Season Three of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is officially live and it’s introducing new maps, cosmetics, Operators, and firearms. Yet, the biggest addition that is drawing players in is the new, revamped version of the Verdansk Warzone map. For weeks, this game mode has been teasing that monumental alterations are coming to this beloved level. While many were unsure what that would look like, users got to witness Verdansk being blown up by a nuclear warhead following an uncontrollable zombie outbreak. Now, players can experience a new version of Verdansk that is much lusher and cleaner than its previous war-torn variant.
(Author’s Note: At the time of writing this, Verdansk 84 hasn’t released yet. However, some popular Call of Duty content creators got to experience the map first hand and capture footage. Below is information gathered from this and I will update this guide once I am able to jump into the map myself to check everything out. Credit to Bartonologist for capturing this footage and revealing this info.)
What’s New in Verdansk 84
1. Now in Color
Perhaps the most notable change to Verdansk comes in the form of its aesthetic design. Unlike the previous version, this map is set in the past when this city wasn’t a wasteland of abandoned buildings, warehouses, and destruction. Instead, Verdansk 84 is much greener, with bright green grass covering much of the northern portion of the map and many buildings are looking far more colorful. There’s a general sense of life that wasn’t present in the original, which plays into the retro art direction of the map. Players will also deploy via helicopters rather than a single carrier plane that flies over the map.
2. New and Revamped Points of Interest
Another big change is some Points of Interest have either been redone or outright changed to fit the new map. For example, Dam has been replaced by a mountain base called Summit. There’s no big damn blocking the water, instead, the bridge is now open underneath allowing access to the area around this POI. Additionally, players can ride gondolas to either reach the top of Summit or rotate to the cliffsides.
Quarry has been renamed Salt Mine and has received some changes to its design. The biggest is the various stacks of crates and resources have been replaced by mounds of salt (presumably caused by the FFAR). Next to this area is Array which is a massive wall of radio towers that players can climb up to get a height advantage at the risk of almost no cover. There are some smaller buildings around this that were in the original Verdansk but have repurposed to fit this new POI.
Stadium and Airport have been completely reworked with the latter now still under construction and the former clearly bustling with travelers. Downtown also had some minor changes, with the massive glass skyscraper now far smaller than it previously was and features more cover for players trying to shoot down at targets. There’s also a new POI called Factory which is right next to Superstore which features a large warehouse, tower, and some planes being built.
Verdansk 84 also has a bunch of smaller, non-labeled areas that have been added. Most of these are just small clumps of buildings or slight adjustments to existing ones.
3. New Gulag
The gulag has also been altered to fit the 1980s theme, with the small arena resembling a small city street. There’s a large curved wall that wraps around one side, a covered tank at the end of the fake road, and two buildings across from one another. One of the buildings allows players to actually go on the second floor to shoot down at enemies, which is something we haven’t seen in the Gulag. I doubt it will alter too much how players go about their duels, but it should make for more interesting fights. Players will still spawn chained to a chair which they must break and can walk around catwalks to view the battles below.
