Call of Duty: WWII

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"Call of Duty returns to its roots with Call of Duty: WWII--a breathtaking experience that redefines World War II for a new gaming generation. Land in Normandy on D-Day and battle across Europe through iconic locations in history’s most monumental war. Experience classic Call of Duty combat, the bonds of camaraderie, and the unforgiving nature of war against a global power throwing the world into tyranny."

— Official description^[2]

Call of Duty: WWII^[3] is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Sledgehammer Games for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows. Leaked concept art for the game was initially found in late March 2017^[4], a month before the official reveal on April 26^th, 2017^[5]. The game will be released on November 3^rd, 2017. Call of Duty: WWII is the fourteenth game in the Call of Duty franchise and Sledgehammer Games' second to be developed in a three-year development cycle.

Set during World War II, it tells the story of an unbreakable brotherhood of common men fighting to preserve freedom in a world on the brink of tyranny. From the beaches of Normandy to the Hürtgen Forest, experience a dramatic story highlighting some of the most dramatic and iconic moments of World War II as a young soldier, Ronald "Red" Daniels, who is facing the unforgiving reality of war alongside his brothers in arms.^[6]

It is the first Call of Duty since 2008 to be set in World War II, and is the fifth main World War II title in the series.

Development

Background

"You know I've been making games for over 26 years, and I'll tell you it's the best game we ever made."

— Glen Schofield, co-founder and studio head of Sledgehammer Games

A modern World War II Call of Duty was alluded to in a 2014 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare launch interview with Michael Condrey, head of Sledgehammer Games. In the interview by Metro, the interviewer asked him what the possibilities of where the next Call of Duty could go in terms of setting. Condrey responded, "Well, no. It’s curious. I can only answer from my own personal tastes, this is my own personal opinion. But some of my favourite pieces of entertainment are set in World War II. Band of Brothers, I’m a massive fan of Band of Brothers? Did you see that?" Condrey then dived further into the subject, "And that’s a great hero’s war, kind of the last that was recognised as a noble cause in a war. So yeah, I think a next generation game with the latest production values and robustness in a World War II setting like Band of Brothers would be amazing. Now, how would it play and how would the multiplayer work after the new movement set in Advanced Warfare? That’s a tougher question than I’ve had to tackle yet…".^[7]

During an interview on February 7th, 2015, Michael Condrey talked briefly about the many ideas that Sledgehammer was toying around with for their next Call of Duty installment, saying that the team had "talked about new ways to play" and that these things could range from features such as "branching story-lines or third person mode or crazy changes to the multiplayer".

In June 2015, a post E3 interview with Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg and IGN occurred. At one point in the interview, IGN specifically asked Hirshberg if a return to the era was possible in the near future, to which Hirshberg replied “There are these moments where certain ideas seem to be floating in the collective consciousness, and there are two ‘meteor hitting the earth’ movies in one summer and were both in production for years.” “Those kinds of things happen,” Hirshberg said, “so there’s definitely a chasing of innovation and new ideas within a well-worn genre that lead people to similar conclusions like changing time periods. And of course I think that opens up the opportunity for what is old is new again.”^[8]

During Activision Blizzard’s Q4 Earnings Call, Activision confirmed that Sledgehammer Games would be developing the next Call of Duty in 2017. Activision also said that the Call of Duty 2017 title would "take Call of Duty back to its roots.” Activision Blizzard's COO emphasized that the game would have “traditional combat will once again take center stage,” confirming that the traditional gameplay would be returning.^[9]

In developing the game, Sledgehammer recruited World War II historian Martin Morgan, to help make the game as historically accurate as possible.^[10] Sledgehammer Games also traveled to various places across Europe to take pictures and drawings to be used as concepts for in-game.^[10] The theme of the game was to be connected with your men, to experience the brotherhood of American soldiers during World War II. Sledgehammer was inspired by the motto of the original Call of Duty "In war, no one fights alone." so they echoed that idea to their narrative.

Campaign

"Welcome to the bloody first, you're a long way from Texas farmboy."

— Technical Sergeant William Pierson of the 1st Infantry Division

Overview

Call of Duty: WWII focuses on the actions of a squad from 1944 to 1945, but will also touch on events from 1940 to 1944 to help set the stage for the narrative and establish the characters. It takes place in the European theater of conflict, at a time when the Allied forces were finally starting to gather strength on their march into Nazi Germany.

