Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and its Warzone component started Season 1 multiplayer today, marking the first major update since launch. The former will receive three new maps as part of the 24/7 playlist, in addition to a 6v6 arena in Rio, which will be available later this season. As usual, there are some rewards for racking up kills without dying, giving players an EMP upon achieving a 13 killstreak and the ability to summon mosquito swarms as cover for a 15 killstreak. There's also a new perk called the Assassin Vest, which makes players immune to UAV scans and won't pop skulls on the minimap when performing an execution.
The three new maps take you to a coastal town in 'Greece', a close-quarters blood-soaked slaughterhouse called 'Meat', and a warehouse 'Training Facility' that allows for 2v2 gunfights. Building on that, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III brings back two favorite modes: the All or Nothing equips players with throwing knives and an empty pistol, allowing them to slowly upgrade their armament through killstreaks and perk activations. Then there's the standard round-based firefight with small teams. Rated Play is expected to arrive later in Season 1, alongside promotional skins for the upcoming Denis Villeneuve film Dune: Part 2 – Paul Atredis and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen – and an in-game event titled 'Trial of Power'. There are no details yet on the event, but we can assume that the timing of the collaboration had to do with the film's delay from November to March 2024 due to the Hollywood labor strikes. Still a strange game to choose to promote Dune 2.
In Call of Duty's long-running battle royale mode, Warzone, the brand new Urzikstan map is now live, throwing you into a gray metropolis punctuated by lavish resorts, electricity mills, a military base, a luxurious mansion, and more. Activision describes it as a point where the Middle East meets Europe – or to put it more bluntly in the game's universe, it's on the “eastern border of the Black Sea and adjacent to Al Mazrah.” As previously reported, the map adds a few unique mechanics for getting around, such as horizontal ziplines and a steerable train, the speed of which can be controlled by players using special levers. You can of course also reverse the brakes by going to the back. With such major changes comes a new 1v1 Gulag called 'Silo', which is completely symmetrical but can be varied based on luck.
Season 1 also brings a new story mission to Zombies mode, setting up a “huge gate” in the Exclusion Zone for players to investigate. Additionally, there's a new Battle Pass, which promises new weapon unlocks such as the XRX Stalker, RAM-7, and Stormender that can be added to your loadout. The Call of Duty roadmap also reveals plans for Christmas-themed events and game modes, a skin for A-Train from the Amazon Prime Video series The Boys, and more – you can check out the full patch notes on the official website.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season 1 is now live on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X.