Call of Duty: Vanguard is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision. It was released on November 5 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It serves as the 18th installment in the overall Call of Duty series. Vanguard establishes a storyline featuring the birth of the special forces to face an emerging threat at the end of the war during various theatres of World War II.
The game received mixed reviews from critics, with praise towards the campaign and multiplayer, but criticism for its Zombies mode and lack of innovation.
Gameplay
Campaign
Vanguard‘s campaign features similar gameplay mechanics previously introduced in Modern Warfare, such as the player being able to mount wielded weapons to flat surfaces, interact with doors and execute takedowns. New gameplay features allow the player the ability to use a more advanced tactical approach in combat such as blind firing from behind cover, breaking through destructible environmental elements or creating new paths to complete objectives by climbing walls.
Multiplayer
Vanguard‘s multiplayer mode has 20 total maps, 16 of which are featured for core game modes, while the other 4 are for a new game mode titled “Champion Hill”, stated to be the next iteration of Gunfight, a 2v2 arena mode previously featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The main goal of Champion Hill is, whether you play Solos (1v1), Duos (2v2) or Trios (3v3), is to survive as long as it takes to be the last man standing in a squad-based deathmatch, round-robin tournament where players combine strategy and tactics in a close-quarter, fast-paced gunplay. All eight squads share a pool of 12 lives (or 18 in Trios) between squadmates one by one, while simultaneously battling with each other across 4 maps specifically designed for this game mode. Once the lives are expended, the game is over and the last squad with remaining lives wins the tournament. Although every player starts with the same loadout and equipment, Buy Rounds “make the combat preparation more exciting” as during these rounds, in order to accommodate different playstyles, players can purchase more effective weapons, lethal, tactical gear and also perks with the available in-game currency acquired throughout the matches.
For the first time in the Call of Duty franchise, the feature “Combat Pacing” is introduced to Vanguard‘s multiplayer matchmaking, which allows the player to have more control over the intensity and density of core multiplayer game modes. Players can choose from three pre-defined pacing filters (Tactical, Assault and Blitz) favoring different playstyles in order to tailor the multiplayer gameplay experience. These preferences can also be mixed by selecting the “All” pacing option in the Quick Play menu. “Tactical” pacing offers a classic Call of Duty experience with traditional combat timing in a 6v6 lobby. “Assault” pacing on the other hand slightly increases the lobby player count with a balanced, more action-packed combat throughout the maps. Lastly, the “Blitz” pacing offers the highest lobby player count, providing high-action lobbies with similar combat experience like Modern Warfare‘s Ground War mode. Every combat pacing variations can be played on each of Vanguard‘s multiplayer maps.
As an addition to the Gunsmith system, Vanguard multiplayer features a “Caliber system” which brings immersive elements of destructible and reactive environment to its maps by allowing different ammo types, each with its own pros and cons. The blind fire gameplay mechanic is also featured in the multiplayer mode, in addition to strafing movement while mounting weapons on horizontal walls. Vanguard is also the first premium Call of Duty title to feature Ricochet Anti-Cheat, a proprietary anti-cheat system using a combination of server-side protection and a kernel-level driver (the latter of which was first introduced in Call of Duty: Warzone). As with Cold War, Vanguard was also integrated with Warzone, allowing players to progress and use weapons, operators and other cosmetics items across both titles, in addition to the existing Modern Warfare and Cold War items in Warzone. Like the previous main installments of the Call of Duty franchise since 2019, Vanguard‘s multiplayer is also fully cross-platform play compatible with a support for cross-generation gaming regarding eighth and ninth generation home video game consoles.
Zombies
The cooperative Zombies mode returns in Vanguard, developed by Treyarch in collaboration with Sledgehammer Games. The mode is considered an expansion of the Dark Aether story, and acts as a prologue to Black Ops Cold War‘s story. At launch, the game features a new map titled “Der Anfang”, which combines aspects of round-based survival gameplay with the objective-based gameplay of Outbreak and Onslaught, both new gamemodes introduced in Cold War. Gameplay elements from Cold War return in Vanguard, such as Essence and Salvage currencies, and Dark Aether-powered field upgrades, in addition to classic Zombies gameplay items like perks and the Pack-a-Punch machine. A new gameplay feature, the Altar of Covenants, allows players to purchase randomized buffs every round, allowing a variety in combat builds. Post-launch updates for Zombies feature additional objectives for Der Anfang, including a main quest for story progression, as well as new Covenants and field upgrades. New hub maps were also added to the game, in a similar fashion to previous games’ traditional round-based map releases.
