Before the massive success ofCall of Duty:Warzone, Call of Duty’s original Battle Royale mode “Blackout” was released forCall of Duty: Black Ops 4in 2018. Although 2020’sWarzonegreatly surpassedBlackoutin terms of popularity, the series' first attempt at the genre holds much more in common with the newly-released DMZ mode than the traditional last-man-standing setup of BRs. DMZ inCall of Duty: Warzone 2serves as the series' newest attempt at entering a growing genre in the form of extraction games, which offers subtle yet impactful changes to the genre that should pleaseBlackoutfans.
When Blackout was initially released, it came at a time when the original BR juggernautPUBG: Battlegrounds began to see its player base decline andFortnitewas rising to new heights. Many other BR games also began to release to capitalize on the explosive trend set byPUBG. WithBlackout, Call of Duty took the addicting BR formula and added the series' signature tight and responsive gunplay to raise the standard for the genre. WhileWarzone 2’s BR mode offers 150-player PvP battles, andthe DMZ even implements some PvEelements, DMZ provides an experience closer to Blackout’s due to a larger emphasis on looting than obtaining loadouts.
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The DMZ Experience of Extracting Valuable Loot
For those unaware of the genre, extraction games are high-stakes multiplayer games where you have a persistent player inventory and when the player dies, they lose the loadout they brought into the level along with the loot acquired in that instance. Extraction games focus more heavily on the looting experience through a wide range of gameplay styles and settings. Games likeEscape from Tarkov,Hunt: Showdown,The Cycle: Frontier, andMaraudersoffer an addicting high-risk, high-reward gameplay loop within various sci-fi and realistic environments.
Warzone 2’s DMZ mode is an excellent change of pace from the BR mode, as the player count is reduced from 150 to 66 and the massive Al Mazrah map is packed with more AI offering varying levels of aggression and difficulty. Additionally, DMZ offers a much larger variety of things to do and missions to complete within its map, such asdefeating enemy DMZ Strongholds, activating UAV towers, defeating a world boss, and unlocking safes. Progression mainly comes in the form of completing missions to earn XP and unlock the next tier of missions, which in turn provides more missions and more ways to earn XP.
While there’s not much to do outside the missions themselves and there’s no real economy, as cash and most of the extracted loot simply converts to account XP, the importance of discovering and extracting loot to complete missions createsmore variety akin to Blackoutas opposed to simply obtaining cash to buy a loadout, then surviving until the end like in the BR mode. Although DMZ lacks complex inventory management, a player-driven economy, vendors, or a marketplace as seen in many of the other extraction games, this greatly lowers the barrier of entry for new players looking to quickly get into the mode.
With something for everybody and an approachable gameplay loop, DMZ offers more meaningful player choices and freedom throughout each round that can drastically alter the intensity of the session. It’s a notable contrast to the BR mode, where the decisions to play either passively or aggressively are a bit more one-dimensional. Since Blackout provided a similar experience with a greater emphasis on looting and fewer players overall, DMZ is a great middle-ground for those who findWarzone 2’s battle royale experience a bit too intense.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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