Featuring a global cast of characters across Europe, players will follow the gripping story of Ronald “Red” Daniels, a young United States Army private, as he and his squad, the legendary United States 1st Infantry Division, trek through the harrowing European theater of war. Joining Allied forces from the United Kingdom and the French Resistance, across the beaches of Normandy, to the liberation of Paris and ultimately into Germany, the squad must fight alongside a global and diverse cast of characters to achieve victory. The story campaign delivers the gritty authenticity and cinematic intensity of World War II combat, honoring the unforgettable heroism of the Fighting First.

Plot

Two missions from the Campaign have been detailed:

Hürtgen Forest: An old-growth forest on the German border where Allied forces engage in devastating encounters. In the heat of battle, the German Army uses tree burst bombs that detonate at treetop level, showering soldiers with wooden shrapnel. When the player's unit is zeroed-in-on by hostile artillery, the forest explodes around the player as debris rains down.
Normandy: From inside a Higgins landing boat, the player's squad will storm Omaha Beach in a visceral audiovisual experience unlike any D-Day landing experienced in a game to date. The player and their fellow soldiers must overcome the enemy defenses to serve as the tip of the spear for the Allied invasion.^[11]

Missions

Characters

Factions

Weapons

Vehicles

Achievements and Trophies

Template:CoD14 Achievements

Locations

Normandy, France
Hürtgen Forest, Germany
Ardennes Forest, Belgium
Aachen, Germany
English Channel
Crimea, Soviet Union

Multiplayer

Overview

Multiplayer elements coming to Call of Duty: WWII include:

War: This narrative-driven mode brings a gripping new layer of excitement to Axis vs. Allies team play.
Divisions: A new approach to Create-a-Class and character customization as the player enlists in a division and progress through the ranks.
Headquarters: A brand-new, social feature for Call of Duty, where the player can rally and interact with fellow soldiers.^[11]

The game introduces Headquarters, a special lobby where players can interact with one another before an actual multiplayer game.

Maps

Gametypes

Perks & Scorestreaks

Beta

A multiplayer beta will be held, known as the Private Beta, from August 25th to 28th on PS4, and from September 1st to 4th on PS4 and Xbox One. In order to gain access, the game must be pre-ordered. An official statement reads: "The Call of Duty: WWII Private Beta is your chance to be one of the first to experience and get hands-on with Call of Duty: WWII Multiplayer gameplay prior to launch. Stay tuned, as specific details on the Call of Duty: WWII Private Beta will be released in the future. Continue to check callofduty.com for more details."

Players who access the Private Beta are awarded an exclusive Calling Card and Emblem, as well as a helmet character customization option available for use in the full game.^[12]

For a FAQ on the Beta, please visit the external link in the quote.

Nazi Zombies

When the reveal trailer was released on April 26, Sledgehammer Games separately teased an image for Nazi Zombies. Activision described the mode as "...an all-new cooperative mode featuring a unique standalone storyline set during World War II that’s full of unexpected, adrenaline-pumping action." ^[13]

Glen Schofield, co-studio head of Sledgehammer Games, describes it as "The Third Reich's desperate attempt to create an army in the final stages of the war."

On July 20th, 2017, the full reveal trailer was released, showing off the map and the characters. In the days a leading up to the release of the trailer, each day before they revealed each one of four characters available to play as a part of the mode, as well as releasing teaser images of the zombies themselves.

Zombies

Viral Campaign

On April 26th, 2017, during the reveal livestream for Call of Duty: WWII, several letters were added to highlighted tweets: CAL, LOF, DUT, Y.C, LAS, SIF and IED leading to http://www.callofduty.com/classified.

The page contained an Enigma machine. At the bottom of the page, there were coordinates (51.0344n2.3768e) leading to Dunkirk, France.

On April 27th, the first code was found on the Nazi Zombies teaser image shown during the reveal^[14]. The code was: IUFDJ BHLOP JMUBA deciphered by the machine as A NEW HORROR ARISE. Once entered, a dossier was available with two images inside it, a drawing of Frederick Barbarossa and Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael.

