Call of Duty: Vanguard Warzone – Pacific Caldera map, season one start date, vehicles and new playlist explained

THE latest Call of Duty game hit shelves around the world today, bringing an explosive new campaign and multiplayer mode to the table.

Call of Duty: Vanguard features new maps, modes and features to the beloved franchise – as well as a brand new Warzone experience.

ActivisionCall of Duty: Warzone’s Vanguard integration ushers in ‘Pacific’[/caption]

The brand-new map Caldera is set on a Pacific island

Warzone Pacific is out in early December

Buy Call of Duty: Vanguard now

Release date, new map and vehicles explained

Unsurprisingly, Warzone is back with a fresh lick of paint for the release of Vanguard.

A new map drops at the beginning of Season 1 on December 3, or December 2 if you own Vanguard.

The new location is based in the Pacific: an entirely new island called Caldera.

It’s apparently roughly the same size as Verdansk, with more than 200 points of interest for players to explore.

You’ll explore a variety of locations such as beaches, forests, a small river settlement populated by huts, and even a dormant volcano.

Players will also have access to new vehicles with which to survey up their surroundings.

They include AA trucks and even propeller aircraft – a first for Warzone.

Activision has said the map’s design is “based on two years of research and listening to the community”.

Ahead of Caldera’s release, a number of special events in Verdansk will play out to gear players up for the new season.

New playlist and other additions

The hotly-anticipated new season also features a new Battle Pass, new iconic WWII weapons, Multiplayer maps and more.

Warzone itself has been renamed ‘Warzone Pacific’ and we’ll see a dedicated playlist in Vanguard Royale.

Vanguard Plunder mode will drop soon after, and there’s all sorts of vehicles to play with across both modes.

But that doesn’t mean the ones you’ve accumulated prior are being phased out. All of the original Warzone vehicles and skins aren’t going anywhere.

All of the Operators and Calling Cards from Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare will be available, as well as cross-progression and Seasonal Prestige.

Call of Duty: Vanguard file size

Call of Duty games are notoriously large when it comes to file size, causing quite the problem for console players with small hard drives.

However, Vanguard’s install launch size is slimmed down by 30% to 50% compared to previous instalments in the series. Although that only goes for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Activision has listed the approximate file sizes for install, pre-load, and space needed to play the game so you can start making room or invest in a new SSD now.

PS5: 64.13 GB Download89.84 GB Required SpacePS4:54.65 GB Download93.12 GB Required SpaceXbox Series X|S:61 GB Download61 GB Required SpaceXbox One:56.6 GB Download56.6 GB Required SpacePC: TBC

Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign

Call of Duty is leaning into a diverse cast of characters this year, which is refreshing.

We’re going back to WWII but the focus is on the origins of Task Force One – dubbed “the original Special Forces”.

Sledgehammer is no stranger to the setting, having developed 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII, so the studio is more than equipped to take the reins.

Things will be quite a bit different this time around though as the story follows a handful of heroes across four major fronts.

Private Lucas Riggs in the North Africa CampaignLieutenant Wade Jackson from the Pacific Lieutenant Polina Petrova on the Eastern FrontSergeant Arthur Kingsley of the British Army’s 9th Parachute Battalion

The campaign will let you “live out the moments that made them heroes and learn how they came together to spearhead Task Force One.”

Ultimately, the story will see them faceoff against “ruthless Nazi Officer Hermann Wenzel Freisinger” who’s running Project Phoenix:.

Your first mission in the game starts off with a newly recruited Operator (that’s you) infiltrating a “heavily fortified U-boat facility”.

Once you’re in, you need to procure Axis military intelligence on the project before it’s smuggled out of Germany.

Call of Duty: Vanguard multiplayer

We’ve had a pretty extensive look at the online portion of the game, with the Vanguard multiplayer reveal offering up quite the trove of information.

At launch, Vanguard offers the following seven core and hardcore modes:

Free for AllTeam DeathmatchKill ConfirmedDominationSearch & DestroyHardpointPatrol

Additional modes will be added post-launch, “including two newer ones that recently became a competitive standard and a small-team tactical mainstay, according to the blog.

There’ll be 16 multiplayer maps at launch which support these modes, with three more maps post-launch on December 2. These are the confirmed maps so far:

Battle of BerlinBocageCastleDas HausDecoyDemyanskDesert SiegeDomeEagle’s NestGavutuHotel RoyalNuma NumaOasisRed StarSub PensTuscan

A new Combat Pacing system switched up the multiplayer experience even more. You can opt for Quick Play to get a taste of everything, or pick the one that suits you best:

Tactical: Tactical Combat Pacing always has a 12-player maximum in matches for traditional 6v6 playAssault: A middle ground between Tactical and Blitz featuring matches with 14 to 36 players (7v7 to 18v18) depending on the size of the mapBlitz: Matches here range from 16 to 48 players (8v8 to 24v24) depending on the size of the map

Tactical offers the usual pacing CoD fans will be familiar with. Assault is “balanced” and gives players “room to breathe and a lot of targets to kill.”

Blitz is described as “high-action” at “frenetic levels” so feel free to dabble in all three to find your favourite.

Operator-wise, Vanguard will launch with 12, including the four from the campaign:

The Operators are spread over four Task Forces, and each one is hugely customisable:

HellhoundsDaniel Take YatsuWade JacksonHalima ZambardiSentinalConstanze Trude MullerArthur KingsleyPadmavati BalanBarbarianLucas RiggsRoland ZeimetBeatrice MercierShadowShigenori OtaPolina PetrovaSolange Hardewijk

Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies

Treyarch is heading up Call of Duty: Vanguard’s Zombies and in the spirit of full integration, we’re getting a crossover with the Dark Aether storyline from Black Ops Cold War.

Set against the backdrop of WWII, the Special Forces operatives are stuck in Stalingrad and cut off from help thanks to the dark magic of Kortifex the Deathless.

Anchored to artifacts, there are five Dark Aether entities in total:

Saraxis the ShadowNorticus the ConquerorInviktor the DestroyerBellekar the WarlockKortifex the Deathless

Unfortunately for Kortifex, the other four are rising against him.

With their help, as well as demonologist Professor Gabriel Krafft, the containment spell can be broken and the zombie apocalypse prevented.

ActivisionCall of Duty: Vanguard releases November 5[/caption]

ActivisionActivision lays out the road to Season 1[/caption]

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