Activision and Sledgehammer Games lifted the lid off Call of Duty: WWII over night, detailing the franchise’s epic “return to its roots”, an era it has not visited since 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War.
Among the details revealed was the game’s story and characters, multiplayer features, co-op modes and information about the beta.
Perhaps most interesting about the unveiling was the reveal of Headquarters, a special online feature that Sledgehammer says is unlike any social feature we’ve seen in a Call of Duty game before.
Headquarters is a social space in which players connected to Call of Duty: WWII‘s online servers will be able to interact.
Seeing as Call of Duty shares a publisher with Destiny, it’s unsurprising that Headquarters sounds a lot like the latter’s Tower social feature.
The Tower in Destiny was a social activity and location within the walls of The City, where Guardians could interact with each other, visit vendors, or turn in quest items.
It’s clear that Activision is hoping to bring the feature to all of its games as a means of enhancing the social element of the experience.
Speaking with GamesRadar, Sledgehammer Gamers co-founder, Michael Condrey, said Headquarters would allow players to showcase their achievements.
“Imagine a Call of Duty space that provides that anchors you in World War 2, and continues your social engagement and your attachment to your avatar in a really transformational new space with other community members,” Condrey said.
It seems as though Headquarters will take the Call of Duty‘s staple bragging rights feature in Prestige to a whole new level.
“Now you have a place to really celebrate that achievement in public amongst dozens of your friends and community members,” Condrey said.
It’s unclear how exactly Headquarters will incorporate and celebrate in-game achievements, but when Condrey was asked if Prestige advancement would be recognised by placing the player on a pedestal, Condrey replied: “Yeah … that kind of thing.”
You can watch the official reveal trailer for Call of Duty: WWII below, which showcases in-game footage for Sledgehammer’s epic, which launches November 3 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
Here are the Call of Duty: WWII multiplayer modes and features we know about so far.
War Game
This mode sounds similar to Battlefield 1‘s Operations mode. It’s narrative driven, and will have players take part in historical battles as either the Axis or the Allies.
Headquarters
Headquarters is a “robust social space”, in which players will be able to rally and interact with other players. You can probably expect this to be similar to Destiny‘s Tower. Headquarters is said to offer “interaction, recognition and awards unlike anything experienced in the franchise to date.”
We should probably also expect traditional multiplayer games such as Team Deathmatch, Domination, and the Call of Duty favourite, Search and Destroy.
The reveal didn’t detail much else about multiplayer outside of the above, but E3 stands to be the big reveal for the game’s competitive component.