Call of Duty Black Ops 7 launches November 14, and Treyarch just dropped a bombshell that could redefine what players expect from Call of Duty campaigns. After you complete the game’s 11 traditional story missions, a twelfth experience unlocks called Endgame, a 32-player open-world PvE mode set in Avalon where the narrative continues and your choices actually matter. It’s DMZ meets Zombies meets campaign storytelling, and it might be the most ambitious thing Treyarch has ever attempted.
The developer revealed all the details in a new Dev Talk video posted November 9, giving players their first real look at how Endgame works, what Avalon looks like, and why this mode could be the thing that keeps people playing Black Ops 7 long after they finish the story. For the first time ever, a Call of Duty campaign doesn’t just end when the credits roll. The story continues, and you get to shape how it unfolds alongside up to 31 other players.
What Exactly Is Endgame
Endgame is Call of Duty’s first attempt at a persistent campaign experience that evolves beyond a traditional linear story. After completing the first 11 missions of Black Ops 7’s co-op campaign, you unlock access to Avalon, a sprawling open-world map where the JSOC team continues hunting The Guild while dealing with mysterious exposure zones leaking toxins across the city.
The mode supports 1-32 players in squads of up to four people. If you want to tackle Avalon solo, you can. If you want to team up with three friends, that works too. The game scales dynamically based on player count, creating encounters appropriate for your squad size while keeping the entire map populated with other teams doing their own thing.
Here’s the clever part: only one person in your squad needs to have completed the campaign to unlock Endgame. They can host a party and invite friends who haven’t finished the story yet, letting everyone access the content together. That solves the biggest problem with gated endgame content, when friends progress at different speeds and can’t play together.
Avalon Opens Up the World
The Avalon map is massive, divided into four escalating zones of difficulty. The outer areas are relatively tame, perfect for squads just starting out or looking to warm up. As you push deeper toward the center, enemies get stronger, loot gets better, and the stakes get higher. It’s a risk-reward system borrowed from extraction shooters and battle royales, adapted for PvE cooperative play.
The map features multiple points of interest scattered throughout Avalon where you’ll complete objectives, fight bosses, gather intel, and discover narrative threads continuing the Black Ops 7 story. Each POI offers different mission types, so you’re not just doing the same thing repeatedly. Some might be defend-the-objective scenarios. Others could be assassination missions or data retrieval. The variety keeps things fresh across multiple runs.
Treyarch design director Kevin Drew explained in the Dev Talk that Avalon was designed to feel like a living battlefield. Dynamic events pop up as you explore. Enemy patrols move through areas unpredictably. Other player squads are working on their own objectives, creating an active world that feels populated and dangerous even when you’re not in direct combat.
Exposure Zones Add Tension
The mysterious toxin leaking through exposure zones isn’t just set dressing. These areas create danger zones you need to navigate carefully, limiting how long you can stay in certain parts of the map before the environment itself becomes lethal. It’s a clever way to add time pressure and force squads to make tactical decisions about when to push forward versus when to fall back and regroup.
Unique Abilities and Customization
Players can choose one of the main campaign characters or create a custom operator with personalized abilities. Campaign abilities like grappling hooks and Active Camo stealth return, but Endgame adds exclusive powers you can only use in this mode.
Shadow Break is one example shown in the Dev Talk. This ability creates an area-of-effect blast that warps nearby enemies into the sky before killing them. It’s flashy, powerful, and perfect for getting out of bad situations when your squad gets surrounded. You can combine these abilities with tech and gear found throughout Avalon to create unique loadouts tailored to your playstyle.
The customization extends beyond abilities. You’ll find loot throughout Avalon including weapons, attachments, armor, and equipment. Better gear increases your Power and Combat Rating, two stats that determine how effectively you can handle tougher zones. It’s RPG-lite progression layered onto Call of Duty’s gunplay, giving players reasons to keep grinding and chasing better gear.
Extraction Mechanics Add Stakes
Here’s where Endgame borrows most heavily from DMZ and extraction shooters. When you’re ready to leave Avalon, you need to reach an extraction point and successfully escape. If you die before extracting, you lose everything you collected during that run. All that loot? Gone. Intel you gathered? Lost. It’s high-stakes gameplay that makes every decision matter.
The extraction system forces meaningful risk assessment. Do you push into a tougher zone for better loot, knowing failure means losing everything? Or do you play it safe, extract what you have, and come back later with better gear? These moment-to-moment decisions create tension that traditional campaign modes lack.
Successful extractions let you keep all your gear and progression. Everything you earn in Endgame counts toward your global progression across all Call of Duty modes. Weapon levels carry over. Camo unlocks apply to multiplayer and Zombies. Experience points contribute to your overall rank. Endgame isn’t a separate ecosystem. It’s fully integrated with the rest of Black Ops 7.
Global Progression Ties Everything Together
One of the smartest decisions Treyarch made was ensuring Endgame isn’t isolated from the rest of the game. Everything you do in Avalon counts toward leveling up weapons, unlocking camos, and progressing your overall player rank. This means players who primarily enjoy campaign-style content can still unlock everything without touching competitive multiplayer if they don’t want to.
Black Ops 7 launches with 30 weapons. All of them can be leveled and customized through Endgame play. Your Skill Tracks and Combat Rating persist across sessions, creating long-term progression goals beyond just completing the story. The mode is designed to have legs, giving players reasons to return long after finishing the traditional campaign.
