Warzone 2.0 Release Date Set For November 16!

Since Modern Warfare 2, fans have renewed excitement for the series. It’s no surprise that Call of Duty receives love from the developer. Their anti-cheat measures are a testament to that. Now, we just got word about the Warzone 2.0 release date: November 16.

The original Warzone marked a revolution for the battle royale genre. It introduced agile, fast-paced gameplay. And, custom loadouts and The Gulag offered interesting approaches to an old genre.

It quickly dethroned other giants, like Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds. Today, it’s still one of the most popular games in the FPS space.

With Modern Warfare 2’s first season, we’re also getting Warzone 2.0. The game will be entirely free-to-play. And, it’ll introduce new missions, features, and more. You can find out more in their official post.

For the sake of simplicity, I’ll just summarize the entire thing below.

Gameplay innovations coming with the second Warzone iteration

Loadouts and other features are coming back to Warzone 2.0. But, there’s a lot of new stuff coming for players.

Firstly, we have a brand-new backpack system. It’ll tie in nicely with the DMZ game mode. Now, a player’s backpack works like a loot menu. Players can fit and organize different items there. When you die, you also drop your backpack for others to loot.

The Gulag is also getting a revamp. Now, it’s a 2v2 environment that randomly pairs players. It’s up to them to coordinate and use their predefined loadouts effectively. Defeating the new Jailer AI will return the four prisoners to the map. Otherwise, all operators lose.

Other gameplay additions include open comms as proximity chat. You can interrogate downed enemies to reveal other players. And, larger squads can assimilate smaller opponents.

Finally, we have vehicle changes. Besides two new vehicles, we now have to consider fuel. All vehicles can run out of gas. So, you’ll have to be on the lookout for gas cans or gas stations.

There’s also aquatic combat. Players can sail, swim, and dive to victory now. But, you can’t use your primary weapon while submerged.

The new map and other changes coming with the Warzone 2.0 release date

Al Mazrah is the new war zone. See what I did there? (Image credit: Activision)

When it comes to the environment, we have two major updates. Let’s start with the new map and how it’ll work.

Al Mazrah is central in Modern Warfare 2. So, the main game is already great training for the Warzone 2.0 release date. The battle royale version of Al Mazrah features several multiplayer maps. Al Bagra Fortress, the Embassy, and Taraq are battle royale locations.

Within the map, the storm and safe zones are also changing. Before, safe zones were fairly traditional. The map kept shrinking to a circle somewhere in the map. Now, we must prepare for certain anomalies. Up to three circles can form within the collapse. Yet, they’ll reconcile into a single one. You’ll have to stay on your toes, too. This feature is fully randomized.

Then, we have the new AI combatants.

Yes, you’ll find AI guards in The Gulag. But, that’s not everything.

You can find Strongholds and Black Sites in the battle royale map. You can find their designations in your Tac-Map. So, players are free to choose whether they want to engage these enemies.

Players can raid and disarm bombs in the Strongholds. That unlocks a key to the Black Sites and Custom Loadouts. So, you can earn your custom weapons for free. On the other hand, Black Sites are more dangerous. But, they reward players with Weapon Blueprints and invaluable loot.

Overall, the map will feel more alive and inhabited. You could run into AI factions while fighting or looting. So, they can definitely throw a wrench in your plans. Luckily, that’s not mandatory. The AI won’t actively seek players. You get to decide if you want to engage or ignore them.

More details about the DMZ game mode to be revealed soon

Lastly, we have the new game mode coming to Warzone 2.0: DMZ. It’s, perhaps, one of the most anticipated updates. At least, it is for me. It’s an extraction-based mode. You could compare it to games like Escape from Tarkov.

Essentially, operator squads can complete missions for different factions on the map. It’s completely open-world and narrative-focused. You’ll also have to face AI enemies and other operators during the missions. Of course, you’re also looking for valuable loot around the map.

However, little information has been revealed in the official post. It only mentions that a Tactical Overview will come closer to its launch. So, I’ll make sure to keep you posted once it comes out.

Featured image credit: Activision.