Just 24 hours later – and some fancy imaging adjustments to the two blank icons – fans think they know why: when brightened, both the dark Twitter banner and the profile pic give us a glimpse of one of the series’ most fan-favorite characters: Ghost. 

the banner brightened up: pic.twitter.com/45lkryNwzpApril 22, 2022

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The image has fans speculating that a formal announcement of a new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game may be on the way any day now, with some prominent leakers (opens in new tab) pointing to sometime around April 30 – which just so happens to be next week (although let’s face it – a Saturday seems quite unlikely).

In case you’re thinking it may be an untimely accident and some poor PR person’s about to get a scolding, the same ghost face can also be seen in the Twitter pic, as well as IW’s icons on other social media channels like Instagram, suggesting this is all quite intentional, and Ghost’s welcomed return will be officially confirmed sooner rather than later.

The rumor that Call of Duty 2022 will be Modern Warfare 2 – which has been swirling around for months now (opens in new tab) – was all but confirmed when Activision revealed that Infinity Ward is developing this year’s game (opens in new tab). A month later, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare voice actor Barry Sloane, who voices Captain Price, posted a photo with a prop gun (opens in new tab) and that reignited the Modern Warfare rumor mill again. 

Since October, when it was first claimed that 2022’s Call of Duty game would be Modern Warfare 2 (opens in new tab), we’ve seen plentiful leaks and rumors, including the purported return of the infamous General Shepherd (opens in new tab) for the campaign, as well as the revival of classic Modern Warfare 2 maps for Warzone (opens in new tab). It’s also thought that the campaign for the sequel will focus on US special forces tasked with taking down Colombian drug cartels. 

It was tough, but we’ve ranked the 10 best Call of Duty games (opens in new tab) so you don’t have to.

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The publisher revealed the details of the series’ 2022 plans in an official blog post (opens in new tab), revealing that this year’s annual Call of Duty release is a sequel to 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and that it’s being developed alongside “a new Warzone experience.” Both games, Activision says, are being developed by Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward from the ground up using a new engine.

Not a whole lot has been revealed about the next iteration of Warzone nor the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sequel, but Activision says to “expect a massive evolution of Battle Royale with all-new playspace and a new sandbox mode.”

The basic details of today’s big Call of Duty news were shared with a select few influencers on Thursday, but now we have confirmation straight from the publisher about what’s next for the franchise. Recent rumors, chiefly from leaker Tom Henderson, claim that the reason Warzone 2 is being built from the ground up is because of technical limitations in the original battle royale. 

In its meeting with content creators yesterday, Activision reportedly dodged a question about whether the new Call of Duty will launch on last-gen consoles, which could suggest the publisher is eyeing a new-gen launch on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, though that’s pure speculation at the moment.

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Multiplayer maps Al-Raab Airbase and Drainage have been reintroduced to the Modern Warfare playlist. Al-Raab Airbase is a 6v6 map that’s now available as a 24/7 playlist, and Drainage is a Gunfight map available only in Gunfight and Gunfight – Snipers Only playlists. The maps were quietly added back in March of this year along with the highly anticipated Killhouse map, which is originally from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Players were surprised to see new Modern Warfare content months after Activision had switched focus to Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops Cold War. 

But while Killhouse remained in the Modern Warfare rotation, Infinity Ward quietly pulled Al-Raab Airbase and Drainage barely a week later. After players were left wondering what the hell happened, Infinity Ward released a statement on Twitter (opens in new tab) that read, “We recently released two new maps to Modern Warfare, ‘Drainage’ and ‘Al-Raab Airbase’ which were available in private match. We temporarily removed them as they aren’t quite ready and need a bit more love before returning. We’ll update soon on when they’ll be back!”

Well, the disappearing maps have returned, which should make those who are still playing Modern Warfare happy. Fans of the game believe it deserved a second year of content and was unceremoniously pushed aside to make way for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone, which integrated in December 2020. A Modern Warfare split screen invisible weapons bug was plaguing Spec Ops players last month, which led many to believe Activision was no longer invested in the title. The re-addition of two new maps should help quell those suspicions, at least until Call of Duty 2021 comes out. Call of Duty 2021 is being developed by Sledgehammer, and will have an impact on Warzone gameplay and content, much like Black Ops Cold War did in late 2020. 

