Halloween is just around the corner and Call of Duty: Warzone will be holding a spooky event to celebrate. If you’ve jumped into the battle royale mode recently, you’d likely have already noticed some of the new elements leading into the event.
For instance, the background of the pre-game lobby has been getting darker, with ominous music playing. But that’s not all. For the past couple of weeks, players have heard the bone-chilling laughter of an unseen entity. Near the northern area of Stadium lies an abandoned campsite. Exploring the grounds, audible laughter will filter in and out.
Warzone‘s Halloween event has already been given a name. If you venture over to Stadium, you’d notice banners and postings for The Haunting of Verdansk have appeared. The event will kick off on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Neither Activision nor Infinity Ward have officially revealed what The Haunting of Verdansk will entail. However, when Season 6 launched, a blog post noted that “a couple of Halloween surprises” were planned for it.
As far as what to expect, we’ve come up with a few ideas of what players are likely to experience during the Call of Duty: Warzone Halloween event.
Halloween themed bundles
Infinity Ward has already dropped a few bundles loosely inspired by the scariest time of year. During the early phase of Season 6, players could purchase the Undead Forces bundle which featured the blood-spattered Red Menace operator skin and Hellbound finisher.
Evidence of more traditional Halloween-themed bundles has popped up online. On Twitter, ModernWarzone caught wind of the Phlebotomist throwable knife. It appears as though this lethal is a planned inclusion to a Saw-themed bundle. Leaked photos of the Billy the Puppet operator skin have also surfaced.
Given that the soft reboot film Spiral was slated to release this year, a Saw bundle is a great inclusion.
Beyond that, it would be interesting to see Warzone incorporate other horror icons. One could imagine how terrifying it would be to see a Jason Vorhees operator skin charging at you with an MP7.
Warzone at night
The Warzone Season 6 launch trailer ended with a brief shot of Verdansk at night alongside the splash screen saying “The haunting begins October 20”. This could simply be for aesthetics to drive home the announcement of the Halloween event. Though, I choose to believe there is more to it.
Both the Modern Warfare campaign and core multiplayer have night time maps. Fans have been clamoring for a night mode in Warzone. What better time for the sun to set in Verdansk than during the Warzone Halloween event.
This could be a rather straightforward mode, with very little changing the core Warzone experience. However, the transition to night would definitely affect team strategies. For instance, teams may be able to hide more effectively in the hill cloaked by the night sky. Thermal scopes may fall back into the meta in order to spot enemies more effectively.
One can’t help but wonder if a Warzone night mode would arrive alongside the night vision goggles seen in the campaign and multiplayer. You gotta have something to help you spot campers in the darker corners of the map, after all.
Warzone zombie outbreak
Call of Duty and zombies are synonymous. While zombies are more traditionally expected from Black Ops titles, there’s no official ruling against zombies making an appearance in Warzone.
Zombies already have a bit of a presence in Warzone. The aforementioned Undead Forces bundle includes a zombie charm. The ominous laughter heard near Stadium could be a warning of the undead and their impending arrival to Verdansk.
Call of Duty has toyed around with the idea of zombies being included in a battle royale mode. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout mode featured locations littered with terrifying ghouls.
The Haunting of Verdansk event be a limited time mode in which we drop into a game of Warzone to face off against other players and hordes of zombies. I don’t expect Warzone to add all the trappings of the traditional Zombies mode, though. Perhaps they zombies will simply act as fodder and an added threat looming around each corner.
The Haunting of Verdansk is set to begin on Oct. 20. It will run for two weeks, until Nov. 3.
Here is a compilation of Jump scares for the Halloween event !