This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s campaign
Call of Dutycampaigns have dipped their toes into the horror genre once or twice, but it’s often focused on portraying the horrors of war. Pastentries likeCall of Duty: WW2haven’t refrained from showing the brutality and futility of war, and each game in the series has its fair share of harrowing, violent moments. ButCall of Duty: Black Ops 6takes a slightly different approach, choosing to focus on more psychological scares.
Without spoiling too much,Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warfeatured a mission that saw the player controlling a character in the midst of an identity crisis, leading to some mind-bending gameplay.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6takes these themes one step further, bringing two missions to the table that focus on psychological horror, one of which feels like a sort of love letter to the franchise’s Zombies mode.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s ‘Emergence’ Feels Like a Love Letter to Zombies
Taking place about halfway throughCall of Duty: Black Ops 6’s campaign, ‘Emergence’ sees Frank Woods' team of rogue black ops agents hunt down an old CIA research facility in Kentucky in the hopes of finding out more about the mysterious bioweapon known as “The Cradle.” Upon reaching the facility, player-character William “Case” Calderon falls down an elevator shaft, isolating him from the rest of the team.
Upon hitting the bottom of the shaft, Case’s gas mask breaks, and he’s forced to breathe in an unknown green gas. The psychoactive effects of the gas soon start to rear their head, as the mannequins surrounding Case begin to move whenever he turns his back. The player will eventually find themselves in a grand atrium, and they’re told they need to find four keys to access the elevator that will reunite them with their team.
‘Emergence’ Is Essentially a Narrative-Led Zombies Mission
Right as that objective appears, players will hear a cohort of guttural noises behind them. Turning around will bring the player face-to-face with a small horde of undead researchers and facility workers, who they’ll need to dispatch with their equipped axe.
The following 20-30 minutes sees the player embark on what is essentially a narrative-led, single-playerCall of Duty Zombiesexperience. Players will need to make their way to the four passkeys strewn throughout the facility, battling waves of hallucinated zombies between each one. To obtain each key, the player needs to fight a mini boss, each one taken fromBlack Ops 6’s Zombies mode, or seemingly referencing apastCall of Duty Zombiesantagonist.
Players will face off against a Mangler, an Abomination, and a monster who can suddenly turn invisible and hide in objects, which could be a shadowy version of Terminus' Amalgam boss. The final boss players fight inCall of Duty: Black Ops 6’s ‘Emergence’ map is a floating undead researcher who wields a yellow lightning attack. While this boss doesn’t have a 1:1 comparison, it could be a subtle reference to Avogadro, the electric-based boss fromBlack Ops 2’s TranZitandBlack Ops 4’s Alpha Omega.
At one point in ‘Emergence’, a zombie scientist flies past the player as they open a door, which could be a reference to Five’s Pentagon Thief.
‘Emergence’ Features a Direct Reference to a Famous Kino der Toten Easter Egg
But by far the most overt reference toCall of Duty Zombies' long history inBlack Ops 6’s ‘Emergence’ comes during the mission’s third boss fight. As the aforementioned invisible boss appears for the first time, long-timeCall of Dutyfans are treated to a powerful blast of nostalgia, as the opening riff to the beloved song115begins to play.
Written by Kevin Sherwood and originally performed by Elena Siegman,115was first heard all the way back in 2009 as the death screen music for theCall of Duty: World at Warmap Der Riese. A full version of115could then be heard on theCall of Duty: Black Opsmap Kino der Toten, where it acted as the map’s musical Easter egg.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
WHERE TO PLAY
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
