Call of Duty: Dark Horizon

Call of Duty: Dark Horizon
Developer(s)	Supreme Studios
Publisher(s)	Activision
Producer(s)	Marcus Vale
Designer(s)	Tyler Hayes Noah Richter
Writer(s)	Elias Mercer Jordan Pike Sarah Vance
Composer(s)	Jason Dale
Series	Call of Duty
Engine	IW Engine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Release	November 7, 2028
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer, co-op

Call of Duty: Dark Horizon is a 2028 first-person shooter video game developed by Supreme Studios and published by Activision. It is the twenty-fifth main installment in the Call of Duty series and the first entry in the Dark Horizon sub-series. Set in a near-future world devastated by technological collapse and geopolitical warfare, the game's single-player campaign follows a multinational special forces unit attempting to stop a rogue military artificial intelligence known as ARES from triggering a global extinction event.

Like previous entries in the franchise, Dark Horizon features three primary game modes: Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies. The multiplayer mode introduced large-scale environmental destruction, dynamic weather systems, and a new movement mechanic known as "Adaptive Combat", while the Zombies mode continued the Dark Aether storyline from previous Call of Duty titles through a new narrative centered around the collapse of reality itself.

The game was officially revealed on June 12, 2028, during a worldwide showcase event hosted by Activision. Dark Horizon was released on November 7, 2028, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Upon release, the game received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised the campaign's darker tone, the multiplayer's environmental systems, and Zombies' return to large-scale round-based experiences.

Gameplay

Call of Duty: Dark Horizon is a first-person shooter featuring traditional military combat mechanics alongside new traversal, environmental, and AI systems. Players use a variety of modern and experimental weapons, gadgets, killstreaks, and support equipment to engage hostile forces across all three game modes.

A new movement system known as "Adaptive Combat" allows players to perform contextual actions based on terrain and momentum, including wall-assisted vaulting, combat rolls, environmental dives, and tactical recoveries. Environmental conditions such as rain, ash, sandstorms, and electrical interference dynamically affect gameplay visibility and weapon handling.

The game also introduces expanded destruction systems, allowing certain structures, cover positions, and environmental objects to collapse or become permanently altered during gameplay.

Campaign

The campaign follows Daniel Cross, Maya Vance, and Victor Kane as they investigate a series of coordinated military attacks linked to ARES, an advanced defense AI system originally designed to prevent global warfare. Missions take place across multiple global locations, including Tokyo, Berlin, Iceland, Singapore, and New York City.

The campaign features semi-open combat spaces that allow players to complete objectives through stealth, reconnaissance, direct assault, or technological sabotage. Between missions, players return to a mobile command center known as "The Bastion", where they can upgrade weapons, interact with squad members, and access intelligence briefings.

Several missions include large-scale destruction events, aerial combat, and survival-horror inspired sequences tied to Dark Aether experimentation.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer component features traditional six-versus-six combat alongside larger-scale game modes supporting up to 40 players across a variety of core and large-scale maps. Returning modes include Team Deathmatch, Domination, Search and Destroy, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Free-for-All, and Gunfight, while new modes introduced in Dark Horizon include "Blackout Zone", an objective-based mode featuring collapsing environments and shifting combat zones, and "Overrun", a hybrid experience in which opposing teams simultaneously fight enemy players and hostile AI-controlled forces. The game introduces the "Adaptive Combat" movement system, allowing players to perform contextual traversal actions, combat rolls, environmental dives, and momentum-based maneuvers depending on terrain and movement speed. Multiplayer maps also feature dynamic weather systems, including sandstorms, thunderstorms, ashfall, and electrical interference events capable of altering visibility, traversal routes, audio clarity, and equipment performance during matches.

Dark Horizon's progression system includes weapon mastery challenges, seasonal ranking ladders, operator unlocks, and a revised Prestige system, alongside an expanded Gunsmith mechanic allowing deeper weapon customization through ammunition conversions, attachment tuning, and receiver modifications. A new gameplay mechanic known as "Combat Traits" allows players to specialize in support, reconnaissance, assault, or mobility-focused playstyles through passive bonuses and equipment enhancements. Several maps additionally feature large-scale destruction events capable of permanently altering sections of the battlefield during gameplay, including collapsing buildings, breached walls, environmental hazards, and disabled traversal routes.

