Call of Duty: Warzone players have some interesting theories about the future of the map
It's the only way to be sure.
Activision continues to tease some sort of change to Call of Duty: Warzone's main map, this time with the impending arrival of a boat.
This week, Activision said Verdansk will get a number of points of interest to either discover or explore as part of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone Season Two. These advance Warzone's story, we were told. The Season Two trailer is below:
There was mention of the cargo tanker Vodianoy, which players had spotted off the coast of Rebirth Island recently. This ship had gone missing at sea, but is now heading toward the Port of Verdansk. "Operators within the vicinity are recommended to exercise extreme caution," read the official blurb, "as the ship is carrying unknown cargo, and its crew are not able to be contacted."
And there's something "beginning to rumble" deep underground within Verdansk, although these new locales are yet to be detailed. I imagine players will sniff them out soon after Season Two launches on 25th February.
But before then, players have spotted the Vodianoy heading towards the Port of Verdansk in-game.
Redditor Kennnt posted a gameplay clip to the Warzone sub showing off the approaching vessel, as well as a lightning storm above it.
Boat now visible in the sea! from r/CODWarzone
Meanwhile, the screen distortions continue. The latest is accompanied by more Russian chat, seemingly from onboard the Vodianoy itself. Here's a clip tweeted by @xRadical__:
And here's the translation, courtesy of Twitter user @totsamyipetrik:
"Captain Rosental speaking. Russian ship Vodianoy. ... happened. We were transporting strange biological material. What have we done?! There was an infection outbreak. I'm afraid we won't be able to contain it. (Proceeds to scream)."
So, what's going on? Call of Duty lore fans have plenty of theories. The expectation is the Vodianoy will crash into Verdansk and become one of the new points of interest Activision teased. From there, players suspect the ship will either contain zombies, spit zombies onto the map, or release this "strange biological material" that turns dead players into zombies.
This seems like a safe bet. Last week players discovered the Cold War Zombies trial machine in Warzone's rumble playlist. Since then more have been added to the map. So zombies are almost certainly coming to Warzone. Remember, for the first time, the Call of Duty: Warzone, Black Ops, Zombies and Modern Warfare storylines are all connected.
Speculating on what will happen later into Season Two, some reckon this zombie outbreak on Verdansk will end up forcing a nuke - just to be sure. Remember Activision's tease about something "beginning to rumble" deep underground within Verdansk? Perhaps those rumbles are coming from underground silos. The clip below, taken from the Season Two trailer released this week, shows a player ziplining up and out of an underground silo, and other players fighting outside. This is currently not possible in Warzone:
In the same trailer we see a character boot an enemy - this is Sparta! style - into an open silo. Again, this isn't something you can currently do in Warzone:
Here's an interesting theory from redditor SapphireXP: "my guess: it is the ship from Rebirth Island and it is going to crash into Verdansk because of the storm. Chemicals are released. Dead players turn into zombies. They see no way out and nuke Verdansk... we get a new map."
If a nuke is set to blast Verdansk to smithereens, and players have long suspected this is the way Activision will go with it, what happens to the map? Perhaps we'll get to play on Verdansk once again, but changed due to the blast. Perhaps there will be a completely new map to play in. There's certainly a feeling among players that Verdansk as it currently stands has run its course, and there's an appetite for a new setting.