Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Zombies is arguably the only element of the game that has garnered confidence from the CoD community, as doubts remain about the campaign’s extraction shooter finale and multiplayer’s inclusion of wall-jumps. For CoD Zombies, though, things are only looking more promising with each reveal, as the latest version of the mode seems to be hitting a number of community requests. These range from small adjustments like Max Ammo replenishing special equipment to sizable requests like survival maps and the long-awaited Cursed mode. However, while all of this is exciting, players also have good reason to believe that the future is equally bright.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Zombies fans may have their attention focused on the upcoming beta, but it’s worth looking at how Treyarch may have unintentionally confirmed one of the most prominent leaks about its latest game. Specifically, Treyarch’s official bios for the new versions of the original crew highlight four locations that are significant to their backstories, all of which had been rumored to be maps in the upcoming release. With this in mind, here are the maps players can expect to see throughout the BO7 DLC season, assuming the leak proves to be as true as it seems to be.
Treyarch has confirmed that every map in Black Ops 7 Zombies will take place within the Dark Aether, giving the studio freedom to flex its creative muscles with its chosen play spaces.
Black Ops 7’s Map Lineup Already Seems Clear
Though all leaks should obviously be taken with a grain of salt, Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson has proven to be one of the most reliable sources for early info, with his leak from March of this year mentioning that there will be six total full-sized maps for the game. The first is Ashes of the Damned, the officially revealed launch map for Black Ops 7, while four of the other five locations perfectly line up with a member of the crew’s military history:
- Post-WW2 New York from an alternate timeline where it has been destroyed by a nuclear bomb. Considering how the new Richtofen is responsible for winning the war for the nazi party, it can be assumed that this map is real and will explore his story.
- A Vietnam map, which lines up with this version of Tank Dempsey, as he served in the Vietnam War as opposed to the first or second World Wars. While Firebase Z from Black Ops Cold War recently explored Vietnam, perhaps this map could focus on other elements of the locale, such as foxholes and jungles.
- An Afghanistan map, which ties in perfectly with Afghanistan veteran Nikolai. Apart from the Tomb’s spawn area, sandy settings haven’t featured much in Black Ops Zombies as of late, meaning such a map could feel quite fresh.
- A map set in a Japanese temple that is supposedly at the foot of an active volcano. Naturally, this map would coincide with Takeo’s story.
A map per character may sound familiar to longtime Call of Duty Zombies fans, as it’s essentially the exact same approach that Treyarch took with Black Ops 3. Considering how BO3 is widely regarded as the best overall CoD Zombies mode ever created, this is hardly a bad thing, as if handled correctly, Treyarch will have a chance to properly explore all four of the “new” members in BO7 Zombies’ expanded cast. Beyond that, all four of these settings — especially the Japan and New York ones — sound incredibly varied and visually unique, directly addressing the complaints about an over-reliance on facility maps in Black Ops 6.
Black Ops 7’s Leaked Space Station Map is the Odd One Out… or Is It?
Ashes of the Damned and the four character-centric maps leave BO7 fans with one final post-launch release to consider, and supposedly, it will take players to a space station within the Dark Aether. While there is a chance that this is simply a Moon remake, since this map is likely to serve as the finale of the BO7 Zombies story, it will probably be brand-new. However, perhaps it will still call back to Moon thematically, as it’s already been hinted that this Richtofen could be cooking up a grand scheme of his own like the Ultimis version did. Perhaps in this final map, he’ll overthrow BO7 Zombies’ new Ghoul-like villain, taking control of the undead while aboard a space station just like he did nearly a decade-and-a-half prior in Black Ops 1.
With Black Ops 7 Zombies, it seems like players can expect an introductory map through Ashes of the Damned, four character-specific maps exploring the O4 and their lore through environmental storytelling, and a big space station climax. The only real question is what the order will be for the maps in between Ashes of the Damned and the space station, but regardless, this is quite possibly the clearest view of a post-launch season that CoD Zombies fans have ever had.