Zombies

In Zombies, one to four players battle increasingly difficult waves of the undead across six round-based maps—Library of the Damned, City of the Forgotten, Blood of Olympus, The Hollow Earth, Abyssus, and The Final Eclipse—which continue the Chaos storyline following the events of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018). The narrative follows Scarlett Rhodes, Diego Necalli, Bruno Delacroix, and Stanton Shaw as they search for the missing Alistair Rhodes while confronting the re-emergence of the ancient Order and a corruption spreading across multiple mythological dimensions. Each map contains a main quest, side quests, hidden easter eggs, Wonder Weapons, unique enemy types, and in-engine cinematic sequences tied to the overarching narrative.

The mode retains several gameplay systems introduced in previous Zombies iterations, including the dual-currency system of "Essence" and "Salvage", which are used to unlock areas, purchase armor upgrades and Perk-a-Colas, apply ammo modifications, upgrade weapons through the Pack-a-Punch machine, and craft lethal and tactical equipment. The "Augments" system also returns, allowing players to equip major and minor upgrades to perks, field upgrades, and ammo mods. "Elixirs" and "Talismans" return for the first time since Black Ops 4, functioning as consumable gameplay modifiers and passive bonuses. Elixirs are obtained through the "Elixirs Machine", which functions similarly to the GobbleGum system featured in earlier titles.

Dark Horizon introduces a new gameplay mechanic known as "Relics", rare artifacts that apply randomized gameplay modifiers affecting enemy behavior, player abilities, environmental hazards, and progression systems during matches. The mode also features the return of "Directed" mode, which provides players with in-game guidance and objective tracking while completing a map's main quest.

In addition to the standard and Directed experiences, the mode includes three additional game types: "Survival", "Gauntlet", and "Cursed". Survival restricts players to isolated sections of the core maps while tasking them with surviving increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Gauntlet reintroduces the challenge-based format from Black Ops 4, featuring rotating gameplay restrictions and objective modifiers each round. Cursed serves as a more difficult variant of standard Zombies gameplay, featuring limited HUD elements, more aggressive enemy behavior, reduced resources, enhanced boss encounters, and several mechanics inspired by earlier Zombies titles, including a revised points system modeled after Call of Duty: Black Ops III (2015).

