Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War developer Treyarch is teasing a new map for the game's Zombies mode. The studio dropped the first hint at the location in a cryptic tweet which appears to be an aerial view of something called 'Omega Outpost 25'.
In its tweet, Treyarch referenced Black Ops Cold War's current Zombies map, Die Maschine, telling players that "Project Endstation was only the beginning." The image beneath that somewhat ominous message looks like a photo of some kind of remote jungle base, with a series of annotations offering fans a few hints at what might be in store.
Projekt Endstation was only the beginning.#BlackOpsColdWar #Zombies pic.twitter.com/Y9NNhG6oblJanuary 12, 2021
The first note says that the picture is addressed to someone called M, potentially referring to recurring Zombies antagonist Samantha Maxis, who showed up in Die Maschine. One annotation reads "this is the place I spoke of," naming the location as Omega Outpost 25. Elsewhere, an arrow points to a specific part of the compound, labelling it the 'Omega Portal Chamber', and stating "this is where the portal is maintained to the Dark Aether."
That would imply that not only will the Dark Aether be part of this map's narrative, but players will once again be able to enter it. That was previously possible in Die Maschine, where the area was a darkened, mirrored version of the original map.
Beyond that, there's not much to go on. The picture's sender, a mysterious 'R', says that they'll share "more soon," which presumably means that Treyarch will be showing off more about the map ahead of its expected release in Season 2, which is currently thought to be scheduled to begin on February 24. Treyarch's previously suggested that Zombies fans will be well catered-to as part of its 115 day celebrations, so it might be worth keeping an eye out for more information later this week.
If you're keen to catch up with the Zombies narrative but haven't dived into Black Ops Cold War yet, then you're in luck, as the mode is getting a free week, beginning on January 14 and running until January 21. If you decide to take the plunge on a full purchase after that, everything you unlock will be yours to keep in the rest of the game.
Struggling to turn the tide on the undead? Check out our Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies guide.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.