Call of Duty Zombies is on the verge of getting its final round-based map in Black Ops Cold War, a mysterious “Forsaken” battleground at Test Site Anna in Ukraine set to bring the franchise-arching Dark Aether storyline to a close — here’s everything we know about the next Zombies update so far.
The new Zombies storyline in Black Ops Cold War has been a smashing success, and players have raved about the playlist’s new maps and battlegrounds too.
The fight-to-survive game mode looks to be going out on a high too; Zombies will be getting one last map in the game’s Season 6 update, which will also act as a sort of ‘Treyarch goodbye’ before the Call of Duty franchise shifts to Vanguard.
This new map, code-named “Ukraine,” should be another stunner.
Here’s everything we know about the next Call of Duty Zombies map — ‘Forsaken’ — so far, including its release date, Treyarch leaks, and more.
Contents
Forsaken leaks & teasers
Test Site Anna
Treyarch revealed two images relating to the “Test Site Anna” map on September 14. One was posted on Twitter, and one was shared a little later on their Facebook page.
In both images, a towering building can be seen.
There are also two scrawled messages. The first reads, “Weaver — This is the place. We must make our stand here. Ravenov”. The second message, shared on Facebook hours later, says: “Omega’s next operation is already well underway. They have been constructing for months”. Both are written on old photos.
They were both posted with #Zombies #SeasonSix hashtags.
Margwas return
Next came two reports from the ‘office of requiem’ on September 16 & 17. The first was a letter from Weaver, detailing an extraction mission of Sergeant Kazimir Zykov. The second came from The Director and described the conditions of Operation First Domino.
A few days passed before the next ominous teaser went live on September 22. “New horrors have emerged from the Dark Aether,” Treyarch revealed as a Margwa Zombie appeared to breach a nearby portal.
Forsaken will finally appear
This particular foe first appeared in Black Ops 3. It now seems set for a return in the final round-based Zombies map in Cold War. Another teaser image soon followed on September 24 as Treyarch stressed “something big is coming.”
A containment device is holding The Forsaken while keeping its abilities “nullified”. There’s a good chance this device fails and sets up the battle ahead of us in the upcoming map.
Something big is coming.#Zombies #SeasonSix pic.twitter.com/TNug2yvXX4
— Treyarch Studios (@Treyarch) September 23, 2021
Dark Aether finale easter egg
These new “Forsaken” teasers confirm how the Dark Aether storyline is likely to end when the new Zombies map is finally added to Black Ops Cold War.
The building, Test Site Anna, is already familiar to Call of Duty players who have sunk their teeth into Treyarch’s latest story campaign; during the single-player mode the player journeys to the base in the “Operation Redlight, Greenlight” mission.
Dexerto expects we’ll see one final Omega machine.
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The main Call of Duty Zombies antagonists have been trying to build a Dark Aether device to find the Forsaken. It first appeared in the Mauer Der Toten easter egg, possessing Aleksandra Valentina’s father. We have yet to see the story’s ‘big bad’ in the flesh though — something that may change in Ukraine.
The map’s easter egg is now confirmed to be based around Omega trapping the Forsaken in a mortal body, in a bid to win the Cold War against Requiem.
New Forsaken weapons revealed
Chrysalax Wonder Weapon
In this Zombies cycle, we’ve already seen the iconic Ray Gun and the Monkey Bomb added to Black Ops Cold War. On top of that, there’s been the new Binary Repeater, the DIE Machine, and most recently Firebase’s modded-out RAI K-84 gun.
Now we get a new Call of Duty Zombies weapon: the “Chrysalax” axe.
This new item is a Dark Aether melee weapon that can be discovered in the Forsaken quest, earned in Trials, or (with the right luck) won in the Mystery Box.
ARC-XD, Hand Cannon support items
This final Zombies update will also add two new support weapons to the famous survival mode: the ARC-XD and Hand Cannon.
The ARC-XD seems very similar to the iconic Black Ops killstreak, a mini-bomb strapped to a remote-controlled car. This Zombies version has a few changes though, and acts like a decoy, luring Zombies in with an Aetherium Crystal. When it detonates, it emits a small Aether blast pulse to kill normal enemies.
On top of the zany new car item, Zombies players will also be able to get their hands on the Hand Cannon, introduced in multiplayer back in the Season 4 update.
PhD Flopper perk returns
PhD Slider is very similar to the original perk — but, instead of diving, a player needs to slide into a zombie or creature to trigger an explosion. The size of the impact and the amount of damage dealt depends on the distance the player slides before making contact with an enemy.
Much like other perks in Cold War, PhD Slider will have five tiers of upgrades, which have not been revealed at the time of writing. However, the devs did hint at one upgrade allowing you to trigger explosions when falling from a vertical distance.
The perk will have its own machine but can also be found in the Der Wunderfizz machine in all round-based maps and Outbreak.
Official Forsaken map description
“As fans have learned in the latest Intel throughout Season Five, Requiem’s Director has plans for Samantha Maxis. Requiem has been employing unorthodox methods to “help” her understand the powers she has developed during her time in the Dark Aether.
“Requiem and Omega have embarked upon rival operations to extract Sergeant Kazimir Zykov from the Dark Aether, believing this “lost Russian” – the Soviet soldier who closed the portal at Projekt Endstation – will be the key to preventing a destructive force from entering our world.
“And now, Omega defector Sergei Ravenov has provided Requiem with intelligence detailing a massive new Aetherial portal being constructed in western Ukraine…”
When will new Zombies map be released?
Dexerto can confirm that the new CoD Zombies map, Forsaken, will be released as part of the Black Ops Cold War Season 6 launch. That means we already have a locked-in release date for the new battlefield — Thursday, October 7.
Unless there are any delays, Zombies players should get their hands on the new Forsaken map once the update goes live around 9PM US time.