Call of Duty: Vanguard release date TODAY – Warzone, maps, zombies, multiplayer and more

CALL of Duty Vanguard is out today – and sees the series returning to its World War 2 roots.

Vanguard is the long-awaited next entry to the Call of Duty series and brings new maps, modes and features to the beloved franchise.

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Call of Duty: Vanguard release date and start time

Call of Duty: Vanguard launched Friday, November 5 across all platforms.

If you pre-ordered, you could pre-load the game and start playing on November 4 according to one tipster. The times for North America are listed below:

• 9pm PDT
• 10pm MDT
• 11pm CDT
• 12am EDT November 5

Pre-loads started on October 28 for console players. If you're playing on PC, pre-loads began at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT on November 2.

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Call of Duty: Vanguard file size

Call of Duty games are notoriously large when it comes to file size, causing quite the problem for console players with small hard drives.

However, Vanguard's install launch size is slimmed down by 30% to 50% compared to previous instalments in the series. Although that only goes for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Activision has the approximate file sizes for install, pre-load, and space needed to play the game so you can start making room or invest in a new SSD now.

• PS5:
  • 64.13 GB Download
  • 89.84 GB Required Space
• PS4:
  • 54.65 GB Download
  • 93.12 GB Required Space
• Xbox Series X|S:
  • 61 GB Download
  • 61 GB Required Space
• Xbox One:
  • 56.6 GB Download
  • 56.6 GB Required Space
• PC: TBC

Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign

Call of Duty is leaning into a diverse cast of characters this year, which is refreshing.

We're going back to WWII but the focus is on the origins of Task Force One – dubbed "the original Special Forces".

Sledgehammer is no stranger to the setting, having developed 2017's Call of Duty: WWII, so the studio is more than equipped to take the reins.

Things will be quite a bit different this time around though as the story follows a handful of heroes across four major fronts.

• Private Lucas Riggs in the North Africa Campaign
• Lieutenant Wade Jackson from the Pacific
•  Lieutenant Polina Petrova on the Eastern Front
• Sergeant Arthur Kingsley of the British Army’s 9th Parachute Battalion

The campaign will let you "live out the moments that made them heroes and learn how they came together to spearhead Task Force One."

Ultimately, the story will see them faceoff against "ruthless Nazi Officer Hermann Wenzel Freisinger" who's running Project Phoenix:.

Your first mission in the game starts off with a newly recruited Operator (that's you) infiltrating a "heavily fortified U-boat facility".

Once you're in, you need to procure Axis military intelligence on the project before it's smuggled out of Germany.

Call of Duty: Vanguard multiplayer

We've had a pretty extensive look at the online portion of the game, with the Vanguard multiplayer reveal offering up quite the trove of information.

At launch, Vanguard offers the following seven core and hardcore modes:

• Free for All
• Team Deathmatch
• Kill Confirmed
• Domination
• Search & Destroy
• Hardpoint
• Patrol

Additional modes will be added post-launch, "including two newer ones that recently became a competitive standard and a small-team tactical mainstay, according to the blog.

There'll be 16 multiplayer maps at launch which support these modes, with three more maps post-launch on December 2. These are the confirmed maps so far:

• Battle of Berlin
• Bocage
• Castle
• Das Haus
• Decoy
• Demyansk
• Desert Siege
• Dome
• Eagle’s Nest
• Gavutu
• Hotel Royal
• Numa Numa
• Oasis
• Red Star
• Sub Pens
• Tuscan

A new Combat Pacing system switched up the multiplayer experience even more. You can opt for Quick Play to get a taste of everything, or pick the one that suits you best:

• Tactical: Tactical Combat Pacing always has a 12-player maximum in matches for traditional 6v6 play
• Assault: A middle ground between Tactical and Blitz featuring matches with 14 to 36 players (7v7 to 18v18) depending on the size of the map
• Blitz: Matches here range from 16 to 48 players (8v8 to 24v24) depending on the size of the map

Tactical offers the usual pacing CoD fans will be familiar with. Assault is "balanced" and gives players "room to breathe and a lot of targets to kill."

Blitz is described as "high-action" at "frenetic levels" so feel free to dabble in all three to find your favourite.

