Call of Duty: Black Ops 7‘s campaign is bad. So it’s a shame that the coolest bit of Black Ops 7, a new co-op RPG-meets-extraction-shooter mode called Endgame, is locked behind completing said not-very-good campaign. But that’s changing very soon, according to the game’s developer, Treyarch.
The latest entry in Activision’s long-running FPS franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, launched earlier this week to mixed reviews from fans and critics. While many praised the game’s visuals and zombies mode, its multiplayer feels long in the tooth, and its campaign is a wild, incomprehensible mess that is only fun to play through if you like experiencing expensive trainwrecks. And for some odd reason, Treyarch decided to lock perhaps the best, coolest mode in Black Ops 7, Endgame, behind completion of the campaign.
Currently, you have to complete the campaign to play Endgame or get invited to a lobby created by someone who has already finished the story. It feels like a bad decision, and many players have likely not touched Endgame yet because they don’t want to play (or finish) this year’s terrible campaign. And Treyarch seems to get that it was a regrettable design choice, and will be removing the restriction on November 21.
“We’ve seen an awesome response to Endgame from players who’ve already been dropping in,” tweeted Treyarch. “So we’re making it available to everyone in Black Ops 7.”
We've seen an awesome response to Endgame from players who've already been dropping in, so we're making it available to everyone in #BlackOps7 starting Friday, Nov. 21.
Team up with other players to complete objectives, increase your power, earn unique Weapon Camos, and take on… pic.twitter.com/2igahTPHv6
Endgame is set on the same open-world island map that is found in the campaign. But this time around, you land with nothing and have to complete various challenges, missions, and quests dotted around the large island, either alone or with a few pals.
As you kill enemies, find new loot, and complete activities, you get more powerful and can explore more of the island, with the end goal being to reach the most challenging enemies and powerful loot and then extract before time runs out. Do so, and you can return with all your stuff. Die or fail to leave, and you start over. It’s a very fun mode that takes the excellent and snappy combat of Black Ops 7 and transplants it into a new experience inspired by extraction shooters like Arc Raiders, but which doesn’t feel as punishing as those games tend to be.
As a bonus reward, Treyarch will send out a bunch of XP boosters and Gobblegum packs to players who beat the campaign and started playing Endgame before this change. And that’s cool; I think it’s just nice to give players who suffered through the campaign some sort of gift for their trouble. Regardless, I’m excited to play more Endgame with more people later this week and check out more of the island and what it has to offer.
