With the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6many fan-favorite features make their grand return. Players are once again exploring the exciting Black Ops story, the franchise has taken a trip back in time, iconic maps like Nuketown looming on the horizon and all about Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is seemingly a return to form for this FPS series. But perhaps the biggest recurring feature comes in the form of the extremely popular round-based Zombies mode.
Introduced in Call of Duty: World at Warthe round-based Zombies mode has become a staple in Black Ops series. Along with that, it has also started seeping into others Call of Duty titles, with appearances in e.g Advanced Warfare, Vanguardand WW2. With the release of Modern Warfare 3the concept was completely reinvented, but now that this version has returned, it will hopefully never be left behind again.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies' Difficulty Increase is a mixed bag
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Call of Duty's round-based zombies are here to stay
Call of Duty has replaced round-based zombies before
After the popularity of Call of Duty: World at Wars Zombies, the studios quickly got to work trying to deliver even more exciting PvE modes outside of the campaign. With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2which came in the form of its Spec Ops mode, which featured special missions that players could battle their way through. The feature was then expanded to include its own survival mode and completely reworked for Modern warfare restart. But with the release of Modern Warfare 3 In 2023, the mode was replaced by its own version of Zombies.
Instead of being the proven round-based zombies that Black Ops series and Sledgehammer Games-led Call of Duty titles offered, this version threw up to 24 players on War zone map, divided into several groups. They would then complete objectives around the map, fighting zombies and human enemies and collecting loot. Instead of rounds, players would instead have 45 minutes before the map shrunk, forcing them to extract, similar to a battle royale match. Although this made it pretty fun, Modern Warfare 3s version was sorely lacking compared to what had come before.
Black Ops 6 proves that round-based zombies should be a staple in the series
One of the biggest selling points for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was the grand return of round-based Zombies, and it's easy to see why. At launch, players can jump into two brand new maps filled with zombies to kill, power-ups to find, and high-stakes fun to be had. What follows is classic Zombies action that sees players frantically fighting for their lives against increasingly tougher rounds of enemies, with only the strongest surviving long enough to learn more about the outbreak threatening the world. And since the game has just been released, there's likely to be even more exciting Zombies action in the future.
This return to form for Zombies seems popular so far, and because of that, this iteration must be here to stay. Since its inception, players have spent hours trying to conquer these hordes whenever it was included in one Call of Duty game. The titles without the round-based Zombies felt like they were missing something, and when the studio tried to reinvent it entirely, the new model struggled to reach the same heights. So hopefully the return of the classic version is permanent.
Of course, innovation is not inherently a bad thing. Zombies can use all sorts of changes, including new maps, weapons, power-ups and mechanics. Regardless, no matter what else is added, the central round-based gameplay loop has to stay.