Call of Duty: Black Ops 6is here with one of the more substantial single player campaign offerings the series has seen in recent years.This year’s campaign mode has already been heralded as a return to form for the franchise after a disappointing single player experience in last year’sModern Warfare III. TheBlack Opssubseries has been known as being particularly story and character-driven within the widerCall of Dutyfranchise, with an emphasis on more cloak-and-dagger plotlines and historically-based political intrigue.
Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
AlthoughBlack Opshas strayed away from ’70s and ’80s era in the past,this year’s campaign takes place in 1991 during the Gulf War, about a decade after theevents of 2020’sBlack Ops: Cold War. There are some familiar faces from the series returning, namely CIA agents Frank Woods and Russell Adler. There are plenty of new faces as well as new locales, however, and the campaign is brimming with overlapping plotlines and backstabbing.
How Long is Black Ops 6’s Campaign?
Around 8 Hours, But Completionists Will Take Longer
Black Ops 6’s campaign is one of the longerCall of Dutycampaignsin recent memory, coming in at around 8 hours long. This is a welcome return to form, seeing as last year’sModern Warfare IIIcampaign was beaten by many players in under 5 hours. Treyarch has always been known for its single-player campaigns and written experiences in general, including the extensiveZombieslore.
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TheBlack Ops 6campaign is full of opportunities for player choice and exploration, including a safehouse hub rife with plot clues hidden in nooks and crannies. If players want to 100% the campaign and complete all extras and exhaust conversation options, the length can easily increase by 2-3 hours.
What Happens in Black Ops 6’s Campaign Ending?
Plot Twists & Character Reveals Abound
Black Ops 6’s many narrative threads center on Pantheon, a shadowy global organization that is infiltrating the CIAand developing a new bioweapon called Cradle. The cast of main characters, including Woods, CIA handler Jane Harrow, Troy Marshall, and player character Case, are attempting to unravel the mystery of who Pantheon is and what this bioweapon is. There is also a mole planted within the CIA by Pantheon, feeding them information and giving them access to Federal facilities and resources; this is eventually revealed to be Harrow herself.
It’s also revealed that Case gets his name from being “Case Study 1” of Cradle - patient zero. He was given Cradle experimentally by the original version of Pantheon - an official CIA division focused on creating performance enhancers for American operatives (led by CIA Deputy Director Daniel Livinstone). Soit turns out that not only is Harrow the CIA mole, but that Livingstone knows all about Pantheon and Cradle despite pretending he doesn’t- he has been lying to the team’s face this entire time.
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Pantheon eventually steals all remaining samples of Cradle and brings them back to Vorkuta (yes,thatVorkuta Mason and Reznov escape from inBlack Ops 1). The site is now a storage facility for Cradle being overseen by Harrow, and is eventually raided by the player with Harrow being captured. She is then given a dose of a truth serum and reveals that a Cradle attack has been planned on theU.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.Cthat will be blamed on Livingstone.
This is the final step in Pantheon’s infiltration of the CIA, as Harrow would be replacing Livingstone as Deputy Director after Livingstone would be forced to step down. This would mean total control over the CIA for Pantheon.In the middle of this interrogation, Pantheon attacks the team’s safehouse and rescues Harrow, fleeing via helicopter with Case managing to clamber on board as well.
A sample of Cradle is accidentally released and Case inhales it, becoming extremely aggressive and losing control of himself. He strangles Harrow as the helicopter sinks in a river after a crash, with the screen cutting to black before we find out if either of them survive.The game ends with a final cutscene set two weeks later, with neither Case nor Harrow present.
Woods, Marshall, and Adler meet with Livingstone, who is revealed to have been helping them in their investigation behind the scenesthe entire game. Livingstone tells them that Pantheon is far from eradicated, with plenty of Pantheon operatives still acting as CIA moles. Livingstone makes the 3 agents a new team specifically designed to work behind the scenes to destroy Pantheon and rid the CIA of it.
A twist comes at the end, however;after this conversation, we see a mysterious unnamed man breaking into Livingstone’s office and hacking his computer, clearly somehow involved with Pantheon. Then, the credits roll.
What the Ending Means for the Next Black Ops Game
Black Ops 6’s Ending Has Plenty Of Questions Remaining
There are a couple of threads here that are left loose, namely the identity of the mystery hacker in the final scene. There has already been speculation online as to who he is -Black Ops 1’s Alex Mason and the player character Case himself have been put forward as popular theories.Thereisa possibility that Case has become a Pantheon operative, seeing as he was last seen under the influence of Cradle in a helicopter with the manipulative Harrow. He seemed to be in prime condition to be captured and brainwashed.
There are plenty of other questions left unanswered inCall of Duty: Black Ops 6.These are all narrative threads that will no doubt be continued and expanded on in the nextBlack Opsgame.
That leads to a second question - what happened to Case and Harrow? Are they dead? Did Case kill Harrow and escape? This plotline will almost certainly come back in a sequel, withplenty of room for Case and Harrow to each make comebacks. Case may become a regular in theBlack Opscast of friendly (masked) faces, or he may become the next game’s antagonist. Either way, it is a sure bet thatthe nextBlack Opswill be dealing with Pantheon still being planted within the CIA, judging from the final cutscene.
There are plenty of other questions left unanswered inCall of Duty: Black Ops 6. For example, who was sent to assassinate Harrow’s parents when she was a kid? Was it Adler? Why did Livingstone lie about the origin of Pantheon? And can he truly be trusted? There are also questions about Cradle: Who’s voice did Case keep hearing in his head while under the influence of the bioweapon? And what is the connection Cradle has to the Zombies lore? These are all narrative threads that will no doubt be continued and expanded on in the nextBlack Opsgame.
