Black Ops Cold War uses a different engine from Modern Warfare & Warzone

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Treyarch has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be running on a different engine than the previous game in the franchise, Modern Warfare.

When Black Ops Cold War was first leaked, many fans thought that the game would be running on the same engine as Modern Warfare and Warzone. These rumors were given some credibility when it was revealed the battle royale mode would be a part of the game at launch.

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However, this isn’t strictly the case, as developer Raven Software has confirmed that the game will be running on an entirely different engine and toolset from Infinity Ward’s game.

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Treyarch and Raven’s engine in Black Ops Cold War allowed the studios to get photo-realistic environments and character models.

In fact, Black Ops Cold War will be running on an engine that was originally built back in 2015. That being said, the studios did confirm that the engine has been revamped and retooled since then.

Despite all this, however, Raven explains that the game will still look extremely photorealistic and that it will “push Call of Duty visual boundaries”.

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According to the developers, one of the most important aspects was capturing the feel of the 1980’s, while also supporting modern technological advancements like 4K, Real Time Lighting, and more. This, as expected, “pushed the limits” of what their current engine can do.

It’s easy to see how successful the studios were at replicating photorealism. The scenery itself looks stunning and the facial animations featured in the campaign reveal trailer show an impressive amount of detail, from the hairs on Wood’s chin to the wrinkles on Ronald Reagan’s face.

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That all being said, it’ll be interesting to see how the game looks on current-gen consoles. The reveal trailer was captured on a PS5 so, at this point, we really don’t know how impressive, or unimpressive, the game will look on PS4 and Xbox One.