Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has hit the ground running since its release, maintaining momentum with consistent content updates in its first season alone. Not all of these additions have been met with universal praise, however, as the franchise's continual effort to open up to the potential of collaborations has recently backfired. As the latest of multiple skins that break away from the aesthetic of the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is facing the risk of alienating a part of its fanbase through its DLC.
As Call of Duty has embraced live service trends in gaming, increasingly outlandish content has become a staple of the expanding brand. Boundaries have been pushed for years now in the form of Operators from The Boys and Scream, which followed absurd weapon skins and accessories in a rather natural progression. With Black Ops 6's Dragon Knight skin now arriving, it seems that a line has been crossed which underscores a sense of dissatisfaction with this strategy.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Season 1 Battle Pass Weapons Are Likely Just The Tip of the Iceberg
The recent launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's fist season came with its own battle pass, starting a weapon-based theme that is likely to continue.
Black Ops 6 Dragon Knight Skin Crosses a Line by Call of Duty's Standards
Defying Even the Flexible Military Shooter Status of the Franchise
Historically, the series has utilized sci-fi and mystical elements between futuristic games and Call of Duty's Zombies mode, but the mainline multiplayer experience has always upheld a semblance of realism. The Dragon Knight skin appearing straight out of a fantasy world has managed to stick out in this context, jarringly existing with no explanation in the context of Black Ops 6. Even though this line of games has leaned into a more experimental tone for years now, this skin's excessive design goes beyond the usual impact of cosmetics.
Genuine Complaints of Unexpected Gameplay Effects
The Dragon Knight skin backlash in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 isn't purely based on aesthetics, as it seems to come with a tactical disadvantage due to its dramatic visuals. Glowing green and emanating energy effects, it has seemingly earned infamy as more of a "pay-to-lose" purchase than the usual inoffensive purchase. With the skin's effects and animations that play during moments like death, potentially even affecting technical performance, it has gone beyond a fun embellishment.
The Dragon Knight Skin is Representative of a Greater Tonal Shift Which Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is Only Continuing
The Dragon Knight Skin is Just One of Several Skins that Push the Limits
It might be annoying in-game, but the Dragon Knight is just one part of a broader trend in recent CoD titles. A variety of flashy skins have technically been available in Black Ops 6 since its beta test, and they have only grown more borderline cartoonish since. This concept might have grown out of Zombies mode's more flexible aesthetic, but the presence of fantastical concepts in Operators like Brutus, Klaus, and now Goliath in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 show that the game veers further away from strict military theming than ever before, and that's not even accounting for skins. In a title where players could pre-order to get bonuses like the Zombie Woods skin, it may have an inevitability that BO6 would reach the limit of what's accepted.
Skin Controversies Highlight a Growing Divide in Call of Duty’s Playerbase
There's now a separation between the more casual demographic of live service titles, who tend to enjoy games like Fortnite and its collaborations, and the more hardcore legacy fans who believe that sillier content can compromise the ethos of Call of Duty. It might be years too late to keep the military simulation of the series pure, but future DLC releases at least not interfering with gameplay through excessive visual flair would be far less likely to offend.
-
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.
- Cross Save
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
- Prequel(s)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: World at War
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical or Horizontal
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- How Long To Beat
- 8 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- File Size Xbox Series
- 216 GB (October 2024)
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