Plot
Campaign
Characters and setting
Vanguard takes place in 1945 near the end of World War II’s European theater, with various flashbacks ranging from 1941 to 1944. The flashbacks portray various major battles such as the Battle of Stalingrad and Midway through the eyes of the main protagonists. The game portrays the rise of special forces, with the first tasked to uncover a secret Nazi project and thwart it.
The player takes control of various members of Task Force Vanguard, a team formed by the Special Operations Executive to uncover Phoenix, a secret Nazi project. Members include team leader British Army Lieutenant Arthur Kingsley (Chiké Okonkwo), his right-hand man Richard Webb (Simon Quarterman), Red Army sniper Polina Petrova (Laura Bailey), American pilot Wade Jackson (Derek Phillips), Australian demolitionist Lucas Riggs (Martin Copping), and Milos Novak, a Czech partisan fighter. Supporting characters appear in flashbacks, including British Army Corporal Thomas Jones (Max Deacon), Polina’s brother Misha Petrov (Mark Ivanir), Aviation Machinist Mate 3rd Class Mateo Hernandez (Christopher Rivas), Private Desmond “Des” Wilmot (Nikolai Nikolaeff), and Robert Jacobs (Jack Hawkins). Opposing Task Force Vanguard is Project Phoenix, a secret Nazi project led by Untersturmführer Hermann Freisinger (Dan Donohue) aiming to take the party underground. Other antagonists include Hauptsturmführer Jannick Richter (Dominic Monaghan), the interrogator of Task Force Vanguard while they are captured, SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer Leo Steiner (Ray Proscia), the commander in charge of invading Stalingrad, and British Army Major Henry Hamms (James Frain), who frequently antagonizes the Australians in North Africa.
Synopsis
NOTE: The story of Vanguard is told throughout various points in time in a non-chronological order.
In August 1941, 2nd Lieutenant Lucas Riggs is stationed at Tobruk, Libya as part of the Australian-led Rats of Tobruk garrison. After a failed ambush attempt against a German convoy, Riggs is assigned to recover supplies for the British Army, alongside fellow Rat Private Desmond “Des” Wilmot and British Lieutenant Richard Jacobs. Riggs, Des and Jacobs manage to find intelligence relating to General Erwin Rommel, and destroy a German depot in the process, but they were detained by Major Henry Hamms for insubordination. In October 1942, during the Second Battle of El Alamein, Riggs and the Rats are ordered by Hamms to form a defensive line, but Riggs disobeys the command and tries to retake a hill and call in bomber support with Des supporting him. The two of them succeed, though Des is killed in action. Angered by the disregard for the Rats’ contribution to the fight, Riggs punches Hamms out of frustration, resulting in him facing prison time.
In June 1942, United States Navy pilot Lieutenant Wade Jackson participates in the Battle of Midway with his tail gunner, Aviation Machinist’s Mate Mateo Hernandez. In November 1943, while assaulting the Imperial Japanese Army in Bougainville, Jackson and Hernandez’s plane is shot down, and the two are captured by IJA soldiers. They are rescued by the 93rd Infantry Division, who later help them acquire an Imperial Japanese Navy Aichi D3A to assist the division in reclaiming the island.
In August 1942, Red Army nurse Polina Petrova witnesses the Germans invade Stalingrad. She fails to save her father Boris from being executed by enemy troops, but is able to escape with her brother Misha and several Soviet partisans. Petrova eventually acquires the nickname “Lady Nightingale” as she pursues Leo Steiner, the Wehrmacht commander responsible for the invasion. In January 1943, Petrova and Misha attempt to assassinate Steiner in Stalingrad, but Misha is severely wounded. He sacrifices himself to buy Petrova time to escape. Petrova eventually confronts Steiner and kills him and his personal army, inspiring the citizens of Stalingrad to reclaim the city from the Nazis. She then sets her sight on Steiner’s superior, Hermann Freisinger.