Recently, the narrative and design directors of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have departed Infinity Ward after seven years with the studio. 

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Better yet, these new areas aren’t just there for fan service, but wish-fulfilment, following through on some map features that the Black Ops community have long been clamouring for. It’s part of a wider effort on Raven’s behalf to create a denser, more diverse Verdansk, one designed to streamline existing POIs, cut out any barren areas between them, and replace them with odes to Black Ops’ legacy, alongside a few completely new surprises. In short, you don’t need to be a Black Ops fan to appreciate what Verdansk 84 is offering in Warzone season 3, but it certainly helps.

Back in Black Ops 

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Two new points of interest arriving to Verdansk 84 as part of Warzone season 3 are based on pre-existing maps from the Black Ops series. The first, and perhaps most notable, is Summit; a small, snowy arena that first appeared in the original Black Ops game, and quickly became a fan-favourite. Known as Gora Summit in Verdansk 84, the new POI sits behind a heavily reworked Dam on the north western corner of the map, and has been reimagined for the battle royale’s new springtime aesthetic. 

“The dam was always a little difficult to get to,” explains Raven’s associate creative director, Amos Hodge. “The interior was complex, and there wasn’t a straight path up to the top. There’s now a clear walking path straight up through Dam, and there are now cable cars that go from Summit all the way down to the buildings below, which provides easier access, and more gameplay.”

Indeed, ever since Summit first debuted, players have long been infatuated by the cable cars which hung around the edges of the map, tempting those who could find a safe way across to them with the potential of a breezy camping spot. As Hodge elaborates, Warzone now goes one step further, letting fans finally ride the cable cars to and from the area, which provides a safe form of cover… for the most part: “When we playtest, this area sees some of the craziest gameplay, with players going up and down, sniping, parachuting, helicopters all over the place… I think players will be pleasantly surprised by how it plays.”

The second new point of interest that Black Ops players will immediately recognise when first touching down in Verdansk 84 is Standoff; a Black Ops 2 map known for its urban lanes and sniper perches. Augmenting the Farmland location that sits north of the Prison, Standoff has also been refreshed to fit Verdansk’s new 1980’s themed update, but Hodge stresses that Raven has retained its classic setup, which promises “great fun all the way around” the mid-sized environment. On the flip side, those who enjoy picking people off from the heights of Prison may now find it more difficult to do so, with Standoff’s multiple interiors offering more cover to those making a southward offensive.

But the Black Ops surprises don’t end there. The area which Hodge believes will be the big new hot drop is, in fact, a subtle nod to a lesser known Black Ops map. Grid Array is a giant power grid that Hodge calls a “landmark location”, immediately visible from the start of the infil stage in each match. The structure first appeared in Call of Duty Black Ops’ Grid map, towering over the entire area with its inescapably industrial presence. Players like myself often wondered how much fun could be had in scaling the grid, reigning down sniper fire from above, but Black Ops kept the building firmly out of bounds. Yet, like that of Summit’s cable cars, Raven is finally granting our wishes, letting you explore the entire array from top to bottom.

You might worry that this kind of POI provides yet another sniper perch favourable to those adept at long range; a worrying prospect when Verdansk is already littered with elevated positions that can disadvantage those who prefer fighting on the ground. While that’s true to some extent, the grid’s framed structure provides little in the way of cover for any nesting sharpshooters. In other words, it’ll only take one or two people on the ground to start firing back at them for any Array-stationed sniper to find themselves in the least enviable position of the encounter.

Acceptable in the 80’s

It’s worth stressing that Raven didn’t add these Black Ops-inspired points of interest into Warzone just for the sake of it. Hodge says that each new area was the result of careful consideration over not just “what Black Ops maps fans loved or longed to see, [but] what areas could use some love, or don’t play as well as we’d like.” You can see this in Summit, where players can now more easily and safely ascend the heights of the Dam via the map’s working cable cars, or Standoff, which offers more cover and… well, standoff points to players attempting to make their way over to the Prison.