A part of another code was found on a billboard in Paris^[15]. The other four parts were datamined. The code was as follow: GNULV YGXSH CEODL IBHQB QKEQW deciphered as CROWLEY ROUSSEAU RED ZUSSMAN. Four new dossiers were available, each dossier contained information about one character from the campaign. There was also a paper to unlock a calling card in the game.

Crowley

Rousseau

Red

Zussman

Calling Card

On June 9th, a new code was found. Each part was found on a image from the Call of Duty website or social media accounts^[16]. The code was: QRBGY RCBGU UEVLY ZCKBM KYYVU deciphered as TAKE THE BEACHES AND TREES NOW.

A new radio was available with multiple sounds. When the radio was set on AVC, REC. and HIGH, two new files were available, each one containing two images of a multiplayer map: Ardennes Forest and Pointe du Hoc

On July 13th, MrRoflWaffles received a package from Sledgehammer Games.^[17] The package contained a letter from Klaus Fischer and a picture.

"March 20th, 1941
Mein Liebling Marie,
I hope this letter finds you well! How is life in England? I hope that your studies at Cambridge are going well. Father always said that you were the natural scholar of our family, so I am sure adapting to your new life has been seamless.
I have so much to tell you. The last time we spoke, I was angry. Furious. I now know that my anger was misdirected at you. I was frustrated that I had to leave my studies at Heidelberg to care for father. After my mentor Professor Linden retired, I thought that there was no way I could ever play a role in Germany's scientific renaissance.
But fate is a funny thing! If I had stayed at Heidelberg, I would have missed out on the greatest discorvery of our time! Right underneath our noses!
Marie, I wept when they fount it. When workers came in from the mine, talking about what they had found - this artifact of legend. My life has meaning again! My life has purpose!
I had to get this message to where it mattered, to the Deutsches Reich. My contacts at the University put me in touch with Führer Heinz F. Richter. From there, it was only a matter of days before the Ahnenerbe rolled in with a full battalion of troops. I took Doktor Straub down to the chapel myself, showed him the hilt to what we had found: Barbarossa's Sword.
Who would have imagined, Marie? We giving one of the inner circle a personal tour! Destiny has placed me at the right place, at the right time. In the coming days, I am going to present hom with my papers: highlights from the research I had done with Professor Linden. Findings that will severly help us to understand the potential of what we have uncovered.
I wish I could tell you more. And I hope to see you again, when the smoke has cleared. Please forgive my heated words earlier - I will always be your brother, Marie.
Liebe Grüße"

— Klaus

A hidden code (revealed by using heat) was found on the letter, 12091 deciphered by the Enigma machine as M4713. This code unlocked the first entry of the journal of Marie Fischer, his sister.

"June 22, 1943
Today has been difficult. I continue to run into obstacles with the Colonel, despite the clear and alarming evidence I have documented for him. While I am grateful for the training I have received here, I fear I will have to extend my reach beyond Prince William County. The messages from Klaus have grown more desperate and... and I hesitate to write this, but they begin to border on madness.
My contact in the UK recommended that I get in touch with a military architect who is spearheading a new organization that may be useful. He called it "The Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Program", rolling his eyes at the clunky, no-nonsense american name. But he said that they might be my best shot for getting behind enemy lines. This group will be focused on recovering and safeguarding historic and cultural monuments - items that the Nazis have stolen from the most valuable collections in Europe.
While I could care less about the dusty artifacts Klaus claims to have uncovered for the Nazis, they may provide the angle I need to get an operation moving in Mittelburg into my hometown.
After my exodus from Bavaria ten years ago, I never thought I would return. I saw the Beer Hall Putsch for what it was: the first winds of a coming storm. Klaus was more optimistic - he drew hope from the fiery words of the Kampfbund.
Klaus has always been an idealist. Always a patriot. But even those pillars of his generally stalwart character are beginning to wear thin. I worry about my brother. He has a brilliant mind - top of his class at Heidelberg, mentored by one of the greatest physicists of our time and one of the ambitious new voices leading the Deutsche Physik. I have tried not to think about Klaus, to put him out of my mind, for years. Our last fight was about Father's death...
Now I fear my years of training with the OSS must come to service for one singular cause: to rescue my brother."

— Marie

On July 15th, a YouTuber named NoahJ456 received a jack-in-the-box containing a letter scattered across several pages, a picture and a locked USB drive^[18]. The drive was unlocked with a code (also revealed by using heat). The code was 80218 also deciphered as M4713. The drive contained a short clip titled "Mittelburg".