In June 1944, British paratrooper Sergeant Arthur Kingsley takes part in Operation Tonga, where he and the Parachute Regiment help destroy the Merville Gun Battery and several other bridges to assist the Allied forces in invading Normandy. Kingsley befriends fellow paratrooper Sergeant Richard Webb, who would later become Kingsley’s right-hand man.
Kingsley, Webb, Petrova, Jackson and Riggs, alongside a sixth soldier named Milos Novak, would eventually be recruited by Captain Carver Butcher to form the first special operations task force, callsign Vanguard. Kingsley is appointed as the leader of the task force. In April 1945, Task Force Vanguard hijacks a train to Hamburg, Germany, in search of intelligence regarding Project Phoenix, a secret Nazi program run by Freisinger. While infiltrating a Kriegsmarine submarine, the squad is captured by Freisinger’s men, minus Jackson who evaded them, and Novak who is bludgeoned to death by Freisinger. Vanguard is delivered to the Gestapo headquarters in Berlin, where Freisinger appoints Schutzstaffel officer Jannick Richter to interrogate them. Jackson is also captured after attempting to steal a plane; Richter demoralizes the squad by executing Webb.
Being unaware of Project Phoenix’s purpose and Freisinger’s involvement, Richter attempts to learn more by interrogating Petrova and Riggs about Steiner and Rommel’s connection to Freisinger. He deduces that the project was a coup attempt, in order to appoint Freisinger as the new Führer of the Fourth Reich. As Berlin falls under siege by the Red Army following Adolf Hitler’s suicide, Riggs breaks out of interrogation and frees the squad, while Kingsley kills Richter to avenge Webb. Vanguard pursues Freisinger to the Berlin Tempelhof Airport, where they finally apprehend him and burn him alive. The four then board Freisinger’s Luftwaffe plane, discovering numerous German documents and assets, revealing global Nazi covert operations. Kingsley decides to follow up on Project Aggregat, a secret V2 rocket facility, and orders Jackson to fly there in pursuit.
Multiplayer/Warzone
In 1944, Captain Butcher begins to oversee Operation Vulcan, a top-secret Special Operations Executive mission to hunt down Axis soldiers and scientists who fled to the South Pacific. In December 1944, Butcher deploys with Task Force Trident to Caldera Island, but their plane is shot down by anti-air, leaving the three Trident members stranded from Butcher. As the task force attempts to navigate the island, Butcher stumbles upon the entrance to a Nazi bunker at the beach where he crash-landed.
The intel recovered from the bunker in Caldera reveals that the Nazis were working on a new chemical weapon, dubbed “Nebula V”. Butcher travels to the Swiss Alps with Task Force Yeti, intending to recover Nebula V from a nearby Nazi fortress. The Yeti members storm the fortress, but are unable to stop the Nazi commander from releasing the Nebula V gas. They barely manage to escape as the gas engulfs the fortress.
Zombies
In March 1944, following the activation of the cyclotron in Projekt Endstation by the Nazis in Morasko, Poland, various ancient artifacts recovered by the SS unit Die Wahrheit are activated, allowing several entities from the Dark Aether dimension to reach out to the real world. One such entity, Kortifex the Deathless, forms a symbiotic bond with Oberführer Wolfram Von List, Die Wahrheit’s commander, and bestows him the power to resurrect the dead. A team of Special Forces operators responds to an emergency broadcast from Professor Gabriel Krafft, a demonologist forced to work for Von List, and is drafted into a new battle against Von List and Kortifex’s undead army. Krafft assists the operators in battling the undead, by also supplying them with Dark Aether artifacts which allow them to form bonds with four other Dark Aether entities: Saraxis the Shadow, Inviktor the Destroyer, Norticus the Conqueror and Bellekar the Warlock, all of whom wish to thwart Kortifex’s plan.
