Four months ago, Infinity Ward first revealed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ mode to the world. The trailer showed a slow-paced, gritty first-person shooter; we saw a trio wearing night-vision goggles enter an abandoned shopping mall, checking every corner as they executed their mission. It looked like Call of Duty was finally stepping outside its comfort zone and offering a mode that would rival Escape from Tarkov.
You can watch that trailer below: After spending the best part of a week with DMZ, it's clear that while there are faint notes of this immersive, ruthless mode, for the most part, it has been designed to appeal to Call of Duty's more casual audience. It's no surprise; the top comments on the trailer all predicted that the series' trademark movement system, with mechanics like sliding and bunny-hopping, would prevent this slower, methodical showcase from ever coming to fruition. Unfortunately, those skeptics were bang on the money.
Modern Warfare 4's DMZ mode is an extraction shooter. You’ll deploy into Hajin, a fictional region that spans the border between North and South Korea (alongside a small section of Russia coming at the start of season 1), with a weapon, armor, backpack, and a few consumables. Your goal is to fill your inventory with as much valuable loot as you can, then get the heck outta there safely.
The DMZ beta, featured back in 2021's Modern Warfare 2, introduced this concept to the series for the first time, but it was half-baked. While the mode is still technically in early access, it's a much more complete product this time around, albeit with plenty of teething issues. Hajin is populated with North Korean soldiers around every corner.
Some patrol the map in vehicles. Others loiter near minor buildings around the edges of the map in small groups. But most are found in the named places of interest, which have higher threat levels.
That means more enemies to deal with, and considerably tougher ones to boot. As a solo player, DMZ's structure is considerably more flawed than Arc Raiders, which is by far my most-played extraction shooter and currently the most popular game in the genre. In Arc Raiders, the aggression-based matchmaking and players’ willingness to cooperate mean that even the game's toughest foes, such as the Matriarch or the brand-new Frigate, are conquerable.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
