Call of Duty: WWII is a
first-person shooter game. Not similar to its recent predecessors, it removes the advanced system of movement present in the two previous
Call of Duty titles, which included double jumping and wall running. Instead, it features a return of traditional movement to the series, taking it back to an original "boots on the ground" (which refers to non-aerial ground combat) gameplay style. The game features an unlimited sprint mechanic, seen in the previous two titles. Instead of a "slide" movement mechanic, which allowed players to slide quickly on the ground,
WWII features a "hit-the-deck" mechanic that allows the player to leap forward and throw themselves on the ground in order to get to cover quickly, similarly to a previous mechanic known as "dolphin dive" in
Treyarch's
Call of Duty: Black Ops and
Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
Campaign WWII is the first title since
the original game and
Call of Duty 2: Big Red One not to feature health regeneration in the campaign. Instead, players must find health packs scattered throughout levels, or rely on their medic squadmate to provide health packs. Other members of the player's squad can provide ammunition, grenades, call in mortar strikes, or spot enemies and reveal their position in form of silhouettes. In certain sections of the game, enemy soldiers in the campaign can be captured, and wounded allies can be dragged to cover. In some parts of the campaign, players are able to control vehicles.
Multiplayer The multiplayer mode for
Call of Duty: WWII was revealed on E3 2017, which took place from June 13–15. Sledgehammer Games announced features such as the new headquarters social space, divisions, war mode and the return to "boots-on-the-ground" gameplay. Players who pre-ordered the game were invited to a closed beta, which was released initially for the PlayStation 4, and later released on other platforms. In online multiplayer matches, players are randomly assigned either to
Allies or
Axis side. With regards to playing as the latter, Glen Schofield, co-founder and co-studio head at Sledgehammer, said "We also make a distinction
between the SS and the German regular army", clarifying "The big distinction that Germans still make today is that between the German military and the Nazis. We made sure we made that distinction in the game, that the Germans were doing their duty". Jörg Friedrich, one of the developers of
Through the Darkest of Times, criticized this choice for promulgating the "
myth of the clean Wehrmacht", a false revisionist claim that regular
Wehrmacht forces, unlike the
Waffen-SS, were not involved in war crimes or culpable for the
Holocaust. Other critics have argued that the distinction between Wehrmacht soldiers and the Nazi party is not meaningful when the former's actions helped advance the latter's genocidal activities. They also argue that play as these factions gradually numbs the audience's reaction to and normalizes an otherwise abhorrent group. Instead of the usual create-a-class system,
WWII features Divisions. Players can choose one of five (later eight) divisions, each with their own different basic combat training, division training, and weapon skills. Players need to progress through ranks in divisions in order to use additional perks, in addition to a global perk system named Basic Training. The divisions featured in the game are: Infantry, Airborne, Armored, Mountain, and Expeditionary. Additional divisions, Resistance, Cavalry, and Commando, were added throughout 2018 as part of post-release updates. The Divisions system received an overhaul in April 2018 to address balancing issues.
WWII also features Headquarters mode, which acts as a social space in the game. The hub is set on the
Omaha Beach in Normandy, three days after the invasion when Allies retake the beach and turn it into a base. 48 players can be in the Headquarters at a time, and take part in various activities. For example, players can watch other players open
loot boxes while in the Headquarters. There is a firing range in the hub, where all players can practice their shooting skills with all weapons, as well as a field where they can test scorestreaks. There are also areas where players can engage in "1v1" fights, as other players watch the duels. The end-game "killcam" highlight shown at the end of multiplayer matches has been changed to "Bronze Star", which show kills "deemed most impressive" (counted by most points gained in a row). The exception to this is the Search & Destroy game mode, which does not use Bronze Star killcam. Search & Destroy uses a final killcam, showing the last kill in the round. A new game mode, War, is introduced as a "narrative-driven" multiplayer game mode, developed in partnership with
Raven Software. In War, two teams of 6 players perform objectives as either the Allied or Axis faction, inspired by some of the iconic World War II battles, such as storming Normandy on D-Day as the Allied, or defending the Normandy bunker as the Axis in the map Operation Neptune. In addition to War, popular game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Domination and Hardpoint return, as well as Gridiron, a "boots on the ground" variation of Uplink, which was originally introduced by Sledgehammer Games in
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Several fan-favorite modes, as well as new modes, are introduced in time-limited events throughout the season, such as Demolition or Infected.
Nazi Zombies WWII includes a zombies cooperative game mode, similar to previous entries by Treyarch and
Infinity Ward, with its own original storyline set in alternate history and separate from the campaign. The game mode, dubbed
Nazi Zombies in reference to its first iteration in Treyarch's
Call of Duty: World at War, is also set in the events of World War II, as the
Third Reich makes a desperate attempt to turn the tide of the war by creating an undead army in the final stages of the war. While the mode is based on science-fiction and is a fictional take on the war, Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey said that the story of the mode is based on some "real events". He also revealed that the experience is similar to
Dead Space, a third person shooter horror video game directed by both Condrey and Schofield during their work time at
EA Redwood Shores. In regards to gameplay,
Nazi Zombies retains the wave-based survival formula that have been used in all previous Zombies entries, with new additions. A class system is introduced, where players can opt for one of four combat roles: Offense, Control, Medic and Support, which provide different in-game abilities. Class loadouts are also included, with equippable Raven Mods, which are perks similar to the multiplayer mode. Sledgehammer Games also attempted to rationalize some of the popular mechanics, such as weapon wallbuys and currencies, with realistic explanation that fit within the lore of the game mode.
Nazi Zombies includes a hint system, where portions of the main story quest are given directional hints for players to find and progress. In regards to the story quest, Sledgehammer's creative director Cameron Dayton reveals that there is a "casual path" for new and casual players where they can progress with the story, while a "hardcore" path, which is considered the official canon, exists with hidden objectives, and expands more on the story beyond what the casual path contains. == Plot ==