Dropping In and Party Mechanics
When you first enter Endgame, you’ll drop into Avalon similar to a battle royale spawn. You choose your operator, customize your loadout with any gear you’ve unlocked or saved from previous runs, and deploy into the map. If you’re playing solo, you spawn alone. In a squad, you all drop together and need to stick reasonably close throughout the mission.
The Dev Talk confirmed that communication and coordination are essential for success in tougher zones. While you can brute force early areas through good shooting, the difficulty spike in inner zones requires actual teamwork. Abilities need to be coordinated. Someone needs to watch flank positions. Crowd control and target prioritization become crucial when you’re facing waves of enemies alongside elite units.
Post-Launch Content Plans
Treyarch confirmed Endgame will receive regular content updates post-launch. New narrative threads will unfold over time. Additional POIs could be added to Avalon. New abilities, gear, and mission types are all on the table. The mode is designed as a live service experience that evolves alongside multiplayer and Zombies.
This approach makes sense given how much effort clearly went into building Avalon and the Endgame systems. Creating a massive open-world map and unique progression systems would be a waste if it only served as a short epilogue. By committing to ongoing support, Treyarch can justify the development resources while keeping campaign-focused players engaged for months.
How It Compares to DMZ and Zombies
The obvious comparisons are to Modern Warfare 2’s DMZ mode and Modern Warfare 3’s open-world Zombies experience. Endgame borrows elements from both while adding its own identity through narrative integration and unique campaign abilities.
DMZ featured PvPvE extraction gameplay where other players were as much a threat as AI enemies. Endgame removes PvP entirely, making it purely cooperative. You’ll see other squads in Avalon, but they’re allies working toward similar goals rather than competitors trying to steal your loot.
Zombies in MW3 took a similar approach with open-world PvE missions and extraction mechanics. Endgame differentiates itself by continuing the Black Ops narrative rather than being a separate mode. The story connections make Avalon feel like a genuine extension of the campaign rather than a disconnected side mode.
Why This Matters for Call of Duty
Annual Call of Duty releases face constant criticism about offering the same experience with minor variations. Multiplayer maps change. Zombie settings evolve. But the core loop remains largely unchanged year after year. Endgame represents genuine innovation, a new way to experience Call of Duty that doesn’t fit neatly into existing categories.
For players who primarily care about story and PvE content, this could be transformative. Instead of finishing the campaign in 6-8 hours and moving on, Endgame gives you dozens of additional hours exploring Avalon, chasing gear, completing objectives, and experiencing narrative content that continues unfolding. It’s what campaign fans have been asking for: more content without sacrificing quality or turning into generic open-world filler.
If Endgame succeeds, it could become a permanent fixture in future Call of Duty games. Imagine every Treyarch release including a persistent campaign endgame mode that evolves over the game’s lifecycle. It would give the studio a clear identity separate from Infinity Ward’s approach, creating genuine variety within the franchise.
FAQs
What is Endgame in Black Ops 7?
Endgame is a 32-player open-world PvE mode that unlocks after completing Black Ops 7’s 11-mission campaign. It continues the story in Avalon with cooperative missions, extraction mechanics, and persistent progression.
How many players can play Endgame?
Endgame supports 1-32 players in squads of up to four people. You can play solo or team up with friends, and the mode scales difficulty based on your squad size.
Do I need to finish the campaign to play Endgame?
You need to complete the first 11 campaign missions to unlock Endgame. However, only one person in your squad needs access. They can host and invite friends who haven’t finished yet.
Does Endgame progression carry over to multiplayer?
Yes, everything you do in Endgame counts toward global progression. Weapon levels, camo unlocks, and experience all carry over to multiplayer and Zombies modes.
What happens if I die in Endgame?
Endgame uses extraction mechanics. If you die before reaching an extraction point, you lose all loot and gear collected during that run. Successful extractions let you keep everything.
When does Black Ops 7 release?
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 launches November 14, 2025, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, PC via Steam and Battle.net, and is available day one with Game Pass Ultimate.
Will Endgame get updates after launch?
Yes, Treyarch confirmed Endgame will receive regular content updates including new narrative threads, additional missions, and potentially new areas within Avalon.
Conclusion
Endgame is either going to be Black Ops 7’s secret weapon or an ambitious experiment that doesn’t quite land. The concept is brilliant, give campaign players a reason to keep playing while creating a cooperative experience that feels distinct from multiplayer and Zombies. The execution will determine whether it becomes a beloved part of Call of Duty or a forgotten mode that gets abandoned post-launch.
The fact that Treyarch built an entire open-world map with unique progression systems and extraction mechanics specifically for campaign players shows real commitment to this audience. Too often, Call of Duty treats campaign as an afterthought, something to check off the list before focusing on multiplayer. Endgame suggests the studio believes single-player and co-op fans deserve ongoing content and support.
Whether you’re a Call of Duty veteran or someone who bounced off the franchise because you didn’t want to compete in multiplayer, Endgame deserves your attention. It’s the kind of innovation the franchise needs to stay relevant as tastes change and players demand more variety in their first-person shooters. Come November 14, finish those 11 missions as quickly as you can, because Avalon awaits, and it’s going to be one hell of a playground.