Warzone 2: Everything We Know So Far

Warzone is perhaps one of the most successful battle royale games out there. Fans love the familiar feel of a COD game mixed with the exciting battle royale mode. But, like most things, the game does have its flaws, and Activision hopes to improve those with its new iteration of the game, Warzone 2.0. With that said, here is everything we know so far about Warzone 2!

Game Engine Upgrades

Warzone has been around for quite some time now, and that has given Activision a lot of data, allowing them to understand their fanbase more clearly. Because of that, they’ll likely have a better idea of what the community expects from Warzone 2.

Because of that, the developers have made changes to their game engine and added some improvements. NPCs will act more realistically and try to replicate how a human player would react in situations. For example, when entering a new area, they’ll check their angles.

Additionally, swimming mechanics have been improved in Warzone 2. Players will be able to dive underwater and shoot enemies with their secondary weapons. Although that cannot be done in real life, it still makes for a great mechanic and can allow you to come up with creative strategies.

Moreover, the way that vehicles act has also been altered. Instead of instantly blowing up, they will have stages of damage. Bumpers, doors, and tires can be destroyed before the vehicle becomes completely useless.

Furthermore, you’ll be able to lean out the windows and shoot at enemies. This feature is available not just to the passengers of the car but also to the driver. All of these aspects will certainly lead to more exciting gameplay! If you’re a fan of fantasy games, then consider reading more about this upcoming game: Forspoken.

Warzone 2 Release Date

Like the first Warzone, Warzone 2 will also be an extension of another Call of Duty game. This time around, it is the extension of Modern Warfare 2, and they have been getting developed side-by-side. There have been various rumors and reports, and here’s everything we know about Warzone 2’s release date.

There was a lot of speculation on when the game would be released. But finally, Activision announced it during their Call of Duty Next presentation. The game will be arriving on November 16, 2022, just a few weeks after the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. 

Warzone 2 Platforms

If you didn't watch the stream, here's what I've heard on Warzone 2.

It's IW's Warzone map that is set to be a "clean slate" for Warzone and was scheduled to release in Holiday 22.

"Clean slate" meaning starting again, scrapping everything like weapons, operators etc.

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) January 27, 2022

It was rumored and almost expected that Warzone 2 would leave behind the PS4 and Xbox One generation to take advantage of the next-gen hardware and give us something advanced. Especially considering that the game seems to perform poorly at times on the old-gen.

But seems like that’s not the case and that Warzone 2 will not only be released for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC but will also be available on PS4 and Xbox One, as confirmed by Activision. Will this mean that the game might get held back due to the limitations of the old gen? It’s hard to say, and we’ll have to wait to get our hands on the game to find out.

But Tom Henderson made another claim regarding platforms and Warzone. According to one of his tweets, there will be two versions of Warzone: Warzone Legacy and Warzone. The former being Warzone 1 and the latter being the sequel. Apparently, the legacy version will continue getting updates even after Warzone 2 drops.

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Progression From Prequel

Many fans have been wondering whether all of their progress in Warzone 1 will carry over to Warzone 2. And the short answer is, no, it will not.

In the same blog that revealed the release date of Modern Warfare 2, Activision also confirmed that the progress that you’ve made in Warzone will not get carried over to the sequel. They claim that it is supposed to be a totally different experience which is why they’d like players to start off on the same page.

So as painful as it might seem, you’d have to give up all of those Operators, stats, weapons, and cosmetics that you might’ve collected over the years in Warzone. But who knows, maybe Activision will listen to the community and offer some sort of reward to those that had spent hours and even real money on certain items.

Warzone 2 Gameplay

At its core, Warzone 2 will remain the first-person shooter mixed with battle royale. But there certainly will be changes to the gameplay; otherwise, the game might just seem like a reskin of Warzone 1. There have been some rumors, and here is everything we know about Warzone 2’s gameplay.

NerosCinema uploaded a video talking about a bunch of leaks and rumors that he heard about regarding the gameplay of the upcoming game. He stated that the game would play more like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Battle Royale mode, Blackout.

According to the Youtuber, players won’t spawn with any armor and will have to equip it by finding themselves a satchel. Additionally, there will be a firing range to test out custom weapons.

Furthermore, NerosCinema claimed that one of the major changes would be in regard to the loadouts. Apparently, they would be harder to attain and will be placed inside “strongholds.”

He claimed that there would be numerous strongholds. “You infiltrate a building and do different things depending on the stronghold. Sometimes you have to defuse a bomb, kill AI, and then you’ll have access to your loadout.”

Are all of these claims true? It’s hard to say, as leaks should almost be taken with a grain of salt. But the well-known leaker Tom Henderson did say that a lot of what was said in the video could be true. Henderson said, “assuming there are some discrepancies because the source can’t remember exact details… But yeah, leak overload inbound, it seems.”

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Better NPCs

Battle Royale games used to just have players going at it against each other. But over time, many games in the genre, such as Fortnite, started including NPCs throughout the map. For example, the NPCs in Fortnite can assign you quests, sell you items, or even attack you.

And it seems like NPCs will play a major role in Warzone 2 as well. However, they don’t seem to be the friendly kind. These NPCs will supposedly be lethal and might protect areas that have cool things. Meaning there might be areas with special loot, and you’d have to take out a bunch of NPCs to get to it.

But as mentioned earlier, NerosCinema did mention strongholds as part of Warzone 2. If that really is the case, then the new NPCs would be a great fit for the stronghold.

Proximity Chat

Many previous games, and even Warzone allowed you to hear your enemies for a few seconds after you killed them. Warzone 2.0 will expand on that system and allow you to talk to anyone in the vicinity using proximity chat.

