Could the Call of Duty series be about to return to the brooding era of the Cold War? That's what's being suggested by the latest rumors that point to a new Black Ops game being released this year – a 'soft reboot' tentatively titled Call of Duty: Classified.
Building on reports previously shared by Kotaku, Reddit user SunnyMatrix claims to have spoken to "a source that is involved in primarily screenwriting for television and film, although they sometimes are brought on as a consultant to review storytelling in the videogame industry."
This source claims that the backdrop for the next Call of Duty game will be the Cold War, and will take in historical globe-trotting locations like war-torn Vietnam and parts of the old Soviet Union.
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Reviving the old
A reboot in the same vein as the recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, it'll be a more grounded tale than the way recent Black Ops games have leaned towards the futuristic.
The story is said to involve espionage, government conspiracy theories and real-world events, from "the assassination of John F. Kennedy" to MK-ULTRA, a real project sanctioned by the American government in which civilians were given psychedelic drugs, and subjected to psychotherapy and electroshock treatments with the aim of opening them up to potential mind control.
Stealth could feature more heavily too, with an opening level described in which the player is "attacked in the dead of the night by Vietcong forces with an emphasis on stealth gameplay after the initial attack."
While the legitimacy of the leak is uncertain, with the leaker making the rare admission that it is unverified and "in no way, shape, or form concrete," lots suggested here aligns with what we've already heard, right down to a troubled story development dealing with sensitive real-world subject matter.
As it stands, Activision is still on track to release a new Call of Duty title before 2020 is out, targeting the PC, PS4 and Xbox One, as well as the new PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles. Could Call of Duty: Classified be that game?