Plot

See also: Plot of Call of Duty: Dark Horizon Zombies

Campaign

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Zombies

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Library of the Damned"	November 7, 2028 (2028-11-07)
Immediately following the events in Delphi, Diego Necalli (Jaime Camil) successfully escapes Medusa with the unconscious Scarlett Rhodes (Courtenay Taylor), regrouping with Bruno Delacroix (Mark Ivanir) and Stanton Shaw (Nick Boraine) within hidden catacombs beneath the city. With the Oracle revealed to have been Medusa in disguise, the crew realizes that the Sentinel Trials were orchestrated to guide Medusa toward the Library of the Nine, where she intends to obtain complete control over the Prima Materia. Using symbols recovered from Alistair Rhodes' journals, the crew enters a corrupted section of the Library hidden beneath Delphi itself, discovering that the dimension has begun collapsing as Chaos energy spreads uncontrollably throughout reality. While battling undead cultists, animated statues, and mythological creatures twisted by Prima Materia exposure, Scarlett begins experiencing visions tied to her father's imprisonment and the true origins of the Sentinel Artifacts. Deep within the Library, the crew encounters the Keeper of Thresholds, an ancient guardian tasked with preventing mortals from accessing forbidden knowledge. After defeating the guardian, the crew recovers a map revealing the locations of several hidden gateways connected to the Nine, while Medusa observes from the shadows and declares that Scarlett has unknowingly completed the first phase of her ascension.
2	"City of the Forgotten"	December 14, 2028 (2028-12-14)
Guided by the map recovered from the Library, the crew travels to an abandoned underground city beneath Egypt once inhabited by an ancient civilization devoted to the Nine. The city has been consumed by Chaos corruption, with entire districts collapsing into endless voids filled with undead citizens and malformed creatures created through failed Sentinel experiments. As the group searches for a gateway key capable of locating Alistair Rhodes, tensions rise as Bruno and Shaw struggle against the influence of their dark selves, whose control grows stronger in the presence of Prima Materia. Scarlett uncovers records revealing that the Order was originally formed to prevent the awakening of entities imprisoned beyond the Library rather than simply wielding its power. While exploring the city's central temple, the crew accidentally awakens Apophis, a gigantic serpent-like abomination worshipped by the city's former inhabitants. After battling the creature throughout the collapsing ruins, the crew succeeds in sealing Apophis within a Sentinel chamber and retrieves the gateway key. However, Medusa appears before them through an illusion, warning Scarlett that her father's attempts to stop the Nine already doomed the world long before the crew ever arrived in Delphi.
3	"Blood of Olympus"	February 20, 2029 (2029-02-20)
The gateway key leads the crew to Mount Olympus itself, now transformed into a decaying realm suspended between reality and Chaos. Upon arriving, the crew discovers that the ancient Gods once attempted to contain the Prima Materia before ultimately becoming corrupted by its influence. As undead warriors and corrupted mythological beasts roam the shattered remains of Olympus, Scarlett discovers echoes left behind by Zeus, Odin, Ra, and Danu warning of an approaching entity known only as "the First One", a being imprisoned before human civilization existed. During their search for a relic known as the Crown of Chaos, Shaw's dark self fully overtakes him and attempts to deliver the relic directly to Medusa. Diego and Bruno manage to restrain Shaw long enough for Scarlett to complete an ancient trial beneath the Temple of Zeus, where she learns that Medusa seeks to use the Crown to awaken the First One beneath the Library of the Nine. The crew eventually confronts a corrupted manifestation of Ares deep within the ruins of Olympus and defeats the god after a massive battle across the collapsing mountain. Scarlett claims the Crown of Chaos, but Medusa succeeds in recovering a fragment of its power before escaping through a gateway into another realm.
4	"The Hollow Earth"	April 18, 2029 (2029-04-18)
Pursuing Medusa through the gateway, the crew arrives within the Hollow Earth, an enormous subterranean realm hidden beneath the planet and believed to be the birthplace of the Sentinel Artifacts. Entire civilizations within the realm have fallen to Chaos corruption, leaving behind undead explorers, gigantic mutated wildlife, and twisted remnants of ancient cities swallowed by darkness. Scarlett uncovers recordings left behind by Alistair Rhodes revealing that he entered the Hollow Earth searching for a way to destroy the Prima Materia permanently, only to discover that the corruption cannot be destroyed without collapsing reality itself. As the crew descends deeper into the realm, Bruno's dark self begins communicating directly with an unseen entity beneath the Hollow Earth, promising him freedom in exchange for betrayal. The group eventually discovers a colossal prison built by the Nine themselves, containing fragments of the First One imprisoned beneath layers of Sentinel barriers. After surviving an attack by the prison's guardian, a massive creature known as the Devourer, the crew restores the failing barriers and prevents the entity from escaping fully. However, Medusa manages to acquire an ancient artifact called the Abyssal Heart before disappearing deeper into the realm.
5	"Abyssus"	June 26, 2029 (2029-06-26)
The crew follows Medusa to Abyssus, a lost Atlantean city hidden beneath the Atlantic Ocean that once served as one of the final strongholds of the Nine before the collapse of Atlantis. The city has begun destabilizing as Chaos energy floods its ancient structures, causing entire sections to phase in and out of reality. While battling undead Atlantean warriors, corrupted sea creatures, and automated Sentinel constructs, the crew learns that the Abyssal Heart is capable of opening a permanent gateway between realities if combined with the Crown of Chaos. Scarlett eventually locates Alistair Rhodes, who has survived for years trapped within a dimensional prison beneath the city. Alistair explains that Medusa intends to merge the human world with the Chaos realm in order to awaken the First One completely. Before the crew can escape, Bruno's dark self fully overtakes him and delivers the Abyssal Heart to Medusa, allowing her to awaken the Leviathan sleeping beneath Abyssus. After a large-scale battle throughout the collapsing city, the crew defeats the Leviathan and escapes alongside Alistair, though Bruno disappears into the depths alongside Medusa.
6	"The Final Eclipse"	August 30, 2029 (2029-08-30)
With dimensional collapses spreading across the globe, Scarlett, Diego, Shaw, and Alistair travel to Antarctica, where the entrance to the true Library of the Nine has finally emerged beneath the ice during a massive celestial alignment known as the Final Eclipse. The Library itself has become heavily corrupted by Chaos energy, warping its endless halls into impossible landscapes filled with undead explorers, ancient guardians, and manifestations created directly from the Prima Materia. Upon entering the Library, the crew discovers that Medusa has already begun using the Crown of Chaos and the Abyssal Heart to awaken the First One imprisoned beneath reality itself. Shaw ultimately sacrifices himself to destroy several Sentinel seals corrupted by Chaos, allowing Scarlett and Diego to reach the Library's core. There, they confront Medusa after she transforms into a monstrous serpentine entity empowered by the Prima Materia. Following a massive battle throughout the collapsing Library, Scarlett uses the Sentinel Artifacts to imprison Medusa and temporarily contain the First One once again. As the surviving crew escapes Antarctica, Alistair warns Scarlett that the barriers separating realities are permanently weakening, while a final scene reveals Bruno awakening alone within a dark, endless realm as an unseen entity begins speaking to him from the shadows.