Mittelburg

Klaus' letter was written on pages from the 1906 edition of "Das alte Wunderland der Pyramiden" by Karl Oppel.

"Marie,
Please forgive how scattered this letter is. I am scared that I will be found out as treasonous to the mission and therefore am writing to you in the cover of night. Things have gotten worse here, as expected. The salt mines have been converted into a laboratory. The sword piece—this hilt—has not yet budged from its resting place.
I presented myself to Doktor Straub with all of the zeal and ambition I could muster. I knew that we would see how destiny had placed me at the right place, the right time. I presented him with my papers, some of the research I’d done with Linden. He looked own his nose at me. Said my work was amateur. Poorly documented. But in the end, the said my familiarity with the area would be useful. And like a desperate fool, I was grateful for this. I thanked him.
He knew our Father, Marie. He had heard of how Father’s weapon designs had helped the Kaiserliche Marine. But he laughed! Laughed that the brilliant Heinz Fischer had ended up making toys. I did not care to tell him that Father had chosen to make toys as penitence—to bring joy where before his inventions had brought only death. I should have listened to father. I should have listened.
I do not yet know when I will be able to contact you agin. I hope that you have found it in your heart to forgive me. If not, I hope you will pass along my story as a cautionary tale. I hope that you will fight whatever horror are hidden beneath the mountain.
VG (Viele Grüße)"

— K

The code also unlocked the second entry of Marie's Journal.

"July 24, 1943
I have just received an interesting letter, a response from Major Hank Rideau of the newly-formed MFAA — apparently the program has been rubber stamped by the President himself. After weeks of being deferred through pencil pushers and secretarial layers, my inquiring finally landed on the desk of someone who may be able to make a difference.
Major Rideau is direct and to the point. He expressed a clear interest in the artifacts that Klaus has alluded to, and pressed me for details. Unfortunately, my brother is far less interested in these medieval museum pieces than he is in he captors' attempts at discerning their metaphysical properties. I have highlighted the few pieces of archeological evidence Klaus managed to share in his notes, in hopes that it will be enough to entire Rideau into action. It is a paltry list, I know:
— Six years ago the Mittelburg mines uncovered a chamber below the salt mines, buried in the roots of the Kyffhäuser Mountains. It contains several altars and is adorned with "remarkably preserved" medieval carvings.
— A hand-picked band of fanatical Nazi thugs, a group known as the Ahnenerbe took over the mines shortly thereafter and sealed off the area. Nobody was allowed in or out of Mittelburg. Klaus believes the chamber to have been the chamber dedicated to the Emperor Frederick I, King of Germany and Roman Emperor, and that it has been untouched for 800 years.
— There is something in the chamber, some relic form the era which their leader believes to be sacred and... powerful. A tool that is important to what will lead to the "Fourth Reich"—apparently a quote from the Anführer. I must confess that I refrained form communicating this final bit to the Major. The Ahnenerbe has always been something of a joke in Allied Intelligence circles, chalked up to their leader's fanatical superstition and a welcome waste of Nazi time and money. This is why I believe that even the OSS has been hesitant to engage in such obvious nonsense. I pray that the hint of medieval treasures will be enough to bring the MFAA to my door."

— Marie

On July 17th, a YouTuber named MrDalekJD also received a jack-in-the-box containing a letter, a picture and a locked USB Drive^[19]. The drive was unlocked with the code 88103 also deciphered as M4713. The drive contained a short clip titled "Straub".

Straub

Klaus' letter was written on a page from Faust. Eine Tragoedie by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

"M.,
They have done horrible things here. Monstrous things.
Straub is more twisted than you can imagine. So driven to bring about the Final Reich that nothing else matters to him. He will stop at nothing, Marie.
Our home is no longer our home. It is a horrible shell of what you once knew. Promise me that you will never return here.
I want to stay and fight, but I am scared. Straub is beginning to grow suspicious of me. It is almost as if the Nazis can smell my doubt.
I need to escape Mittelburg. I pray that it is safe in Cambridge, but I fear that soon we will all be witness to whatever horrous they are keeping hidden underneath the mountain.
I do not know when I will be able to contact you again. If you do not hear anything, I hope you will pass along my story as a cautionary tale.
I have this image of arriving at the King's Cross railway Station, suitcase in hand, with you there to greet me. The Sun is Shining. The war is over and the Allied Forces have won. We are Finally Free.
VG"

— K

The code unlocked the third entry of Marie's Journal.

