Warzone’s Verdansk Return Recaptures Magic of Original

Activision is finally leaning into one of the most longstanding requests of the Call of Duty: Warzone community, with the return of Verdansk finally being set to come to the battle royale title on April 3. Despite a lot of controversial changes and areas of improvement for the title in its current state, the nostalgic star power of Verdansk has already been enough to get a lot of fans talking, with there being an immense amount of pressure for Warzone to get the map’s return just right.

As many players have pointed out, a return of Verdansk to Call of Duty: Warzone needs to be more than just the map itself, with the core mechanics and gameplay experience of the map’s original tenure playing a huge role in how enjoyable Verdansk was back in 2020. Of course, Warzone has experienced a huge number of sweeping changes since Verdansk was cycled out of the core map pool, leading some players to be quite skeptical about its return, though some recent developments seem to indicate that Activision is making interesting changes to make Verdansk’s gameplay more reflective of the original era of Warzone.

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The Early Revealed Gameplay Changes For Warzone’s Verdansk Return Bode Well For Authenticity

Verdansk was the map that started it all for Call of Duty: Warzone, being the major setting that made fans initially fall in love with the title and saw the game rise to the forefront of the battle royale space. Being the face of what is largely considered to be the golden age of Warzone, Verdansk was controversially removed from the game in late 2021, heralding a string of changes to Warzone that split its community quite significantly.

While many maps have come and gone since then, Verdansk still remains one of the most well-received and recognizable, making the longstanding calls for its return quite understandable. Amid the backdrop of repetitive gameplay and a widespread cheating issue that is plaguing Warzone, Activision has finally announced the map’s long-awaited return, with reports suggesting that the success of Verdansk’s second appearance will decide the future of Warzone‘s support and subsequent content.

Activision Clearly Recognizes the Make-Or-Break Nature of Verdansk’s Warzone Return

These high stakes mean that Verdansk’s return needs to be a satisfying reflection of the gameplay era that fans are so nostalgic about, with many being quick to point out that the changes to things like weapons, vehicles, audio, UI, and the recent introduction of omnimovement to Warzone might ruin the nostalgia that makes Verdansk’s return so exciting to begin with. This will be quite a difficult element of Verdansk’s return for Activision to avoid, although the groundwork for a more authentic Verdansk experience has already been laid by the company.

It is now known that the iconic floating loot of Warzone‘s earliest years will be making a welcome return to Verdansk on April 3, with it also being announced that vertical buy station menus will also be a staple of Verdansk’s upcoming appearance. This is a good start to making Verdansk’s second coming a more traditional and nostalgic experience, with Activision clearly recognizing that a distinction needs to be made between the current state of Warzone and the identity of its earliest years.

Of course, there is still a long way to go for Warzone to make Verdansk’s return a truly traditional experience, and it may be impossible for Activision to move completely away from the huge number of core gameplay changes that the title has undergone over time. It remains to be seen what other nostalgic changes might be confirmed for Verdansk’s return in the coming days, but fans do not have long to wait to finally drop back into the iconic location and judge its authenticity for themselves.

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March 10, 2020

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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs, Violence