Key conclusions
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The iconic Call of Duty Zombies squad could be back next year.
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Dempsey, Takeo, and Nikolai have all reportedly participated in the 2025 playtests as part of an ongoing story in which a new enemy seeks to capture their essence in order to reclaim the old multiverse.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War replaced DIY crews of zombies with operators. Instead of being randomly assigned characters like Richtafen or Misty at the start of each match, you'd fend off hordes of the undead with more generic multiplayer and Warzone characters. Unfortunately, this meant less dynamic dialogue and less interactivity with the story.
Black Ops 6 combines two approaches. You can still play as operators from other modes, but there's a special team consisting of Weaver, Elizabeth, Carver, and Maya who play more pranks and Easter eggs. But according to Insider Gaming, it won't end with those four — Team OG may even return.
Dempsey, Takeo and Mikolai are reported to feature in playtests
Dempsey, Takeo and Nicolai are believed to have participated in the 2025 playtests and should be directly involved in the still-unraveling story.
The question is what version of the characters they will be. If you're not familiar with the incredibly convoluted and complicated (yet awesome) history of zombies, there are two basic terms for the main four, Ultimis and Primis. The former is the original team from World at War and Black Ops, but Black Ops 3 introduced younger versions of them from an alternate dimension, ie. Primis.
Activision is also reportedly working on a map inspired by Tranzit.
Primis killed Ultimis' team, so the returning characters can't be Ultimis. Richtofen is already a key part of the new Black Ops 6 story, but testers claim that the rest of the team looks older than the Primis versions. We'll have to wait and see if they're the same (but older), a completely new version of the team, or “somehow Ultimis is back.”
However the story ends, it looks like the fan-favorite team will be back next year.
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from the inside. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action game set in the early 1990s, a period of transition and upheaval in world politics characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as the sole superpower. With a stunning narrative and untethered rules of engagement, it's signature Black Ops.
Black Ops 6 delivers dynamic, moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of action-packed playgrounds, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger espionage.
In best-in-class multiplayer, players will test their skills on 16 new maps at launch, including 12 basic 6v6 maps and 4 Strike cards that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, a fan-favorite mode that will see players destroy hordes of the undead across two all-new maps at launch. After launch, players can expect even more exciting maps and ground-breaking experiences in both multiplayer and zombies.
