array of POIs for players to pilfer, with trains and tunnels aplenty. The map’s urban areas feature towering highrise buildings perfect for taking advantage of some of the best Warzone guns available (especially SMGs) and the outskirts of Urzikstan feature more open environments undoubtedly suited to any sniper rifles that infiltrate the Warzone meta.
Then, you have the Seaport District which bears striking resemblance to the Verdansk Port POI and unique buildings like the Abtal Academy and Shahin Manor that promise exciting locations for the final circle to fall. Sure, there are still some areas reminiscent of Al Mazrah and Caldera, but – wholistically – it looks like Urzikstan is going to deliver on the nostalgia we have for Verdansk in the same way the MW3 maps deliver on the nostalgia we have for 2009’s Modern Warfare 2.
If you’re someone who has been enjoying Modern Warfare Zombies in Modern Warfare 3, you would have already seen a fair bit of Urzikstan – this open-world Zombies mode is set on the same map. However, you really shouldn’t let that experience impact your approach to Urzikstan in a battle royale environment. The way you navigate POIs will be entirely different and, rather importantly, you won’t need to run for your life all the time – although, with this battle royale’s closing gas circles, you might not want to stick around in any one spot for too long.
Call of Duty is also, once more, going back to the original Gulag format and formula for Warzone Season 1. While we don’t know how long that will last, it’s certainly another box ticked when it comes to Warzone’s return to form. Two-player Gulags were a nice idea on paper, for example, but overly complicated and ultimately unnecessary when it comes to providing players with a chance to get back into a game after death.
If you want to know what else this next update has to offer you, you’ll be pleased to know (if you’re a horror fan) that Warzone Season 1 will see more Evil Dead content available and the new MW3 Vortex mode brings a little bit of Zombies flair to free-for-all in the current Call of Duty multiplayer mode. Urzikstan may take a little getting used to when it drops, but this Season 1 update is without a doubt an improvement on the Season 1 update we got with Modern Warfare 2 last year and it’s hard to argue with that.