Insider Gaming says that the final mission sounds a lot like it will be an extraction-based experience with players needing to complete objectives before exiting the level and, presumably, finishing the game’s final campaign mission, though we’ll have to wait and see just what this all looks like in practice. While I’m always happy to see Call of Duty trying new things and shaking up the formula, I’m not a big fan of locking the game’s final mission behind an internet requirement. Will people be unable to play the last mission in 20-30 years when the servers are dead? Hopefully there’s a backup plan for offline folks.
The merging of campaign and multiplayer like this is reportedly part of a larger push in Black Ops 7 to merge the game’s various modes and offer players full progression across every part of the upcoming shooter, with the idea being that regardless of where you play, even in campaign, you can level up weapons, characters, and the battle pass. That’s a neat idea that seems inspired by Fortnite’s universal progression and XP system, which Epic implemented last year.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 doesn’t have a release date yet, but Xbox and Activision will show off the game’s multiplayer later this month at Gamescom, and that seems like a fine time to announce a launch date. If the past is prologue, I’d expect you’ll be playing Black Ops 7 in October or November.