For a lot of people, Call of Duty: Warzone season 3’s nods and homages to Black Ops will pass them by as quickly as the bullets that fly over their heads in the heat of battle. On the other end of the spectrum, I imagine the presence of Standoff and Summit will bring back painful memories for players who never got on with those maps in the first place. But, regardless of how you feel about Black Ops, you have to admire Raven and Treayrch’s approach to integrating the series’ history and iconography into what started out as a Modern Warfare battle royale. How POIs like the Grid Array feed into the early formations of season 3’s new meta is another question entirely, but as a Black Ops fan, I’m just excited to finally see what the view is like from the top. 

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1. Look for a Radiation symbol on the Warzone map when you drop in

In order to get the Warzone RC-XD you’ll have to find this symbol on the map. It leads to a special contract called Detection that starts the process off so you’ll have to start here. 

2. Pick up the Warzone contract Detection

If you survive the drop and reach the marker on the map you’ll find a contract called Detection you can pick up. When you do this you’ll be given a special heartbeat sensor that will track the RC-XD’s radiation signature rather than a human heartbeat. That’s because it’s in a Radioactive Cache. Probably because Black Ops Cold War is set in the 80s and as everyone knows everything was radioactive back then. 

3. Use the Heartbeat sensor to find the Warzone RC-XD killstreak

Using the Detection Heartbeat sensor will ping the Radioactive Cache and RC-XD killstreak location, so follow its directions – obviously keeping an eye out for enemies and just trying to stay alive. Assuming you make it without dying you’ll find a yellow crate labeled as a Radioactive Cache. 

Pop the Radioactive Cache open and you’ll find the Warzone RC-XD killstreak inside. Find somewhere safe to deploy it and enjoy the booms. Just remember that if you don’t find anyone to blow up before the battery runs out you’ll lose it and have nothing to show for your efforts. 

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Why The Gulag remains Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s best mission (opens in new tab)

Some truths are hard to swallow, but here’s one that I’ve been reluctantly digesting over the last few years. The Battlefield series has had its ups and downs over the course of the last generation, as its overall trajectory continues to bend away from the franchise’s core appeal, to the point where its most recent release, Battlefield 5, felt a far cry from the series’ highpoint of Bad Company 2. 

That’s not to say that DICE’s shooter series hasn’t had its moments since then. Battlefield 4 and Battlefield 1, in particular, are fantastic games in their own ways. On the contrary, it’s not so much that the quality of Battlefield games has deteriorated, but rather their identity has shifted, and subsequently narrowed in the process. 

The franchise’s patented brand of destructible, open-ended sandboxes have been slowly switched out for more static, corridor shooter-style arenas that hold more in common with DICE’s recent Star Wars Battlefront games than they do Battlefield. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that kind of shooter. It’s just not the experience I’ve come to know and love from this long revered IP.

Which is where Call of Duty comes in. Battlefield’s primary competitor has been undergoing its own pivot of late, albeit one that swings in the opposite direction. 

Where Call of Duty was once known for its three-lane, close quarters combat, Activision and its rotating roster developers have been empowered by the opportunities of evolving hardware to stretch those parameters upwards and outwards, designing larger maps with higher player counts, vehicular combat, and more. 

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare‘s Ground War mode, while problematic, represented the apotheosis of that evolution… until Call of Duty: Warzone came along and took that scope to even greater heights. Now, with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, we have Fireteam mode, in  which “10 teams in squads of four face off against one another in large-scale maps featuring land/sea/air vehicles and various objectives”. I don’t know about you, but that sounds awfully familiar to me…

Only in Battlefield?

While my impressions of Black Ops Cold War had been somewhat marred by a poor experience with last month’s Open Alpha on PS4, October’s ongoing Beta testing presents a much better picture of Treyarch’s upcoming instalment. Nowhere is that picture more flattering, however, than in the recently released Fireteam mode, which is already a favourite of mine amongst the roster of the game’s new multiplayer modes. 