Operator-wise, Vanguard will launch with 12, including the four from the campaign:

The Operators are spread over four Task Forces, and each one is hugely customisable:

• Hellhounds
  • Daniel Take Yatsu
  • Wade Jackson
  • Halima Zambardi
• Sentinal
  • Constanze Trude Muller
  • Arthur Kingsley
  • Padmavati Balan
• Barbarian
  • Lucas Riggs
  • Roland Zeimet
  • Beatrice Mercier
• Shadow
  • Shigenori Ota
  • Polina Petrova
  • Solange Hardewijk

Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies

Treyarch is heading up Call of Duty: Vanguard's Zombies and in the spirit of full integration, we're getting a crossover with the Dark Aether storyline from Black Ops Cold War.

Set against the backdrop of WWII, the Special Forces operatives are stuck in Stalingrad and cut off from help thanks to the dark magic of Kortifex the Deathless.

Anchored to artifacts, there are five Dark Aether entities in total:

• Saraxis the Shadow
• Norticus the Conqueror
• Inviktor the Destroyer
• Bellekar the Warlock
• Kortifex the Deathless

Unfortunately for Kortifex, the other four are rising against him.

With their help, as well as demonologist Professor Gabriel Krafft, the containment spell can be broken and the zombie apocalypse prevented.

Call of Duty: Vanguard Warzone integration

The new Caldera map drops at the beginning of Season 1 on December 3, or December 2 if you own Vanguard.

Warzone itself is getting renamed 'Warzone Pacific' and we'll see a dedicated playlist in Vanguard Royale.

Vanguard Plunder mode will drop soon after, and there's all sorts of vehicles to play with across both modes.

But that doesn't mean the ones you've accumulated prior are being phased out. All of the original Warzone vehicles and skins aren't going anywhere.

All of the Operators and Calling Cards from Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare will be available, as well as cross-progression and Seasonal Prestige.

Call of Duty: Vanguard PS5 exclusives

If you're playing Call of Duty: Vanguard on PS4 or PS5, there's some free, exclusive content headed your way.

PlayStation players who purchase the Battle Pass Bundle get a bonus five Tier Skips on top of the 20 that the bundle offers as default.

There's also seasonal combat packs, with the first one including a new Operator skin, Weapon Blueprint, and more.

Partying up with other PlayStation players will net you even more rewards. Party members get +25% bonus weapon XP.

Monthly double XP events running for 24 hours, and an additional two loadout slots are also being made available for players on the platform.

Call of Duty: Vanguard PC requirements

Activision has finally dropped the PC requirements for Call of Duty: Vanguard which encompasses minimum, recommended, competitive, and ultra 4K specs.

• Operating System
  • Minimum: Windows 10 64-bit (latest update)
  • Recommended/Competitive/Ultra 4K: Windows 10 64-bit (latest update) or Windows 11 64-bit (latest update)
• CPU
  • Minimum: Intel Core i3-4340 or AMD FX-6300
  • Recommended: Intel Core i5-2500K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
  • Competitive: Intel Core i7-8700K or AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
  • Ultra 4K: Intel Core i9-9900K or AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
• RAM
  • Minimum: 8 GB
  • Recommended: 12 GB
  • Competitive/Ultra 4K: 16 GB
• Storage Space
  • Minimum: 36 GB at launch (Multiplayer and Zombies only)
  • Recommended/Competitive/Ultra 4K: 61 GB at launch
• Hi-Rez Assets Cache*
  • Minimum/Recommended/Competitive: Up to 32 GB
  • Ultra 4K: Up to 64 GB
• Video Card
  • Minimum: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon RX 470
  • Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580
  • Competitive: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070/RTX 3060 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700XT
  • Ultra 4K: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
• Video Memory
  • Minimum: 2 GB
  • Recommended: 4 GB
  • Competitive: 8 GB
  • Ultra 4K: 10 GB
• Recommended Drivers of NVIDIA/AMD
  • NVIDIA: 472.12
  • AMD: 21.9.1

*"Hi-Rez Assets Cache is optional disk space that can be used to stream high resolution assets. That option can be turned off in the game's settings."

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