The Special Forces operators eventually discover a Dark Aether portal in Von List’s office in Stalingrad, where they find a sealed page from the Tome of Rituals, an ancient spell book that was used to summon the Dark Aether entities. While the four allied entities devise a plan to recover the missing page, they also learn that another entity, Vercanna the Last, has responded to Bellekar’s call for help, and is willing to join the fight against Kortifex. Using a portal opened by Vercanna, the operators travel to Egypt, where they continue their fight against Von List’s forces and attempt to recover the sealed Tome page. Kortifex sends one of his underlings, Zaballa the Deceiver, to stop the operators from completing their mission. Vercanna guides the operators in recovering the Decimator Shield, a living weapon once belonged to a warrior of Kortifex’s Night Legions. Using the shield, they destroy energy orbs chained to the missing Tome page in the Void, allowing them to recover it. Both Krafft and Bellekar conclude that the missing page may have clues as to how they can separate Kortifex’s artifact from Von List, severing their connection.
Development
Vanguard is the third title developed by Sledgehammer Games in the Call of Duty franchise after 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII.
After WWII was released, the studio went through a rebuilding process regarding the organisational structure following the departure of the studio co-founders and directors Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. In an interview made by VentureBeat about the rebuilding and the path leading Sledgehammer Games to develop Vanguard, Studio Head Aaron Halon highlighted that ” we love our legacy and what we’ve created, but we also wanted to think about the future of the studio and how we could set ourselves up to be even stronger. we’re proud of the decisions we’ve made along the way that have led us to where we’re at today with Call of Duty: Vanguard.“
Originally the three-year primary developer rotation cycle between Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games, in which the model was first introduced in 2012, it was expected to be continued in 2020 with Sledgehammer taking the lead to create a new Call of Duty entry alongside Raven Software. Due to conflicts of interest between the two, responsibilities were shifted to Treyarch as they took control over the project, which resulted in developing Black Ops Cold War in 2020.
During Activision Q1 earnings call in May 2021, it was confirmed that the development of a new Call of Duty game is being led by Sledgehammer Games due for release in Q4 2021. The developer also confirmed this on its official Twitter account. Activision Blizzard President and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Alegre said: “We are very excited for this year’s premium Call of Duty release. Development is being led by Sledgehammer Games. And the game is looking great and on track for its fall release. This is a built-for-next-generation experience with stunning visuals across campaign, multiplayer and cooperative modes of play designed to both integrate with and enhance the existing COD ecosystem. We look forward to sharing more details with the community soon.”
Vanguard is built on an upgraded version of the IW 8.0 engine, that powered Modern Warfare. The game’s visuals are developed in part using photogrammetry and new volumetric lighting techniques while also introducing reactive and destructible environmental graphical details and textures with a damage layer system which reacts to bullet impacts hitting different surfaces.
Marketing and release
Reveal
In August 2021, some insider sources began to leak information about Vanguard prior to its official reveal, including its editions and reveal trailer content. Official social media accounts for Call of Duty acknowledged this leak in a “humorous” fashion, and proceeded to tease the game’s reveal. Around the same time, the first teaser for Vanguard went live within Call of Duty: Warzone, where winning players in any given Battle Royale matches may be sniped from afar by Vanguard protagonist Polina Petrova during the extraction cutscene. A week after, the title of the game was announced, alongside a reveal event taking place in Warzone. Players got to participate in a limited-time game mode titled “The Battle of Verdansk” where every player works together to take down a train, before attempting to escape as WW2-era planes drop bombs on them. The reveal trailer was played at the end of the event, before being posted publicly on YouTube and other social media websites.
On August 25, during Gamescom, Sledgehammer Games revealed the first extended playthrough of Vanguard‘s campaign missions set in the Eastern Front called “Stalingrad Summer”. This mission gives an insight regarding the initial invasion of Stalingrad in 1942 from the perspective of Petrova (voiced by Laura Bailey) as she tries to find a way home after an aerial attack while eliminating hostile German infantry search crews.
On September 7, during a nearly 30-minute live broadcast on YouTube, led by the members of Sledgehammer Games development team, creative director Greg Reisdorf, lead designer Zach Hodson, and associate art director Matt Abbott, in-depth details of Vanguard‘s multiplayer had been revealed, showcasing some components of tactical gameplay, the variations of competitive gamemodes, while emphasizing the details of the newly introduced environmental destruction gameplay features.
