CoD Black Ops 4: Is There a Campaign? What You Need to Know

Is There a Campaign in CoD Black Ops 4?

Campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies have always been the three major pillars of the Call of Duty series. But is that the case in CoD Black Ops 4? Here’s whether or not there’s a campaign in CoD Black Ops 4.

The campaign, multiplayer, and zombies formula undeniably brings a lot of variety to capture the interest of various types of gamers. There’s campaign for a mega-blockbuster narrative, multiplayer for frenetic run-and-gun shooting, and Zombies for a cooperative horde-based survival game with complex Easter Egg hunts.  

If you expected Treyarch‘s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 to follow the traditional formula, you’ll be greatly disappointed. Campaign has been replaced in favor of Blackout, a battle royale mode with a large landmass and features land, air, and sea vehicles. Its areas are heavily inspired by multiplayer maps from past games in the series.

CoD Black Ops 4 is primarily a multiplayer-centric shooter at best due to the absence of a campaign mode. Nonetheless, Treyarch has implemented some solo missions that explore the timeline gap between Black Ops 2 and 3.

The solo missions shed some light on the multiplayer Specialists. These are simple, self-contained stories that serve as tutorial-style challenges to help players familiarize themselves with the unique capabilities of each Specialist.

The solo missions in Black Ops 4 is nothing like a standard Call of Duty campaign by any means, but it’s something that solo players might crave with the omission of a campaign. There’s also a 10-issue comic series about the Black Ops Specialists, if you’re interested in learning more about the game’s cast of characters.

Why is there no campaign in CoD Black Ops 4?

Treyarch has stated before that they never planned to include a traditional campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and the team was given enough freedom by Activision to try different things.

Treyarch believes that they have doubled down on the story side in Black Ops 4. There’s brand new story experiences in Zombies, weaving of narrative and locales in Blackout, and some backstories for the Specialists through the solo missions.

There’s still some ray of hope for those worried about the future of a traditional campaign in Call of Duty. Treyarch has expressed that they are not yet done telling stories, though they always strive to challenge conventions and try to tell stories differently.

So, that’s everything you need to know about the narrative side of CoD Black Ops 4. If you have other lingering questions about the game, make sure to check our Black Ops 4 wiki. We also have useful tips and tricks for Blackout, Zombies, and the multiplayer aspects of the game.