The reveal trailer shows great images once again, but is causing skepticism in the community. Are the impressive visuals supposed to distract from questionable decisions?
On Tuesday, August 19, 2025, the opening night of Gamescom 2025 took place in Cologne, Germany, presenting the official gameplay reveal trailer for the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which will be released on November 14, 2025.
After a fan design recently speculated on what the style of the new game might look like, the first-person shooter from Treyarch and Raven Software now particularly stands out with its setting and a promising co-op campaign. But will that be enough to convince fans?
2035: A Near-Future Setting
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will be set in 2035 and will build on the Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6 storylines. The upcoming game shows the world in chaos, dominated by violence and psychological warfare.
The trailer shows robots, wing suits, and dynamic movement, such as wall jumps and grappling hooks.
A Co-Op Campaign That Drives You Mad
The Black Ops 7 campaign will feature some familiar faces such as David Mason and Raul Menendez and will offer both single-player and a co-op mode for up to four players.
After Black Ops 2 villain Raul Menendez returns and publishes a threatening video, it is up to David Mason and his team to investigate the case. As they do, they encounter a weapon far more dangerous than expected. As the story proceeds, the weapons' devastating consequences emerge. Reality seems to blur and hallucinations threatens to make the team lose their minds, making their mission even more difficult.
The Call of Duty website refers to the campaign as the “most innovative campaign in Black Ops history”. Perhaps not only because of the story and gameplay, but also because players can now make progress throughout the whole game by earning XP in the campaign as well.
The trailer and website also give us some insight into the many locations the campaign will take us to.
"Locations as varied as the neon-lit rooftops of Japan to the Mediterranean coast, and even into the deepest corners of the human psyche"
The campaign is supposed to end in the city of Avalon, where players must then use their “personalized abilities” to succeed.
The Campaign Won't Have Any Difficulty Options
Unlike the traditional Call of Duty campaigns, which could usually be played at varying difficulty levels, Treyarch has now announced that in the new game, players won't have this option.
According to an interview with Treyarch's Creative Director Miles Leslie, a dynamic, adaptive system will be used, with the number of players determining how challenging the missions will be.
The player is therefore unable to select the level of difficulty themselves.
Old And New
The new Call of Duty introduces many new features, but also lures players in with nostalgia.
The game will feature 16 multiplayer maps, including three popular maps from Black Ops 2: Hijacked, Raid, and Express. The zombie mode, combat specialties, and Omni movement are familiar features from previous titles.
The classic weapon prestige system, allowing players to level up their weapons, is also making a comeback. However, a new feature is the option to share weapon loadouts with friends using a Weapon Build Code.
The Community Remains Critical
It's no novelty for the Call of Duty community to show skepticism towards an upcoming release.
The realistic, first-person military shooter that Call of Duty originally represented stands in contrast to current titles, in which unfitting, colorful skins have caused frustration within the community.
As a result, most comments on the reveal trailer have been skeptical, if not negative. On YouTube, the majority of responses indicate that players would rather get Battlefield 6 than Black Ops 7.
Here are some of the YouTube reactions to the reveal trailer:
„I expected nothing and they still managed to disappoint…“
„This is the best Battlefield 6 ad I’ve seen yet!“
„This confirms that Activision hates us more than they hate Battlefield.“
Positive feedback only refers to the "interesting campaign" or the fact that the trailer is visually appealing (regardless of what the game will be like). As one user says: "I am just glad that the campaign seems interesting."
The communities' negative response raises doubts about the games' potential success. Will a compelling campaign be enough to win players over in the end? Or is Call of Duty simply "too big to fail" as they allegedly think themselves?
We are excited to see first impressions during the open beta starting October 5, 2025, and whether it can positively influence players' opinions.