This article contains spoilers for theCall of Duty: Black Opsseries.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is set to launch on October 25, with fans soon having access to the game’s ambitious campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies offerings. Treyarch has maintained throughout the development of the upcoming title that it is centered around a focus on tradition with a lot of respect being paid to the history of the sub-franchise, and this appears to be quite evident in the game’s campaign.
The single-player campaign forCall of Duty: Black Ops 6follows the same penchant for shady global secrets and undercover operations as the rest of the sub-franchise, with many of the most famous faces from pastBlack Opsgames holding prominent narrative roles. Elements of past titles likeBlack Ops,Black Ops 2, andBlack Ops Cold Warwill be deeply relevant to the story ofBlack Ops 6, and players should be familiar with the sub-franchise’s complex narrative history to fully enjoy the story thatBlack Ops 6has to offer.
The Campaign For Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is 14 Years in the Making
As the name of the franchise suggests,Black Opshas always been rooted in espionage and off-the-books clandestine operations, often involving some of the most powerful governments in the world. The series often ties its narratives to real-world events, with the opening of 2010’sBlack Opsshowcasing a botched assassination of Cuban President Fidel Castro in the 1960s.The protagonist of this firstBlack Opstitle, Alex Mason, was captured during this mission and brainwashed by high-ranking Russian officials.
This first introduces the concept of sleeper agents to theBlack Opsfranchise, which would go on to define a lot of its later narratives. Mason andother majorBlack Opscharacter Frank Woodsfought extensively in Vietnam, with both men being chosen to become CIA operatives due to their skill in the field. This saw Mason and Woods come into contact with CIA handlers like Jason Hudson and Russell Adler, with Adler leading the men throughout the events of the 2020 titleBlack Ops Cold War.
Cold War’s narrative largely centered around the tracking down and elimination of an enigmatic Soviet spy named Perseus, who played a hand in real-world events like the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979.Cold Warmainly takes place during the early 1980s, with Perseus attempting to crack the detonation codes for neutron bombs that have been placed around key locations across Europe. The true identity of Perseus is eventually revealed through the repressedmemories ofCold War’s protagonist, Bell, who is also revealed to be a sleeper agent, this time being brainwashed by the CIA itself.
Black Ops 6 Will Finally Fill in the Blanks of Black Ops 2’s Narrative
This brings the franchise to the events of 2012’sBlack Ops 2, which features many narrative sequences set in the late 1980s alongside its primary semi-futuristic setting of 2025. The mainantagonist of this game is cartel leader Raul Menendez, who yearns for revenge against Woods due to the accidental killing of his sister in another botched assassination attempt. Menendez gets his revenge during the Panama Invasion of 1989, tricking Woods into executing a masked Mason before killing Hudson and leaving Woods physically disabled.
Black Ops 6finally adds on to this timeline of events, taking place primarily during the early 1990s. Woods, now reliant on the use of a wheelchair, is forced out of the field and into intelligence operations. Russell Adler is wrongly framed as one of Menendez’s moles in the CIA, forcing him to go rogue and warn Woods and his protege, Troy Marshall, that the upper levels of the agency have been infiltrated by a group named Pantheon. Woods and Adler then work together to form an unofficial task force to uncover this conspiracy and clear their names, bringing the last 14 years of the BlackOpsnarrative up to its most recent point.
