After experiencing a lot of backlash with their previous installments, Treyarch is planning to overhaul the original Call of Duty formula with Black Ops 4. Here’s what we can tell from the brief snippets they revealed in the May 2017 reveal event.

As was rumored before the traditional single player campaign will be removed. In their place are missions set between Black Ops 2 and 3, focusing on the game’s Specialist characters. The Specialists will be making an appearance in the multiplayer mode where they will be given a more tactical purpose than in Black Ops 3.

Previous installments of the game featured various acrobatic moments which benefitted from cybernetic augmentation, and enhance the player with boost jumps and the ability to run walls. The next game will take a different approach, requiring a more tactical approach which is geared toward maintaining the flow of combat.

Black Ops 2 will place more emphasis on the hero shooter elements of their Specialist characters and their gear sets, requiring players to use strategy before picking up their character and how those specific abilities could benefit the team.

For the Zombies mode, Black Ops 2 is expanding on the horde based shooter elements. It will be set on three different maps: the sinking Titanic in Voyage of Despair, the Ancient Roan gladiator arena of the IX and a remake of the map from Blood of the Dead. Treyarch will throw in several customizable options which can strengthen zombies and player characters. Additionally, there will also be bot support, something which hasn’t been done before in the series.

Perhaps the biggest addition to Black Ops 4 is the brand new battle royale mode which is known as Blackout. It is obvious that Treyarch has been inspired by the success which Fortnite and PUBG have derived due to their battle royale shooter genre modes where they pit a large number of players against each other in a last man standing match.

Blackout will allow players to use any weapons throughout the history of Black Ops series, including the highly anticipated and noteworthy RC car. Treyarch hasn’t given the details about the number of players in each Blackout match.

In order for Blackout to fare well against Fortnite and PUBG, they will have to introduce something special otherwise it might just fall flat on its face. We hope to see more details in E3, which will be a good opportunity to reveal the date of the beta and what players can really expect from Blackout. While it is a given that the beta will focus more exclusively on the traditional multiplayer aspect, it would be nice to see some hands-on action related to the battle royale mode and have it available in the beta.

We believe that the best way to showcase Black Ops 2’s tactical approach to gameplay is to introduce higher skilled players, so that fans can see the new systems at work.