"August 3, 1943
After weeks of careful questioning in regards to the Mittelburg discoveries, Rideau has finally approved a mission into Bavaria. My careful framing of Klaus' notes had nothing to do with this good news, apparently. As is so often the case, events beyond my control opened the door for opportunity. According to a source from our agent in "La Résistance", the Nazis have begun shipping stolen art into the very same mines we have been discussing for the past two months. This was enough to convince the MFAA to take this risk — their first mission behind enemy lines. But the best news comes at the very bottom of Rideau's letter: a simple request for an operations leader with experience running espionage, someone with extensive knowledge of the area, preferably an agent fluent in the local dialect.
The Major says he has already forwarded a requested name to OSS.
Name. Singular.
Dare I hope?"

— Marie

On July 19th, a group comprised of YouTubers known as the Z House received a jack-in-the-box containing a letter, a picture and a locked USB Drive^[20]. The drive was unlocked with the code 71274 deciphered like the previous ones as M4713. The drive contained a short clip titled "Klaus".

"I now know the horrors that I have brought upon this Earth.
The townspeople have all been disappearing — first, it was vagrants and drunks who frequented the night shops. Then, Herr Schuler went missing. Our street is almost vacant — the butcher shop has been closed for over a week with no note on the door.
It wasn't until Straub brought me underneath the mountain to show me his "Meisterstück" that I realized the true evil that has been festering beneath our feet.
It is as if he is trying to rebuild Mittelburg in his own terrifying image. It is there I saw our neighbors who had gone missing, but something was dreadfully different. Their eyes were vacant. Their teeth rotting out of their skulls.
I have no doubt this will be my fate when Straub no longer has use for me. For a man who scoffed at my research, it appears as if he has implemented my techniques to create this horrible mess.
Marie, I know I told you to stay away from Mittelburg. But I now rescind that statement. Please come and find me. Whether or not you have forgiven me for my role in all of this, I hope that you will find some humanity within me. If not for me, do it for our family. For our father.
Ich liebe dich, Marie
Auf Wiedersehen"

— Klaus

On the back of Klaus' letter, there are several drawings of Straub's experiments as well as a text written in german.^[21]

Experiment 14b:
We need soldiers. The neural connections in their hypothalamus are pre-formed, therefore making them easier instructed for obedience — and violence.
By stimulating the pain receptors on these corpses, I can improve their strength and their pace. My extensive studies of the impact of pain effects on the human biomass have been confirmed.

The code unlocked the fourth entry of Marie's Journal.

"August 25, 1943
I am trying to keep my emotions in check. The papers that I have been waiting for just came across my desk: I have been assigned lead operative on the Mittelburg mission! Major Rideau and I will begin tactical planning in another week, and I have to remind myself not to be too effusive in my gratitude for his help. He is an interesting man: fairly unremarkable in both stature and presentation, but with a quiet drive that has helped him to move through bureaucratic channels with impressive speed.
Rideau has presented me with a list of his top men from the MFAA, a collection of soldiers and academics from across the Allied spectrum. I need to form a small team, no more than three experts to join me in a mission that formed around the recovery of a handful of stolen paintings, a relic from the reign of Frederick I, and, God willing, Klaus Fischer.
I need to make sure that it is a team that can display flexibility and strength under duress. If even a small part of what my brother has said is true, this will not be a simple mission. My first priority will be to recruit the Maquis agent who discovered the paintings being moved from Paris. Beyond that, I will need somebody familiar with medieval antiquities. Finally, I will need some muscle. A soldier with experience on the front lines. I'd like to avoid bloodshed, but my instincts say we should prepare for the worst.
We will need to arrive and depart without notice — I am thinking we may take cover under the guise of a military supply train, preferable in the snowy season. The line that runs by Mittelburg should still be in service, as that section of Bavaria is benign enough to have avoided Allied shelling.
But I am getting ahead of myself. For now, it is enough to know that I jave set things in motion to return home. To set things right. And to save my brother from whatever horrors he has uncovered."

— Marie