Call of Duty: WW2 is taking the series back to its roots, and not just with the single-player campaign. The fan-favorite Zombies mode is being reimagined by developer Sledgehammer Games as something far more horrifying than recent entries, though it should still feel familiar to fans.
In an interview with Game Informer, Nazi Zombies senior director of development Jon Horsley and creative director Cameron Dayton discussed their inspirations and approach to this new iteration of the undead, dropping a few juicy, meaty tidbits of info along the way.
The visual design has suggested that CoD: WW2's Zombies mode would be more pants-wettingly scary than recent entries, but what I'm particularly glad to hear is that Sledgehammer is seemingly giving just as much attention to the things that most players may never see.
"We've got an accessible hint system. You don't have to go to YouTube to get through the core elements of the game. However, some of the Easter eggs... some of them are so incredibly enigmatic and mysterious to find that we've got testers that still haven't uncovered some of the stuff we've got hidden in there," Dayton said. "We've got some bets on how long it's gonna take the rest of the community to figure these out."
Zombies mode has always been a treasure trove of secrets, with some Easter eggs telling entire storylines and inspiring incredibly long and detailed wikis. Personally, my favorite secret is on the Der Eisendrache map, where you turn dragon statues into actual dragons that eat up zombies, thus granting you a new weapon (which is in turn needed to activate another Easter egg). But I'm just a sucker for fire-breathing lizards.
In any case, it sounds like Sledgehammer is putting some real effort into making their secrets... well, secret. That's good news for all the horde-blasting internet sleuths out there, and I know there's a lot of you.
Oh, and remind me to ask Sledgehammer for its "fear goulash" recipe. Sounds tasty.
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Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.