Set across a collection of large-scale zones (which are almost certainly going to be stitched together to form the next Warzone map), the mode is a tapestry of chaos in all the right ways. There are a number of variants planned, too, but players are currently privy to only one in the beta, Dirty Bomb, whereby teams are tasked with collecting uranium caches to arm and detonate radioactive bombs peppered around the battleground. Blow up a bomb, and its blast zone becomes a toxic wasteland. It’s Conquest meets Rush, with a Warzone twist. 

What’s more, Fireteam’s introduction of squadplay, right down to the ability to respawn on a squadmate, is yet another brazen-faced loan from Battlefield’s playbook, but I’m not even mad about it. Frankly, after long losing interest in Battlefield 5’s unsatisfying shootouts just a few months after its launch, I’m just happy to be enjoying something that emulates the comforting rhythms of classic Battlefield once again. 

To be clear, Call of Duty is still leagues apart from the soaring heights of Battlefield at its best, where RendeZooks (opens in new tab) and destruction multi-kills were just part of the package, and that’s okay too. There’s room for both shooters in the marketplace, and both occupy a space in the genre that caters to different tastes. But that’s just it. With Battlefield currently MIA, I’m more than happy to let Call of Duty come in and fill the vacuum for now, even if it’s not a worthy replacement in and of itself. 

Battlefield 6 is scheduled to launch sometime next year, and with the power of PS5 and Xbox Series X behind it, I hope DICE capitalises on the opportunity to take the series back to its roots, removing the ever encroaching barriers of recent entries to put player experimentation and sandbox strategy back at the forefront ofs its multiplayer combat. If it doesn’t, however, then I don’t see any reason why Call of Duty can’t keep winning me over in the meantime. 

For more, check out the best Call of Duty games in the series’ history, or find out everything you need to know about the PS5 in the video below. 

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Posting his footage on Reddit, Sarabro (opens in new tab) manages to shoot all 40 targets in King in under 10 seconds flat, easily nabbing the Gold medal awarded as part of Modern Warfare’s Summer Games event, which lets players earn new weapon Blueprints by completing solo challenges online. 

9.9s Shooting Range | PC from r/modernwarfare

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So, how do they do it? Well, mainly through some seriously good aim, but Sarabro also doesn’t reload either of his pistols once, and rarely fires more than one bullet at a target, saving precious ammunition and thus cutting down his record time even further. 

It’s also worth mentioning that they’re playing with a mouse and keyboard on PC, which naturally offers a better experience for precision-based challenges such as this one. That said, a user in the comments beneath Sarabro’s footage has claimed that the best console players are also hitting around 10 seconds using a controller, so the disparity isn’t too large. 

The Summer Games playlist is spearheading Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 5 Reloaded (opens in new tab), which has introduced a ton of new content into Infinity Ward’s ever expanding shooter, including some key changes to Call of Duty: Warzone (opens in new tab) ahead of its Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (opens in new tab) themed shake-up. 

For more, check out the best Call of Duty games (opens in new tab) in the series’ history, or find out what we’ve been playing in this unusual times via our episode of Dialogue Options below. 

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1. Shoot the four pairs of animals

The first step you need to complete is to shoot eight stuffed animals in total. There are four pairs, and you need to destroy the pairs at the exact same time. This means that while you can complete it solo in a private match, you’ll need to use C4 to get rid of them. Otherwise, grab a friend and make sure you’re shooting them simultaneously.

The map above shows the eight locations, but below are screenshots of each individual animal, because some are very tricky to spot if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

Elephant locations (Red)

The first elephant is in the top-left corner of the map, hiding inside the hay.

Elephant number two is harder to spot. Go upstairs inside the barn, then stand on the window ledge at the back. Look to your right and you’ll see it shrouded in darkness.

Duck locations (Green)

Duck number one is below the aforementioned window ledge. Look past the block of hay into an inaccessible room and the duck is at the back.

Go outside for the other duck, you’ll find it behind a rusted gate on the left-hand side of the map.

Plaid teddy bear (Blue)

The first teddy bear decked out in plaid is at the bottom of the map, laying in the grass next to the wooden fence. 

The other plaid teddy is inside the barn, on the other side of the wall from where you shot the duck behind the gate.

