After months and months of speculation and leaks, the next Call of Duty game was finally revealed as Vanguard this week.
Heading back to World War II, Vanguard's development is led by Sledgehammer Games and will feature all of the series' most popular modes, from a Campaign to Zombies and more.
As expected, it will also be tied into the hugely popular Warzone, bringing the new (also old I guess) weapons to the battle royale.
With high profile streamers and many more causal players dropping off Warzone in the past few weeks, due to a lack of new content and consistent hacking problems, Vanguard needed to do more than look great on its own.
Thankfully, Vanguard's reveal, and the news that came alongside it, have us excited for the future of Warzone, which will hopefully see a massive resurgence as we approach 2022.
Warzone Vanguard Reveal Event
Yes, the central Vanguard reveal event, known in-game as Battle of Verdansk, was pretty terrible.
Land, shoot RPGs at a train for 15 minutes, run 80 yards, the end - that was the long and short of it.
Aside from the bombardment at the end, it was unspectacular, and shooting a slow moving train for so long simply isn't fun.
Running around hectically finding blueprints and gadgets against the clock, as you did in the Black Ops Cold War reveal event in 2020, is a much better format.
The 32 players didn't even have any influence on how the Battle for Verdansk played out. No matter how much damage was done and how quickly it was done, the train still stopped at exactly the same part of the map. Standing still and waiting for the trailer would be just as helpful.
I can't quite believe Raven reverted back to such as basic format after the success of last year's reveal event.
Anyway, it was the Vanguard trailer that followed the Battle for Verdansk that really stood out. It was an impressive showcase of what's to come on November 5.
Vanguard looks spectacular, varied, beautiful, and a lot of fun. A return to WW2 isn't something that excites everyone, but it'd be tough to not be a little hyped after watching that trailer.
New Map & Anti-Cheat
It was the news that surrounded the reveal that was most exciting, particular to those Call of Duty fans who have been unable to put Warzone down over the past 18 months.
Activision announced that a brand new map and PC anti-cheat system would be coming to the battle royale later in the year.
We expect the former to drop shortly after Vanguard's release, once Season 1 begins, as to not take attention away from the new game, but that should only be a few weeks later.
Come late November, we should be running around a brand new map without having to worry about hackers, solving the two biggest problems that have plagued Warzone for months.
Both are arriving far too late, but it makes the future of Warzone very exciting. Being able to experience the game's first significant piece of new content in a cheat free environment should only make the refresh more enjoyable.
Even if players are taking a couple of months break from Warzone right now, post Vanguard's release will be the perfect time to come back feeling rejuvenated.
Vanguard's reveal has me excited for the future of Call of Duty and Warzone's inevitable resurgence.