Activision and Treyarch recently invited a select group of journalists and content creators out to their California-based offices to get an early sneak peek at the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. While we did get to go hands-on with the multiplayer, that’s something that Activision has requested that we keep under wraps for the time being.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 comes at a strange time in the series for those that have been following the likes of Mason and Menendez over the fifteen years that the Black Ops series has run. Thematically, it looks like a direct continuation of last year’s Black Ops 6, while narratively, it’s actually a sequel to Black Ops 2. As a quick refresher, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 took place across a couple of different timelines, both in the mid to late-80’s as well as the current year of 2025. Black Ops 7 takes those threads planted and brings the story up ten years in the future to the year 2035. Treyarch assured that there wouldn’t be any homework required to get into the narrative of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and rather exists as a narrative throughline for longtime fans of the Call of Duty campaigns to appreciate.
Right off the bat, Treyarch has revealed that they want Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 to be a social and connected experience and started off by showing some sneak peek at what they’re working on for a co-op campaign. From start to finish, the entire campaign can be played either solo or co-op with up to four players. During an interview with one of the lead developers, it was confirmed that there would not be any difficulty options this time around; rather, the difficulty would be dictated by the number of players in a given match. There also aren’t any intentions to fill a solo campaign with AI bots and at this stage of development, drop-in and drop-out matchmaking isn’t yet in the cards.
The campaign itself brings together a ragtag team of some of the best of the best in their respective units, with John Eric Bently and Michael Rooker reprising their roles from Black Ops 2 while David Mason is now portrayed by Milo Ventimiglia of Gilmore Girls fame. Leilani “50/50” Tupuola is the resident newcomer of the team, being portrayed by Frankie Adams and representing New Zealand for the first time in the series. This newcomer has a number of bionic augmentations making her a unique member of the squad.
Sharing a few more details on the campaign, Treyarch is talking about how this would be a “mind-bending narrative” connecting Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 7. These include a variety of diverse missions including a number centered around squad leader Mason’s fractured psyche. One of the brief campaign snippets centered around a twisted version of Menendez’s Nicaraguan safehouse with a massive version of Menendez looming overhead while massive machetes rain down on the battlefield.
Once the campaign is complete, players graduate and unlock a new twelfth mission called Endgame. This massive campaign mission unlocks all of Avalon for players to explore with support for up to 32 players in a single match. Using the campaign as a sort of tutorial, Endgame builds upon everything that players learned and utilized, from the new tools and movement to weapon loadouts, to create a tiered, shared experience. Think MWZ’s missions and difficulty tiers but with more permanent progression.
To empower players during their “power journey”, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s Endgame lets players pick a single Operator and level up to customize their skills and abilities far beyond anything in the actual campaign. Regrettably, a full squad wipe will reset progress for that given Operator. Treyarch only showed slides of what the progression/status screens look like but from what I could tell, the given Operator was called Striker and had two active abilities to equip. A separate Combat Efficiency stat (this operator was rated at 60). There were three different power upgrades showing health, armor and foot (presumably a mobility stat) that each had three different ranks.
Weapons themselves appeared to have different rarity tiers as well as levels. One of the two weapons equipped was an Exotic tier weapon with a unique ability: all ammo collected into one massive clip. Whether this means that it’s an actual unique weapon in itself, or simply pulling from a list of special weapon perks, is something that I’m waiting to see Treyarch reeal when they get ready to talk more about Endgame.
Lastly, Treyarch ended their talk about the connected campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. For the first time in franchise history, there will be global progression regardless of players going through the campaign, multiplayer, zombies, wargame, et cetera. There will be a dedicated camo track for the co-op campaign as well as the first mastery camos. To keep players want to come back into the campaign (beyond just the Endgame), there will also be seasonal events including daily challenges and reticle changes. Weekly challenges won’t be in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 at launch but are intended to drop alongside the first season.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will launch on November 14th.
[Editor’s Note: Treyarch provided travel accommodations for Wccftech to attend a behind closed doors reveal ahead of their Gamescom Opening Night showcase.]
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