Summary
- New audio improvements in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 enhances spatial awareness and makes footsteps more lifelike.
- Sound absorption in different environments affects how footsteps are heard, creating unique audio experiences on each map.
- Black Ops 6 amplifies important sounds, like enemy footsteps, to provide players with crucial information during gameplay.
With the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 fast approaching, publisher Activision and developer Treyarch Studios have published a new blog post breaking down the massive audio improvements coming with the shooter on October 25. Treyarch says that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will make use of the studio's most advanced audio systems to date and will also feature redesigned sound effects for every single weapon in the game.
In the build-up to the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Activision and Treyarch have been revealing new bits of information about the highly anticipated shooter. While the next Call of Duty game will be shaking things up with a new omnidirectional movement system, fans can still expect to see some of the series' most iconic features make a return. To give players a taste of nostalgia, Treyarch recently revealed that Nuketown will be added to Black Ops 6's map pool on November 1. Now, with just days left to go, the studio has revealed that another massive change will come in the form of some gigantic audio improvements.
Call of Duty's footstep audio has always been a controversial topic in the community, but now Treyarch is making them more lifelike than ever with a complete revamp in Black Ops 6. In a new blog post on the Call of Duty website, Treyarch's lead audio designer Collin Ayers and expert audio engineer William Cornell discussed the improvements fans can expect to find when October 25 rolls around. From every weapon receiving new sound effects to a complete change in how voices, footsteps, and weapons react to the environment, Black Ops 6 is going to sound vastly different to its predecessors.
Call of Duty Reveals Massive Audio Improvements for Black Ops 6
According to Treyarch, the new audio improvements in Black Ops 6 will allow players to easily identify where the enemy is firing from as the studio has been "laser focused" on improving the game's distant firing sounds. The studio also revealed that it has been working in collaboration with Microsoft's Project Acoustics system to make advancements in spatial awareness and perception. In short, footstep audio is going to sound vastly different depending on the player's surroundings. As shown in the clip above, footsteps will now echo down hallways and the audio will carry much further.
But footsteps won't always sound the same, as Treyarch says that sound absorption will play a big role in Black Ops 6. Snow, for example, absorbs most of the soundwaves that interact with it, while a forest allows sound to reflect and bounce around it. So while footstep audio might sound obvious when in a long hallway, the way sound bounces off of the space around it will mean each map will feel unique in terms of audio.
In the lengthy blog post, Treyarch also noted that "some sounds are more urgent than others," and Black Ops 6 aims to take that into account by emphasizing the more important sounds to players at any given moment. For example, the sound of enemy footsteps running toward the player will be amplified more than teammates approaching from behind the player. All of these changes and more can be checked out when Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releases on October 25.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- October 25, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch, Raven Software
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- IW 9.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
WHERE TO PLAY
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.
The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.
In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- FPS
