While the developers have announced that the travel back in time is a flashback, some Call of Duty: Warzone fans believe something deeper is going on. Call of Duty: Warzone has always been fond of Easter eggs, and the update might hide a big one. As fans gather in online communities, a rumor is starting to spread that promotes an interesting theory about the game.
Verdansk is set in 1984 after the Call of Duty: Warzone nuke dropped on the map. While the time travel has been vaguely unexplained, the game's community believes they have figured what is really going on. By piecing together the Call of Duty: Warzone Red Door and the Flashback note at the bottom of the in-game screen, fans have a theory that explains how time travel is possible.
The explanation does spoil parts of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War campaign, so fans who have not played the game yet may want to stop reading here. The Red Doors play an important role in the campaign mission Break on Through when players flashback into 1968 Vietnam. While under the influence of Adler, players are on a mission to reach a bunker through a Red Door. The fan theory believes that Verdansk '84 is a similar situation where players are reliving a past point in time, making it not a time travel scenario.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War integrated and the state of the ongoing story, this makes sense within the game's context. The villain Stitch kidnapped Adler and is hiding him somewhere on the map, and this flashback mission may be the rescue mission similar to the Vietnam mission in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War campaign.
Further, the Red Door appears at the end of the cutscene for Destruction of Verdansk Part 2. Players can see the door opening and the camera flying through, along with the infamous Call of Duty: Black Ops numbers and Stitch's voice echoing through the light. This theory is further sparked by the recent rumor of Red Door Call of Duty: Warzone fast travel becoming available throughout the game's map environment.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is impacting Call of Duty: Warzone in a variety of ways, and there is no way to know where the story may go next. As fans continue to theorize on the current map change, the idea of a flashback becomes more concrete as opposed to time travel caused by a nuclear blast.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: EuroGamer