Bow teddy bear (Yellow)

Head to the top-right hand part of the map for the first teddy bear with a bow, in the grass through the ajar gate.

The other is at the bottom of the stables section, on the floor behind the final gate. Go prone to spot it.

2. Destroy the new teddy bears

Once all four pairs of animals are obliterated, go inside the barn. In the very middle, on the floor, should be two more teddy bears. Destroy these at the same time with some C4 and voila! Easter egg complete. Stop reading here if you want the final section to be a surprise, otherwise keep reading.

3. Watch the demon goats

Four demon goats will slowly jolt towards the satanic symbol that has appeared on the floor, before your screen fades to black and you die. Yeah, it’s pretty damn weird. If you manage to pull this off in a public match, we’re not entirely sure what happens, but let us know if you find out!

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How to do the Modern Warfare Cheshire Park Pied Piper Easter egg

If you were expecting this Easter egg to be as simple as the bunker puzzle on Trench, then you’ve got another thing coming. This requires scouring the entire map for five mouse traps, which can spawn in essentially random locations. Yeah, it takes a while.

To kick things off, take a look at the statue in the middle of the courtyard. It’s a statue of the Pied Piper, a traditional tale in which a man is hired to eradicate rats from the town of Hamelin, Germany. He does so by luring them away through the power of song, through his magic pipe. When the townsfolk refused to pay him for his services, he played another tune, this time leading away all the children instead. Dark.

Thankfully, this Easter egg doesn’t involve luring any children anywhere. What you have to do is find five rat traps throughout the map and shoot them. The only problem is there are countless possible spawn locations — way too many to showcase on a map — and it’s always completely random. They’re often near rubbish bins, in alleyways, and around restaurants, but you’ll have to do some serious searching.

When you’ve found and shot all five mouse traps, a piece of cheese (seemingly edam, which is made backwards if you didn’t know) will spawn and you can pick it up. This will spawn a cheese wheel (with a piece missing) somewhere on the map. Again, this can be random, but look inside kitchens and on tables. Take the cheese wheel to the Pied Piper statue in the middle of the map and place the offering at the base.

The Pied Piper will play his tune, the rats will circle the statue, before spontaneously combusting. Congrats, Easter egg complete! You can’t die to this Easter egg like the one on Trench, but it is a little more involved. Here’s hoping these Easter eggs keep coming with new maps because they’re a lot of fun to discover.

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How to do the Modern Warfare Trench Easter egg and open the bunker doors

This can be done in either a private custom match or a public match if Trench comes up. In order to open the bunker doors first with the keypad, you need to find the correct code.

1. The first number can be found to the right-hand side of the bunker door, when you’re facing away from it. Take the right-most path, hop over the stone blocks, and it’s engraved near your feet on the left-hand side.
2. For the second number, go back to the bunker door and right before the left-most path, you can find it engraved to the left of the grey barrel.
3. The third number is all the way at the opposite side of the map, in the enemy side spawn. Look inside the open brown crate to see it in the bottom.
4. Turn around and go to the right-most path (the same path number two is at the end of), but hop onto the island in the middle of the trenches. This number is on the side of the concrete block with the metal frame sticking out of the top.
5. Finally, number five is slap bang in the middle of the map. Find the wooden bridge, go under it, and look up. It’s on the underside.

Now with all five numbers, go to the keypad and enter them in order by simply shooting the respective number on the keypad. This will present you with ACCESS GRANTED and the doors will open. Step one complete.

Once you’re inside, look for the red telephone on the middle desk. It’ll have five numbers displayed on it; go back to the keypad and now shoot these numbers in order. When you see ACCESS GRANTED again, you’ll know you’ve done it correctly.

Go back inside and the phone will be ringing. Answer it and voila! The door at the back will start sliding open, revealing an enormous, deadly teddy bear who will kill you very quickly if you’re not careful. Unfortunately, even with a Riot Shield, you can’t get inside the room it’s in. A cool Easter egg nonetheless, and you could probably set up a cheeky trap for an enemy if done quickly.

If any of the above steps have you confused, make sure you check out this video guide (opens in new tab) from Chaos which showcases all the number locations.

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