Call of Duty: Vanguard

🔥 What is Call of Duty: Vanguard for PC

Call of Duty: Vanguard is a first-person shooter developed by Sledgehammer Games and published by Activision, serving as the eighteenth main entry in the iconic Call of Duty series. Released in 2021, the game returns to World War II, blending historical authenticity with the series’ signature cinematic flair. It tells the intertwined stories of four soldiers from different Allied nations who form the first special forces unit, setting the foundation for what would later become modern special operations.

The campaign follows these characters across multiple fronts Europe, the Pacific, North Africa, and the Eastern Front offering a global perspective on the war’s most intense moments. Each soldier represents a different origin and specialty, from a daring Australian demolition expert to a sharp Soviet sniper. Through flashbacks and interwoven missions, players experience how their paths converge in the fight against a secret Nazi plan after Hitler’s death.

By combining narrative-driven missions, large-scale battles, and classic multiplayer modes, Vanguard aims to reconnect with the franchise’s roots while still offering fast, polished, and visually impressive gameplay. It’s both a return to form and an experiment in storytelling, uniting cinematic spectacle with traditional Call of Duty intensity.

👉 Features of Call of Duty: Vanguard

Global WWII Campaign

The campaign spans multiple war theaters, offering varied environments and combat experiences. Each mission focuses on one member of Task Force One, providing unique perspectives and playstyles. You’ll infiltrate a besieged Stalingrad as Polina Petrova, storm the Pacific as Arthur Kingsley, and sabotage Nazi operations in the desert with Lucas Riggs.

This multi-character structure keeps the campaign dynamic, balancing stealth, large-scale assaults, and personal narratives. The shifting tone from chaotic battles to intimate flashbacks helps humanize the broader conflict, making the story more than just another historical shooter.

Expansive Multiplayer

Vanguard’s multiplayer features twenty maps at launch, covering everything from bombed-out European streets to tropical jungles. The gameplay is fast and responsive, maintaining the tight gunplay the series is known for. New pacing filters let players choose between Tactical, Assault, and Blitz modes, adjusting the number of players per map for either slower, tactical play or chaotic firefights.

Customization plays a central role thanks to the Gunsmith system, which allows in-depth weapon modifications. Killstreaks, perks, and field upgrades add further depth, letting players tailor their playstyle to either aggressive rushes or careful, strategic positioning.

Zombies Mode

Developed by Treyarch, the Zombies mode continues the Dark Aether storyline from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. It offers a mix of wave-based survival and objective missions, set against the eerie backdrop of occult Nazi experiments. Players fight through portals to different arenas, completing tasks to earn upgrades and uncover the dark history behind the undead army.

While some fans found it less complex than earlier iterations, the mode still delivers the essential cooperative chaos that defines Zombies. The blend of mystical storytelling, eerie visuals, and relentless action remains a fun break from the grounded tone of the campaign.

Dynamic Destruction and Visual Detail

A new feature introduced in Vanguard is destructible environments. Wooden cover splinters, walls collapse, and debris reacts realistically to explosions, adding a layer of immersion to firefights. This system makes multiplayer maps feel alive and unpredictable, forcing players to adapt their tactics as cover deteriorates.

Combined with the improved lighting, particle effects, and high-resolution textures provided by the IW 8.0 engine, the visuals make every explosion and bullet impact feel more grounded and impactful. It’s one of the most technically impressive WWII shooters to date.

Warzone Integration

Vanguard integrates seamlessly with Call of Duty: Warzone, sharing weapons, operators, and seasonal content. This connection allows progression to carry across both titles, encouraging players to switch between classic multiplayer, campaign, and the battle royale experience without losing rewards.

This unified ecosystem keeps the game active and evolving, ensuring new updates and events remain tied to the broader Call of Duty universe.

Gameplay

Campaign Structure and Missions

The campaign alternates between large-scale set pieces and smaller, story-driven missions. You might start with a stealth infiltration under moonlight, transition into a fiery tank assault, and finish with a desperate defense against overwhelming odds. The variety helps maintain pace, while each protagonist’s abilities like Polina’s agility or Wade’s enhanced vision add subtle gameplay twists.

The design encourages replaying missions to explore different routes and experiment with alternative strategies. Collectibles, hidden documents, and secondary objectives deepen immersion for players who like uncovering every detail.

Multiplayer Flow and Customization

Multiplayer remains the heart of Vanguard. It’s fast, aggressive, and rewards precision. The introduction of Combat Pacing is a clever addition, giving players control over match intensity. Tactical mode feels closer to the slower, methodical pace of older titles, while Blitz mode turns arenas into chaotic warzones filled with non-stop action.

Weapon customization in the Gunsmith allows up to ten attachments per weapon, dramatically altering how guns handle. Whether you prefer close-quarters submachine guns or long-range rifles, the system gives enough flexibility to personalize loadouts for every map and playstyle.

Zombies and Cooperative Play

In Zombies, teams of up to four players cooperate to survive escalating waves of undead. The mode uses a hub-based structure where you teleport between arenas, complete rituals, and gather runes that boost abilities. Though less labyrinthine than older maps, it focuses on accessibility and constant progression.

Upgrades, weapon tiers, and dark magic abilities offer strategic depth. It’s not the most complex Zombies mode ever made, but it fits Vanguard’s faster, action-oriented design.

Graphics

Realistic Visuals and Environments

Vanguard delivers some of the most detailed World War II visuals ever seen in the series. The engine renders realistic lighting, weather effects, and smoke that react dynamically to explosions. From snow-covered ruins to Pacific jungles drenched in rain, each location feels alive and textured.

The campaign especially benefits from cinematic direction, using camera movements and particle effects that blur the line between gameplay and cutscenes. The result is a visually cohesive experience that remains immersive throughout.

Destruction and Animation Quality

Dynamic destruction is one of Vanguard’s standout visual achievements. Buildings crumble piece by piece, wooden doors splinter under fire, and explosions leave realistic scorch marks. This system not only enhances realism but also influences tactics, as cover can no longer be relied on indefinitely.

Character animations are smooth and expressive, particularly during close-quarters combat. Facial capture adds emotional depth to cutscenes, giving the campaign’s story moments a sense of weight that complements its ambitious scope.

Performance and Technical Polish

On PC, Vanguard offers extensive graphical options and supports high frame rates, DLSS, and ultrawide resolutions. It runs smoothly on a range of setups, with optimization that prevents the stuttering sometimes seen in earlier Call of Duty launches. The sound design also deserves mention, with positional audio making firefights more intense and immersive.

Pros and Cons

✔️ Pros

• Visually stunning campaign with diverse and cinematic missions
• Tight, responsive gunplay across all modes
• Deep weapon customization with Gunsmith upgrades
• Strong Warzone integration for shared progression
• Dynamic destruction that enhances tactical depth

❌ Cons

• Story pacing can feel uneven across multiple characters
• Zombies mode lacks complexity compared to older entries
• Occasional balance issues in multiplayer weapons
• Some recycled mechanics from previous Call of Duty titles