Known for being particularly linear, Call of Duty’s single-player campaigns have always proven to be well-made Hollywood inserts: Black Ops has notably attempted convoluted scenarios, sometimes WTF, and in particular its third opus. Imagine that an open world was simply attempted by the developers…
Call of Duty Black Ops 3 in the open world, the failed trial of Treyarch
Among the many single-player modes of Call of Duty, that of Black Ops 3 was not necessarily the most striking: very futuristic, linear and based on a story that some would describe as “perched”, it nevertheless had the merit of being playable entirely in cooperation (on PS3 and Xbox 360, the game did not even have a campaign…). The most amazing thing, however, is that it almost looked like something really innovative in the iconic saga of Activision.
A few years ago, the well-known Jason Schreier said then that Black Ops III had almost offered a large open-world campaign before being removed and canceled, halfway through development: today, this theory resurfaces with more than tangible proof, thanks to a leak disclosed by a user, on Reddit.. supporting images.
A canceled open world
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Some information is still to be learned from these screenshots of a version in full development and of this canceled open world: several large maps were available with points of interest and several game modes seemed planned, like sabotage , defense or assassinations. A day/night cycle also seemed to be included, while economy and construction mechanics were also in the works.
All this work would nevertheless have been set aside after a year of gestation. A part would then have been reused for the final single-player campaign of the game.
We recall that history was repeating itself for Black Ops 4 : Treyarch had also planned an original story campaign with new mechanics , before experiencing many problems leading to its cancellation… and leading to the total absence of a single player mode in the game. final. On the other hand, the open world of Blackout mode – the first battle royale in the series – was present, proving that the studio had kept this idea of offering a vast environment to explore.