Call of Duty: Vanguard (2024)

For other uses, see Vanguard (disambiguation).

"Rise on every front."

— Tagline

Call of Duty: Vanguard is a first-person shooter video game developed by Sledgehammer Games for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows. It is set during World War II. Vanguard is the eighteenth game in the Call of Duty franchise. Announced on August 19th, 2021, the game was released on November 5th, 2021. Vanguard was later released on Steam on March 8th, 2023.

Campaign

"Experience influential battles of World War II as you fight for victory across multiple theaters of war. The Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign will immerse you in a deeply engaging and gripping character-driven narrative experience featuring combat on an unparalleled global scale, while also telling the harrowing stories of those who turned the tides of war and changed history forever."

— Battle.net Description^[1]

The campaign will see the player embodied four soldier from different country during World War II on four major theaters of war.

Plot

NOTE: The Story of Vanguard is told throughout various points in time in a non-chronological order.

In August 1941, Private Lucas Riggs is stationed at Tobruk, Libya as part of the Australian-led Rats of Tobruk garrison. After a failed ambush attempt on the Royal Italian Army and Africa Korps, Riggs is assigned to recover supplies for the British Army, alongside fellow Rat Private Desmond "Des" Wilmot and British lieutenant Robert Jacobs. Riggs, Des and Jacobs manage to find intelligence relating to General Erwin Rommel, and destroy a German depot in the process, but they were detained by Major Henry Hamms for insubordination. In 1942, during the Battle of El Alamein, Riggs and the Rats are ordered by Hamms to form a defensive line, but Riggs disobeys the command and tries to retake a hill and call in bomber support with Des supporting him. The two of them succeed but Des is killed in action. Angered by the disregard for the Rats' contribution to the fight, Riggs punches Hamms out of frustration, resulting him facing prison time.

In June 1942, United States Navy pilot Lieutenant Wade Jackson participates in the Battle of Midway alongside his tail gunner, Aviation Machinist's Mate Mateo Hernandez. In November 1943 while assaulting the Imperial Japanese Army in Bougainville, Jackson and Hernandez's plane is shot down, and the two are captured by IJN & IJA soldiers. They are rescued by the 93rd Infantry Division, who later help them acquire an Imperial Japanese Navy Aichi D3A to assist the division in reclaiming the island.

In August 1942, Red Army medic Polina Petrova witnesses the Luftwaffe invade Stalingrad. She fails to save her father Boris from being executed by a Fallschirmager squad, but is able to escape with her brother Misha and several Soviet partisans. Petrol eventually acquires the nickname "Lady Nightingale" as she pursues Leo Steiner, the Wehrmacht commander responsible for the invasion. In January 1943, Petrova and Misha attempt to assassinate Steiner in Stalingrad, but Misha is severely wounded. He sacrifices himself to buy Petrova time to escape. Petrova eventually confronts Steiner and kills him and his personal army, inspiring the citizens of Stalingrad to reclaim the city from the Heer. She then sets her sight on Steiner's superior, Hermann Freisinger.

In June 1944, British paratrooper Sergeant Arthur Kingsley takes part in Operation Tonga, where he and the Parachute Regiment help destroy the Melville Gun Battery and several other bridges to assist the Allied forces in invading Normandy. Kingsley befriends fellow paratrooper Sergeant Richard Webb, who would later become Kingsley's right hand man

Kingsley, Webb, Petrova, Jackson, and Riggs, alongside a sixth soldier named Milos Novak, would eventually be recruited by Captain Carver Butcher to form the first special operations task force, callsign Vanguard. Kingsley is appointed leader of the task force. In April 1945, Task Force Vanguard hijacks a train to Hamburg, Germany, in search of intelligence regarding Project Phoenix, a secret Nazi program run by Freisinger. While infiltrating a Kriegsmarine submarine, the squad is captured by Freisinger’s Feldgendarmerie troops, minus Jackson who evaded them, and Novak who is bludgeoned to death by Freisinger. Vanguard is delivered to the Waffen-SS and Gestapo headquarters in Berlin, where Freisinger appoints officer Jannick Richter to interrogate them. Jackson is also captured after attempting to steal a plane; Richter demoralizes the squad by executing Webb.

