Call of Duty Black Ops 4 cut campaign detailed in huge cache of documents
UPDATE: Fan-researched video now live.
UPDATE 19/8/22: As previously promised, a video detailing Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's cut campaign has now surfaced online, following a treasure trove of details appearing in text form via reddit last week.
The YouTube video goes into further depth on the story this mode would have told, including some of its characters. There's also a look at work-in-progress screenshots and artwork from the campaign.
It'll be interesting to see how long this video remains online. Reddit user Purpletoaster20's lengthy post has now been deleted without any explanation.
ORIGINAL STORY 10/8/22: An enormous cache of cut content from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has been posted online, detailing developer Treyarch's early plans for a campaign mode.
Gameplay details, screenshots and design documentation are all included in a post on the infamous GamingLeaksAndRumours reddit by user Purpletoaster20, who states that it is the culmination of "months of research and discussion" with those who knew about the mode before it was ditched.
The post also comes ahead of a 30-minute video on the mode, which the user says they intend to post online next week.
Black Ops 4 launched back in 2018 without a story-based offering, and despite official comments suggesting a "traditional" campaign was never planned, reports at the time revealed that a sizable co-op career mode had been worked upon before ultimately being scrapped.
Technical concerns and time pressures - not helped by the game's release moving forward to avoid Red Dead Redemption 2 - meant the mode was ditched, and the hastily-put together Blackout battle royale mode was offered instead.
Today's post goes into detail on the cut mode, officially dubbed Career, which was designed as a mission-based 2v2 "race to the finish" offering that could also be played solo, with AI players standing in.
Set in 2070, in a post-Black Ops 3 world, Career mode's story would detail a "Year of Chaos" following a global pandemic and climate disaster. Huh.
Two factions would emerge - the two sides you could pick from to play as in the mode - named the World United Nations ("a central government body") and the Free People's Army ("supported by many of the world's impoverished nations").
Your path through the mode would be affected by your choice of side, as well as who won or lost each 15-20 minute mission, with several missions set across six larger story locations.
Missions would feature both PVP and PVE sections, vehicles, Black Ops 3-style abilities, side-objectives, and companion assist characters based on the game's multiplayer specialists.
Four early missions are detailed, alongside information on major characters (such as a handler for each faction, a journalist character you would need to extract from behind enemy lines). There's also detail on plans for custom game modes, a Skirmish offering, and DLC seasons offering new story content.
The post concludes with a reminder of the user's upcoming video which will go into further detail, as well as a call for more information. Before being scrapped in early 2018, a work-in-progress version of Career mode was given to Activision employees to play over the 2017 holiday break. This build may hold even more detail, the poster suggests, calling for footage of it to now be made public.