Season 6 of Warzone contains Name of Obligation’s annual The Haunting occasion, and the spooky theme brings one of many battle royale’s most attention-grabbing limited-time modes. Purgatory is not your typical Warzone expertise, nevertheless it’s a enjoyable sandbox-style mode that appears like the right send-off for this closing season of Trendy Warfare 3. It’s additionally a refreshingly chill mode that ought to stick round long-term.
Purgatory is performed with 10 squads of 4 battling on Season 6’s Hellspawn variant of Rebirth Island. The map’s hellish makeover contains an eerie sky, blood-red water, zombified NPC creatures, and flesh-covered partitions, offering sufficient atmospheric modifications right here to get you within the Halloween spirit.
At first look, it is unclear what you are alleged to do along with your time in Purgatory. This can be a sandbox mode with customized loadouts and infinite respawns, so there is not any actual goal dictating the way you play. This makes the mode nice to play with buddies whereas simply chatting and finishing challenges. Purgatory is ideal for ending up your camo grind, finishing day by day or weekly challenges, or knocking out the seasonal Warzone Rewards goals.
Purgatory additionally introduces some bizarre mechanics to Warzone that sound utterly outlandish, however all of them add to the distinctive character of the mode. There are mystical ball-shaped portals that you should utilize to teleport across the map, and large killer balls referred to as “Terriballs” that bounce round and you may shoot at enemies, inflicting the ball to smash into opponents and down them.
The Cargo multiplayer map floats as an island above Purgatory, and you can’t solely land on the island and combat opponents, however you can even drive the island. Sure, you actually pilot the Cargo map across the sky like a helicopter. That is as foolish because it sounds, nevertheless it’s numerous enjoyable to take management of the island and cruise round on the lookout for fights. Plus, it is hilarious to see somebody making Cargo do loop-de-loops within the sky.
This mishmash of recent mechanics makes for lots of quirky enjoyable , just like the awkward second while you notice each you and an enemy are chasing after the identical Terriball. It turns into a panicked scramble to be sure to’re not the one knocked out by the bouncing Terriball. After all, some matches of Purgatory are nonetheless sweaty, with a foyer of gamers simply looking you down for kills, however others function welcomed comradery as some gamers use the in-game chat function to crew up and assist one another full challenges. You possibly can quietly and casually play a lot of a match with out an excessive amount of warmth on you, however you even have the choice to play extra aggressively and construct up a excessive Torment stage.
The Torment stage is proven under the minimap as a meter with 5 skulls, and the extra kills you rack up, the upper the meter goes with a score of 1-5 skulls. You earn extra XP as your Torment stage will increase, nevertheless it additionally elevates the match problem. For instance, reaching Torment Stage 5 marks you on the map for all of your opponents, and it sends an assault chopper to hunt you down. It’s also possible to lose your total Torment stage by dying or coming into a protected zone, so this may be an intentional or unintentional lack of warmth on the map. Once more, simply one other welcomed mechanic that may shake issues up and assist you to go for additional XP, however there is not any strain to take action.
The toughest a part of Purgatory may simply be convincing your mates to play a full match. Considered one of my greatest gripes in regards to the mode is Purgatory’s two-hour match timer. This makes it longer than a Zombies or DMZ match, but you do not have a solution to exfil and bow out early. On the optimistic aspect, leaving early would not appear to tax you with any penalties. There’s normally a warning for trying to depart an ordinary Name of Obligation match early, reminding you that you will sacrifice the match XP for those who exit early. I did not get that warning after I wanted to depart a match of Purgatory, which is sweet as a result of two hours is numerous time to commit to 1 match of Name of Obligation.
The mode would really feel extra satisfying for those who might exfil early or have an non-compulsory game-ending goal. For those who keep the complete time, the map simply will get nuked and there are not any winners declared or further rewards supplied. It simply ends.
After all, it is value noting that gamers are reporting some video games are ending with a nuke animation earlier than the match timer ends. I’ve not skilled this in any of my matches, and there would not appear to be any hidden nuke problem found.
One other minor grievance is that all the contracts on the map are simply the usual Warzone selection. It could’ve been good to see one thing Halloween-themed or outdoors of the conventional contracts added in like zombie-killing contracts or one thing of a spooky nature. Even a particular bounty contract just like the HVT contracts in Zombies mode, which require you to take out a particular zombie sort. It appears like a missed alternative to not have Mangler, Mimics, and Disciple enemies from Zombies seem in Warzone. Even Zombies’ large Abomination enemy can be cool to see lurking round on Rebirth Island.
Whatever the flaws, I’ve spent an excessive amount of time racking up XP in Purgatory since Season 6 launched, and it makes me suppose a sandbox mode can be nice to stay round, or on the very least, exist as a recurring mode. Name of Obligation options an abundance of occasions and challenges that are not at all times straightforward to grind in Warzone, particularly within the regular sweaty playlists with restricted respawns, and this could function an excellent choice for individuals who do not personal the yearly Name of Obligation releases. It would not even have to stay on the spooky Hellspawn variant of Rebirth Island–Warzone’s bigger Urzikstan map would even be nice to host a bigger sandbox-style expertise and seasonal occasions.
The Haunting occasion runs till October 16, and I extremely advocate this mode for anybody on the lookout for a spooky, enjoyable solution to stage up and end up any challenges earlier than Season 6 ends. And whereas there is not any actual successful in Purgatory, you do have a number of Purgatory Island occasion themed rewards to earn within the course of, together with some actually sweet-looking animated weapon camos.
That is the ultimate season of Trendy Warfare 3 as Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6 arrives on October 25 for Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.