Absence of Activision branding
Following the announcement of Vanguard, viewers observed that any promiment reference to Activision was conspicuously absent from the reveal trailer. This included the first use of “Call of Duty presents…” rather than “Activision presents”, and the only mention of Activision being in small print for copyright purposes. Publications attributed the publisher’s decision with an attempt to distance itself from Vanguard due to the California lawsuit filed against them, following incidents of sexual harassment within the company. In response to gaming journalist Stephen Totilo, an Activision spokeman said that the change was “a creative choice that reflects how Vanguard represents the next major installment in the franchise”.
Multiplayer beta
An open beta version of the multiplayer was also made available for all platforms in September 2021, presenting a selection of five maps and some multiplayer playlists, such as Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed and Search and Destroy, with the newly introduced Patrol and Champion Hill game modes. Those players who reach Level 20 in beta will receive a weapon blueprint available to use in Vanguard at launch and in Warzone at a later date.
Tie-in comic
A tie-in comic series had been announced for Vanguard with the official reveal taking place on October 10, 2021, at the New York Comic Con. Attendees at the panel were given a free copy of the first issue, featuring one of the protagonists, Polina Petrova. On November 4, 2021, Activision announced the comic series would be released for free on the official Vanguard website, with the first issue going live the same day.
Release
The game released worldwide on November 5, 2021. Pre-orders of all editions grant “early” access to the open multiplayer beta, a cosmetic weapons pack for use in Vanguard, as well as a Mastercraft cosmetic blueprint and the Vanguard character Arthur Kingsley as an operator, both for use in Cold War and Warzone. The Ultimate Edition grants access to three additional cosmetic skin packs, plus access to the Battle Pass of a Season for Vanguard (dependent on the time of purchase), and double XP tokens. The Cross-gen Bundle and Ultimate Edition grant console players two versions of the game for use on the previous console generation (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) and the later generation (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S or Xbox Series X).
Post-launch content
As with Modern Warfare and Cold War, Vanguard‘s post-launch content is provided free-of-charge, including new maps, game modes and seasonal events, while the game continues to monetize via the battle pass system and cosmetic bundles featured in the in-game store.
In January 2022, Activision announced a collaboration with the anime series Attack on Titan, to commemorate the release of its final season. A cosmetic bundle was released in Vanguard and Warzone, featuring themed weapon blueprints and a skin for operator Daniel based on the character Levi Ackerman. In February 2022, on Season Two’s launch, another bundle was discovered for operator Roland, this time based on Reiner Braun’s Armored Titan form.
Reception
Call of Duty: Vanguard received “mixed or average reviews”, according to review aggregator Metacritic.
IGN‘s Simon Cardy awarded the game a 7 out of 10, summarizing their review by saying, “Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s highly polished campaign provides a healthy amount of fun, even if its brief length and lack of variety lead it to fall short of the classic pieces of war cinema it’s trying to emulate.” Clement Goh of CG Magazine wrote that “Call of Duty: Vanguard falls in the predictable traps of an annual release, but pulls through with a fun campaign and multiplayer at the cost of duller Zombies”, also giving the game a 7 out of 10.
John Walker of Kotaku and Yussef Cole of Polygon criticized Vanguard‘s handling of progressivism in the story and characters, feeling it suffered from tokenism and that its attempt to “wokewash” history and avoid controversy was disingenuous and cowardly.
Vanguard‘s Zombies mode was negatively received by many in the community and critics alike, with complaints about the lack of content compared to past iterations of the mode. Luke Winkie of IGN gave Zombies a 5 out of 10, writing it had “little imagination beyond bigger damage numbers sparking out of the heads of its undead”. Writing for GameRant, Richard Warren felt that Zombies fell short in numerous areas, including usage of multiplayer assets, absence of Wonder Weapons and its lack of Easter eggs that they considered the “biggest thing that makes Zombies unique”.
Quran pages controversy
Following Vanguard‘s release, players discovered that the Zombies map “Der Anfang” contained scattered pages of the Quran on the floor, some being bloodstained. In response to criticism from players, Activision removed the pages from the game and issued an apology on Twitter, saying “There was content insensitive to Muslims included in the game, and it has been removed. It was not supposed to exist as it appeared in the game. We deeply apologise.”
