Game-changing events are shaking things up in Call of Duty: Warzone, including one that resurrects all defeated players.
The highly anticipated Season 4 of content finally arrived for Modern Warfare and Warzone on June 11, launching across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC after a brief delay during the nationwide protests over police brutality.
Season 4 brings new modes to play, as well as more pieces to the ongoing narrative within multiplayer and battle royale. Captain Price, a lead character in Modern Warfare’s campaign, is now an Operator that can be unlocked via Season 4’s battle pass. And for the battle royale mode Warzone, this new season brings an interesting twist of spontaneous in-match “events” that can drastically alter the fight.
Three different event types have now been introduced into Call of Duty’s battle royale, and they can occur randomly during mid-match. Only one event will occur per match, but you’ll never know which one you’re getting. These events can happen any time after the first loadout drop arrives and before the Gulag closes its doors.
The most impactful, and potentially frustrating, event will likely be “Jailbreak.” This revives all the players that were previously defeated and put into the Gulag, meaning that everyone who started the match will come back into the fray. Having somebody you killed come back to haunt you can be frustrating in a battle royale game, but I like this idea for enticing random teammates to stick around after death. Far too many times, I’ve had randoms die and rage-quit the match instead of waiting to see if I could pocket enough cash to pay for their revival at a Buy Station. Maybe the hope of a Jailbreak would keep dead friendlies spectating the game. There’s also a one-minute notice before this event starts, so players can scrounge up some weapons and equipment for their returning allies.
Another random event, “Fire Sale,” doesn’t give any such warning, but it will deeply discount almost anything that can be purchased from the Buy Stations. Buying back a dead teammate is free during this time. The only item that won’t go on clearance is the Loadout Drop, because these pricey custom loadouts are already a huge advantage. Prices of everything else can vary from 80 percent off to completely free during the Fire Sale. I watched a player with a meager 6,000 cash stand at a Buy Station and purchase four UAVs and a Precision Airstrike. Normally, that budget would’ve only allowed them one of those items, but they just stood there making purchase after purchase. The sale only lasts for 60 seconds, but it makes the Buy Stations a deadly place to be when the event starts.
Finally, the “Supply Chopper” event will fly in a heavily-armored chopper that basically plays the part of a giant piñata. It is non-lethal, but carries “high quality loot” for players to earn if they can destroy it. The chopper will only stick around for a brief time, and it takes a lot of bullets and rockets to shoot it down. This can be a game changer for resource-poor players who just returned from their trip to the Gulag or got unlucky with their initial loot search.
These new events span across all Warzone playlists, and they can quickly alter your odds of survival. So far, Jailbreak seems to be having a bigger impact on team-based matches than on solo ones. Most players tend to quit when they permanently die in Solo, so they’re not even around when the Jailbreak does hit. I’m still always on the lookout for players parachuting down into my area, but the skies look clear after a Jailbreak in solo. Then again, this might change in the coming days as players learn that death no longer means death when Jailbreak is in play.
In addition to these new spontaneous events, there’s also the new “Warzone Rumble” mode, which is basically just large-scale team deathmatch. It’s played as 50 versus 50 on smaller sections of Warzone’s Verdansk map. This might be fun for those looking for larger team deathmatch games with new scenery, but won’t scratch the itch for battle royale.
Many players were expecting Season 4 to kick off with something more drastic for Warzone. Some speculated the dam would break, missiles would strike parts of the map, or zombies would rise from the earth. The teased bunker Easter egg is still an ongoing narrative, so it’s uncertain what will happen with the nuke and missiles found within those secret rooms. Intel missions have also been added to Warzone, which sends you looking for intel pieces that seem tied into the storyline and bunker Easter egg hunt.
So while Warzone’s narrative continues to slowly build, and signs are still pointing to a change of landscape when the action finally unfolds, it doesn’t seem like that’ll be happening until a much later date.