Development

Call of Duty: Dark Horizon was developed by Supreme Studios using an upgraded version of the IW Engine. Development began in early 2025 following internal restructuring at Activision and was led by producer Marcus Vale.

The development team focused heavily on environmental immersion, destruction physics, and dynamic world systems. According to the developers, the game's darker tone and near-future setting were inspired by real-world fears surrounding artificial intelligence, automated warfare, and societal collapse.

The Zombies mode was developed simultaneously alongside the campaign rather than as a separate post-production experience. Developers described it as one of the most ambitious cooperative experiences in franchise history.

Music

Jason Dale composed the game's musical score, combining orchestral instrumentation with industrial electronic elements and distorted synth textures. Kevin Sherwood returned to compose the Zombies easter egg songs featured throughout the mode.

Marketing

Marketing for Dark Horizon began in May 2028 through a series of cryptic teaser videos depicting malfunctioning military broadcasts and emergency evacuation alerts. Activision later launched a viral marketing website titled "ARES Observation Network", which featured hidden transmissions, countdown timers, and classified documents teasing the game's setting.

The game was officially revealed during a worldwide showcase event on June 12, 2028. A multiplayer reveal event followed on June 19, while the Zombies mode received a dedicated reveal presentation on June 26.

Throughout August and September 2028, Activision released several live-action commercials depicting civilians experiencing the collapse of global communications caused by ARES.

Release

Call of Duty: Dark Horizon was released on November 7, 2028, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

Players who pre-ordered the game received early access to a multiplayer beta held across two weekends in September 2028. The beta included four multiplayer maps, multiple game modes, and access to the Adaptive Combat movement system.

Activision confirmed that the game would receive ongoing seasonal content updates, including additional multiplayer maps, Zombies experiences, weapons, operators, and crossover events.

Post-release updates

Following release, Supreme Studios supported Dark Horizon through free seasonal updates adding new maps, weapons, operators, and Zombies content. Each season also introduced a premium battle pass and limited-time events.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	PS5: 84/100
OpenCritic	89% recommend

Review scores

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	4/5
GameSpot	8/10
IGN	9/10
PC Gamer (US)	78/100

Dark Horizon received generally favorable reviews from critics upon release. Reviewers praised the game's darker campaign tone, environmental destruction systems, multiplayer innovations, and Zombies content.

Critics particularly highlighted the Adaptive Combat movement system and the dynamic weather effects featured throughout multiplayer. The Zombies mode received praise for its atmosphere, narrative scale, and round-based gameplay structure.

Some criticism was directed toward the game's online-only requirement and technical issues present at launch.

Sales

Dark Horizon achieved the largest launch weekend for a Call of Duty title since Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024). Activision reported strong player engagement across all three modes, with the Zombies mode reaching record concurrent player counts during launch week.

By March 2029, the game had surpassed 38 million players worldwide.