The chat will allow you not to just talk to your own teammates, but even with the members of the other squads. The game will also introduce “cloud parties” that will allow you to bring on new teammates in case you lose someone right at the start of the game.

Changes To Gulag

The Gulag was a great mechanic in the first game that allowed players to jump back in the map if they got eliminated in the early game. Warzone 2.0 will retain the Gulag but will also add some of its own changes to it.

Instead of it being a free-for-all in the Gulag, you’ll instead get paired up with a random stranger whom you must work with in a 2v2 situation. The proximity chat works nicely in this scenario as you can communicate with your temporary ally.

The Gulag will also be a multileveled arena with AI enemies roaming around as well. Additionally, you can also just take out the Jailer in hopes of getting the keys to escape the Gulag as well!

Warzone 2 Map

One major aspect of Warzone is the map. Players have been in great anticipation for the new map reveal, and there have been a few leaks. Here are all the current details about the Warzone 2 map.

Tom Henderson made a post on Try Hard Guides in which he claimed that he knows what the Warzone 2 map would look like. He posted an image (as seen above) in which he drew out what the map may look like.

As you can see, there seem to be a lot of areas with water. This aligns with the gameplay details in which players can expect to have more fights underwater with the new shooting mechanics. Not only the shooting, but there will also be swimming mechanics to help you escape enemies.

There also might be some borrowed areas from the main Modern Warfare 2. But as of now, it’s not clear how much of a replica those areas will be.

In the northeastern area, we can see the Modern City, which might be a version of Highrise from Modern Warfare 2. But Tom Henderson has also made a post where he talks about all the returning maps; you can check it out here: Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2’s DMZ

There was also a tweet from a Call of Duty leaker, Hope, that claimed that the Warzone 2 map will take inspiration from Medellin, Colombia. If you loved Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, then this article is right up your alley: Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild 2.

Al Mazrah

And surprise, surprise, most of the leaks about the map were actually accurate. As confirmed by the devs themselves, the new map will be called Al Mazrah. This news might be unfortunate for those that were looking forward to playing in Verdansk, Caldera, Rebirth Island or Fortune’s Keep.

However, the new map sounds really amazing from everything that we’ve gotten to know so far. The map mixes a bunch of different geographies such as industrial areas, different-sized towns, and even a city.

But at its core, Al Mazrah will be a desert map with many point-of-interests such as a river and 18 other locations that you can visit. According to infinity ward, Al Mazrah might be one of the biggest maps that they’ve ever made.

And those that are nostalgic about the previous maps, there will still be certain areas such as Airport, Quarry, and the Observatory included in the new map.

Third Person Mode

Battle Royale games just feel much better when you’re playing them in the third person. You can easily look out for incoming enemies, spot loot from miles away, and just overall have a better time.

Which is exactly why Warzone 2.0 will consist of a third-person mode, but it’s not exactly what you might be thinking of. You see, if you mix first-person and third person with each other, those that are playing in third person will likely win due to the angle advantages.

That is why Warzone 2.0 will consist of a totally separate mode with a third-person view. The new view will definitely go nicely with the different gameplay mechanics that Warzone 2.0 is going to introduce with its new engine.

With that, you now know everything that there is to know about Warzone 2.0 so far! It’s looking promising with many long-desired changes! But we’ll have to stick around to truly judge if Warzone 2.0 lives up to the hype or not. 

Learned From Their Mistakes

If you’re doubtful that Activision might not make many improvements in Warzone 2, then we have a few instances where it was quite apparent that the developers have noticed many of the issues with the first game.

According to a post by CharlieIntel, in February 2022, Warzone’s developers admitted that they messed up with Warzone and straight up called the state of the game “embarrassing.”

The Activision Game Director, Josh Bridge, claimed that the developers were not happy with how the game turned out. But now, they’ve learned the upper limits of their technology while trying to include other COD games with Warzone.

The developers claimed that trying to turn Warzone into the “future” of Call of Duty titles caused “significant development challenges” and made the free-to-play game lose its identity as well as suffer from major issues.

But, in a blog post, the team has said that they are determined to fix all of the issues that are in the game. As they said in the post, “Naturally, we have exciting plans in the works across the franchise this year, but currently, the team’s focus is strictly on the Warzone experience we are all playing today, addressing current frustrations, and tackling several important requests from our community.”

Further Gameplay Leaks

Warzone 2 update

NPC's are in the map randomly
Container based looting as well as floor loot
Different sized backpacks (Storage space)
New contracts
Helicopter from HIGHRISE is useable
No more toxic gas coming into the map, its now a dust storm
Tires can be shot out from cars.

— Metaphor (@Metaaphor) September 8, 2022

A well-known leaker, Metaphor, tweeted out some gameplay details that discussed gameplay elements such as NPCs, looting, storage, and a lot more.

According to the leaker, NPCs are going to remain a significant part of the game and will spawn randomly on the map. Furthermore, the looting will follow container-based looting and floor loot, like in many battle royale games.

As we know that the map shrinks, and toxic gas covers the unreachable areas. Now, instead of gas, there will be a dust storm instead of the gas. And for inventory storage, there will be different sizes, so if you want more loot, you’ll have to look for different-sized backpacks.

There were also some details regarding vehicles in a different tweet. The helicopters from HIGHRISE will be usable according to the leaker, and tires can be shot out from cars. Additionally, cars might have limited fuel which could last for certain minutes, perhaps 2 minutes, according to the Metaphor. But you can also refuel by simply going into gas stations.

As for returning vehicles, we’ll likely get the ATV and new additions such as Hummer type SUV tank, hatchback weak/fast, which is basically a civilian car, and the choppers will have a different look.

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