The recent launch ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6has gripped the industry, with the game enjoying some very impressive player-counts and being lauded by many as the project that put the wider franchise back on the right track. While players have been delving into the full offerings of the game’s core multiplayer and Zombies, the campaign of the title is a particular focal point of positive feedback.
A lot of eyes have been onCall of Duty: Black Ops 6for quite some time due to the four years of development it has under its belt, with this being an unusually long time for the annual release schedule of the wider franchise. This slow and steady approach has seemingly worked wonders for the game’s campaign, which itself made a lot of big creative decisions that have set it apart from the likes ofModern Warfare 3and its sub-franchise predecessor,Cold War. One massive example of this isBlack Ops 6’s choice to not feature multiple campaign endings, with this having been a huge part ofCold War, and this decision is quite a bittersweet one for the recently released title.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s Lack of Multiple Endings Has Its Pros and Cons
While theModern Warfareseries has become renowned for its high-octane and largely linear stories over the years, theBlack Opsfranchise has leaned more into mind-bending sequences and branching narrative paths with its stories. Both of these sub-franchises are constantly in competition to stamp their own identity on the widerCall of Dutyname, and one of the main ways in whichBlack Opshas set itself apart fromMWover the years is its penchant for multiple endings.
Thismethod of storytelling was employed as early as 2012’sBlack Ops 2, with the game boasting a massive campaign with a whopping eight unique endings. Not only did this give much more weight to the player’s actions, it gave a huge amount of replayability to the campaign by encouraging a number of repeat playthroughs.
AlthoughBlack Ops 3featured only one ending to its campaign,2020’sBlack Ops Cold Warreturned the franchise to the concept of branching narratives. Dialing things back a bit from the immense variety ofBlack Ops 2,Cold Waronly featured three distinct endings, once again adding a level of interactivity to its campaign that is extremely difficult to replicate with one singular and unavoidable ending.
The Risk of Black Ops 6’s Singular Ending Paid Off
DespiteBlack Ops 6taking a lot of inspiration from the roots of the franchise, the game boldly decided to only feature one ending to its campaign. While this may hurt the overall replayability of the campaign,Black Ops 6still does well to flesh its single-player out with optional objectives and mechanics, with players perhaps being tempted to play through the game again with a focus on improving the Safe House to the max level, for example.
The lack of multiple endings also does wonders from a canon perspective, withCold Warnow having a clear “true” ending despite its variety. Even manyelements ofBlack Ops 2have been canonized thanks to the story ofBlack Ops 6, and the recent title sticking to one solid narrative ensures that there are no questions over the authenticity and impact of its own events and characters. Some of the best narratives to come from theBlack Opsfranchise have adhered to singular endings, such as its debut release, andBlack Ops 6has once again proven how effective this more traditional storytelling method can be. While it would have been nice to have different endings within the context of repeat playthroughs,Black Ops 6’s singular narrative has still shaped up to be an excellent addition to the franchise.
