On Thursday, Activision Blizzard officially announced Call of Duty: Vanguard, the 2021 iteration of the annual Call of Duty franchise. While Call of Duty: Vanguard was ultimately announced in the traditional way, with a press release, a reveal trailer, and a website providing more specific information, Activision Blizzard also tried something new. Call of Duty: Warzone joined in the fun, providing a live-service event building to Call of Duty: Vanguard's official unveiling.
More specifically, that means that a train has exploded in Call of Duty: Warzone, but that probably needs some further context to understand. In Call of Duty: Warzone, the franchise's mainstay battle royale live service game, there is a train. This travels in a set path around Call of Duty: Warzone map Verdansk's southwestern corner. Activision Blizzard has officially blown up this train as part of the announcement of Call of Duty: Vanguard, to mark the start of what it calls the "Battle of Verdansk."
Blowing up Call of Duty: Warzone's train was a necessary step for the Battle of Verdansk live event. That's because in the Battle for Verdansk Call of Duty: Warzone players will be able to battle a new train in the battle royale. The new, armored train is described as an "annihilator of armies" and a "death machine forged from the past." The event sees Call of Duty: Warzone Operators slowing down the train with charges and then destroying it turret by turret while it slowly moves across Verdansk.
For a bit of history, the original Verdansk cargo train wasn't there when Call of Duty: Warzone first launched. It was just an empty track. The train was eventually added in Season 5 and led to ton of speculation regarding what it could be for. Notable details include a tank on the train's back, as well as the fact that it couldn't be stopped. As such, Activision Blizzard made the train's destruction somewhat of a joke, destroying the train out of the game to replace it with Call of Duty: Vanguard's armored alternative.
Exactly how the armored train ties into Call of Duty: Vanguard will be up to players to discover. Call of Duty: Vanguard is set in World War 2, but is said to be unique in its own way. A massive train covered in armor in turrets sounds exactly like the kind of over-the-top exaggerated content Call of Duty fans should expect from such a game.
The Call of Duty: Vanguard train event will be available for Call of Duty: Warzone players to try through August 24 and can be played multiple times. It's a unique experience, battling a moving armored train with dozens of other players, and should provide a fun diversion for Warzone players while they wait for Call of Duty: Vanguard's release in November later this year.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.