Leaked Black Ops 4 gameplay reveals canceled campaign

Although Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 didn’t feature a campaign, new footage has surfaced online revealing what the single-player story mode was going to look like before it apparently got scrapped.

There were a lot of things in Black Ops 4 that made it unique from other Call of Duty titles, such as the manual healing in multiplayer, and the first-ever CoD battle royale, but what maybe stood out the most was that the game, for the first time in franchise history, didn’t have a campaign

When discussing that decision, developers Treyarch said there weren’t any plans for such a mode, and that they prioritized the online aspects of the game, such as multiplayer and Blackout.

However, since then, it’s become evident that a campaign was in the works, at least at one point, before it was dropped due to it being too big of a project to see through.

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On May 25, over a year-and-a-half after the game’s release, we finally have a look at what that was going to look like, thanks to some new gameplay that was leaked on Reddit.

At the beginning of this footage, the player is tasked with “finding the Aquilus CEO,” and they must wade through a crowd of panicking civilians who seem to be in the midst of some sort of disastrous attack.

Other objectives that pop up on the screen throughout this gameplay are “secure the restaurant,” “secure the courtyard,” and “neutralize hostiles and secure VIP.”

This was clearly taken from an early stage in the campaign’s development, as the graphics are not sharp at certain points, and there are a lot of character models that are incomplete.

Those who have played Black Ops 4 multiplayer will instantly recognize the setting to be a map called Seaside. In fact, almost everything on the screen looks very similar to the MP layout, including the health bar, Specialist abilities/equipment, and the weapon information.

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According to the leaker, this was by design, as Treyarch wanted there to be some sort of crossover between the campaign and MP, and making the experience and feel of the two similar was part of that effort.

“I believe the mechanics of the campaign was going to be very similar to the multiplayer, which makes sense honestly,” the Redditer wrote. “Also notice the “Find the Aquilus CEO” notification at the top when the video starts? I think they really had a huge storyline here.”

The leaker also mentioned that they’re in possession of additional gameplay from this mission, as well as footage “showcasing augmented impact effects within the BO4 engine,” although they’re not going to be posting those just yet.

Sadly, we will never see what the final outcome of this story mode would have looked like, and the game still remains as the only CoD title ever to not feature a campaign.