Being unaware of Project Phoenix’s purpose and Freisinger’s involvement, Richter attempts to learn more by interrogating Petrova and Riggs about Steiner and Rommel’s connection to Freisinger. He deduces that the project was a coup attempt, in order to appoint Freisinger as the new Furher of the Fourth Reich. As Berlin falls under siege by the Red Army following Adolf Hitler’s suicide, Riggs breaks out of interrogation and frees the squad, while Kingsley kills Richter to avenge Webb. Vanguard pursues Freisinger to the airport, where they finally apprehend him and burn him alive. The four then board Freisinger’s plane, discovering numerous German documents and assets, revealing global Nazi covert operations. Kingsley decides to follow up on Project Aggregat, a secret V2 rocket facility, and orders Jackson to fly there in pursuit.

Missions

Locations

Pacific Front

• Midway Atoll
• Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea

Eastern Front

• Stalingrad, Soviet Union
• Berlin, Nazi Germany

Western Front

• Hamburg, Nazi Germany
• Merville, France

North Africa

• Tobruk, Italian Libya
• El Alamein, Egypt

Characters

Factions

Weapons

Vehicles

Multiplayer

"Become the vanguards of the changing face of war as you make your mark across Call of Duty’s signature core gunplay and Multiplayer experience."

— Battle.net Description^[1]

The game contained 20 multiplayer maps at launch, of which 16 of them were built for classic 6v6 modes.

Modes

A new version of Gunfight first introduced in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been announced as Champion Hill.

Maps

Perks and Killstreaks

Zombies

"Prove your mettle as you try to survive the relentless onslaught of the undead in a chilling new Zombies experience, developed by Treyarch Studios."

— Battle.net Description^[1]

Zombies mode returns in Call of Duty: Vanguard and is developed by Treyarch. It's set in the Dark Aether storyline and is a prequel of the events that happened in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. The game launched with the map Der Anfang consisting of a central hub and several areas accessible through Portal Objectives. The game also features classic Perk-a-Colas that have been remade into Demonic Fountains. The game features the Altar of Covenants, a utility that gives players special boosts. Field Upgrades returned in the form of Artifacts with each Artifact being tied to a Dark Aether Entity. With Season Two, a new map Terra Maledicta was introduced with a Story Quest and new side quests. The Healing Aura Field Upgrade returned with the introduction to a new Dark Aether Entity, Vercanna. With Season Four, Shi No Numa returns as a round based experience with a new Story Quest on June 22nd, 2022. On August 24, 2022, The Archon was released which concluded Vanguard Zombies and is a remake of Terra Maledicta but in the round based format. The map featured a huge boss fight and heaps of side-quests.

Warzone

Main article: Call of Duty: Warzone

"Call of Duty: Vanguard will usher in a new and unparalleled Call of Duty: Warzone integration post launch."

— Call of Duty website description.^[2]

Call of Duty: Warzone shares content with Vanguard, including shared progression and inventory system. A new pacific-themed map, Caldera, including a new anti-cheat have been added with the release of Season One.

Seasons

Season One December 8th, 2021 - February 13th, 2022	Season Two February 14th, 2022 - April 26th, 2022	Season Three April 27th, 2022 - June 21st, 2022
Season Four June 22nd, 2022 - August 23rd, 2022	Season Five August 24th, 2022 - November 15th, 2022

Marketing

Teasers

On August 12th, 2021, the Call of Duty Twitter account humorously posted a GIF of the Vanguard reveal trailer with the words "Leaks" and "Rumors" added on top of it following the discovery of Vanguard assets within the files of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone.

On August 13th, several European influencers received a teaser called "Western Front". The next day, American and Indian influencers received a teaser called "Pacific Front", Russian influencers received a teaser called "Eastern Front" and Australian influencers received a teaser called "North Africa Front". All the teasers were excerpts of the Teaser Trailer for Vanguard that was released August 16th.

Warzone

On August 13th, following the release of the Black Ops Cold War Season Five, players could encounter a new victory cutscene in Warzone displaying a female Soviet sniper killing a player as they were exfiltrating. The sniper was later revealed to be Polina Petrova.

Inside the Train Station and Airport, players could also heard a new female announcer talking about an incoming train.^[3]

"The Battle of Verdansk" Event

Main article: The Battle of Verdansk

On August 16th, a new event for Warzone was announced, called "The Battle of Verdansk". The event took place between August 19th and August 23rd, 2021 and tasked the players to destroy a German armored train. The reveal trailer of the game was shown at the end of the mode.

Gallery

Promotional Images

Campaign

Multiplayer

Zombies

Warzone

Videos

References