Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 unifies progression with campaign and endgame content

Treyarch is focusing more on PvE content than ever, right down to the inclusion of a Call of Duty campaign's first endgame.

The pillars of a Call of Duty game are well-known after nearly two decades of yearly titles. It has its campaign, its multiplayer, its Zombies, and (more recently) its WarZone. The story-focused campaign has almost felt like it's been in its own corner, but Treyarch is looking to make it a much greater focus in the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Yes, this game will feature all of the expected pillars of a Call of Duty title, including multiplayer and Zombies. With that said, Treyarch and Raven Software are touting that this game will include a four-player co-op campaign, but also note that it'll be the first in series history to feature full-blown endgame content.

As the Xbox Games Showcase 2025 teased, a major component of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is going to be its campaign. This story will take players into the near-future year of 2035. That fast-forwards significantly from the 1991-based story of Black Ops 6, but Treyarch isn't looking to continue that story so much as it's looking to craft a follow-up to 2012's Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. As revealed in the Xbox Games Showcase trailer, Raul Menendez has returned and he has a new super weapon, one that affects its victims psychologically through ultra-realistic hallucinations. A tech conglomerate known as The Guild is looking to combat Menendez and promises to protect the world with an automated robotic force, but with its extreme methods, it'll ultimately be up to the Specter One Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) Unit to take down Menendez themselves and ward off any Guild forces that might get in their way.

The JSOC Unit features a star-studded cast. David "Section" Mason, now grown up after the events of Black Ops 2, is played by This Is Us actor Milo Ventimiglia. Mike Harper makes his return from Black Ops 2 with The Walking Dead's Michael Rooker reprising the role. Supporting them is new soldier Eric Samuels, played by the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series' John Eric Bentley, and Leilani "50/50" Tupuola, played by The Expanse's Frankie Adams. These soldiers will all have their own storylines that will unfold over the course of the campaign, and while it will be playable solo, Treyarch is greatly emphasizing that this story will be playable via four-player online co-op. In fact, Treyarch is upping the incentive to play this year's campaign, which I'll get to momentarily.

The main Black Ops 7 campaign will be a linear affair that takes players around the world. Stages will include Nicaragua, Angola, the Avalon Outskirts, Tokyo, Avalon City, Alaska, and several other unrevealed locales. These locations will all be reimagined with a futuristic 2035 timeline in mind. While these locations will be fairly grounded by COD standards, there will be times when players are exposed to Menendez's mind-altering gas. This turns stages into whacked-out Escher-esque nightmares with warped layouts and mind-blowing dangers, like skyscraper-sized machetes raining down from the sky.

Progression in the Call of Duty series has been mostly segregated, but has gradually been brought under an increasingly unified umbrella. That initiative goes even further with Black Ops 7, which will feature a unified progression system that includes the game's co-op campaign. In a first for the series, players can earn XP and level up, as well as earn progress towards every Battle Pass, by playing the Black Ops 7 campaign. On top of that, the campaign will feature its own distinct seasonal events and weekly challenges.

All of this feeds into another new feature for a Call of Duty campaign. With Treyarch and Raven citing their love for games like Diablo, Black Ops 7's campaign will include an endgame. This is a larger-scale mission in Avalon that kicks in after the credits initially roll and challenges squads for potentially endless sessions. This is where players will put their Operator Powers that have developed over the course of the campaign to work, using them to their fullest potential to try and survive. However, this endgame scenario has some heavy consequences attached if a player's squad is wiped, which will add to its replayability. Treyarch will have more details on this endgame campaign in the weeks ahead.

While there's ample focus on the Black Ops 7 campaign, Treyarch is still putting a lot of work into this year's multiplayer. The team is approaching it as a reimagining of the gameplay and content from Black Ops 2, injecting it with 2035 guns, gear, and gadgetry. Expect to see refined weaponry like the Peacekeeper MK1 assault rifle, the M8A1 assault rifle (making its return from Black Ops 2), the Echo 12 shotgun, the Puma SMG, and the Shock Baton, just to name a few. Weapon Prestige is making its return in Black Ops 7, with players able to unlock new camos and attachments by reaching Prestige with different individual items.

Expect the Omnimovement system to be tweaked for smoother play with some new mechanics added into the fold, like a wall jump for traversal and a combat roll to reduce fall damage from great heights. Perks are being tweaked to offer faster movement, quicker recovery time, sprint fire, faster reload, and other advantages. However, it should be noted that some mechanics that players may take for granted are being removed from core gameplay and being moved over to Perks. Tactical Sprint, for example, is going away and will instead be available as a Perk. Likewise, Aim Down Sight while sliding and diving will no longer be available by default, but instead will be moved to the Perk system.

New to multiplayer is the Overclock system. This allows players to level up their equipment, Scorestreaks, and Field Upgrades over time. This opens the door to improvements and even some slightly altered functionality. For example, if the Active Camo perk is leveled up, players will get the option to increase its charge speed and, later, can unlock the option to re-cloak after firing. Scorestreaks look to be worth playing around with this year with additions including the D.A.W.G. mini-roaming tank (with a Sentry Mode available after Overclocking), a Gravemaker sniper rifle that can see foes through walls and blast through them for one-shot kills, a Rhino remote Juggernaut-style mech, a VTOL Warship that can pierce walls with its cannons, and Interceptor fighter jets, just to name a few examples. All of these Scorestreaks can be Overclocked to be improved from the already potent tools that they are.

Look for 16 maps for 6v6 play at launch, with Black Ops 2's Raid, Express, and Hijacked among them. Treyarch is also debuting two maps for the new Skirmish mode. Skirmish is a 20v20 Battlefield-style conflict with each team containing five squads of four. After dying, players can choose to rejoin the fight with their squad (provided they aren't in combat) or respawn on the ground or in the air. While kills will count towards the final Skirmish score, teams will be prompted to complete various objectives, like seizing control points or detonating explosives, in order to try and gain extra points. Players will have to put all of their COD skills to work, whether it's running around with squads on the ground, riding vehicles across the larger-scale maps, or taking flight with wingsuits.

The last thing to note is that Zombies is coming back, and its storyline will pick up where the Black Ops 6 Zombies narrative left off. This is a new version of the original Zombies crew that has been brought into the Dark Aether timeline. Treyarch has built the round-based Zombies map to be bigger than it's ever been in past games. In fact, teams will need to board the new Wonder Vehicle to travel from place to place and must protect it as if it were a member of the squad. Each section of the map is pulled from a different period of time, promising different themes and visuals as players seek to ward off the increasing number of undead.

Treyarch doesn't look to be holding back with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, putting ample resources into all of the usual COD pillars. The game's campaign, in particular, looks to be one that goes above and beyond what the series normally puts out, but there's plenty to watch for from multiplayer, Zombies, and even Warzone later down the road. We'll continue to watch the ongoing development of Black Ops 7 as it approaches its release date. Look for it to arrive later this year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S (including on Xbox Game Pass).

This preview is based on a closed-door theater presentation held in the Treyarch offices in Los Angeles, CA. The final product is subject to change.