Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0is arriving on November 16 with a brand-new map, weapons, and mechanics for fans of the popular battle royale shooter experience to dive into. The map and weapons won’t be the only things changing inWarzone 2.0, as theGulag will be an entirely new experiencein this iteration, and it might create some frustration - especially among the better players in the community.
Call of Duty: Warzone’s Gulag is currently a 1v1 opportunity for eliminated players to get back into the action in aWarzonematch, as they’re matched up against another eliminated player on a small map called the Gulag, and whoever emerges victorious is back in the action in the main match. Eliminated gamers will now be paired with another player or an AI partner to take on another team of two eliminated players for the right to return to the match, and the good intentions of encouraging cooperation and teamwork might get overshadowed by potential pain points some players might have.
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2v2 Gulag Changes the Game in Warzone 2.0
In the current 1v1 system the Gulag has, a player’s ability to get back into a match is determined by their skill alone, along with their knowledge of the map and ability to anticipate the movements and strategies of their opponent. Now, in a 2v2 scenario, players will be somewhat at the mercy of their randomly selected partner, which might be someone far less skilled at the game and could cost them an opportunity to get back in the match. The result may be a competition that’s even less fair than theone-sided Nuketown Gulag map inWarzone1.0, which gave one side a significant advantage every time.
Possibly even worse than getting a bad partner is the possibility of getting an AI partner for a Gulag encounter versus a duo of human players who have some skill, along with knowledge of the map and which weapons to use. No matter how good AI enemies or partners get, they never seem to have theanticipation or strategy of a human player, even if that strategy is running in Rambo-style in an effort to get eliminated as fast as possible or just hiding in a bushFortnite-style until a player is down to the final two. Unless AI partners are better than almost any AI video game combatants ever, it will create an unequal playing field in matches against two human players, but almost certainly result in some epic and humorous streams and clips on social media.
The potential of 2v2 Gulag play to be unfair follows in a tradition ofCall of Duty: Warzoneincidents where players have indicated that an element of the game was giving certain gamers an unfair advantage. In 2020, those wearing theTaiga skin for Kruegerdid not leave a trail of red smoke while they parachuted to the ground, making them undetected and giving them a huge advantage in the match. Other players dropped into Verdansk already sporting three plates of armor and $800 to spend. Glitches can be annoying for players, but at least they are accidental and can be patched, while the possibly unfair situations inCall of Duty: Warzone 2.0are being created intentionally by the developer.
A 2v2 Gulag model may seem unfair at times to some Call of Duty:Warzone 2.0players, but at least players still have the same weapons and opportunity at the start of an encounter, just maybe with differing skill on the teams. It might turn out to be frustrating to some, but it will certainly not be as frustrating assome pay-to-win controversieshave been, both inWarzoneand in other games. Time will tell how unbalanced and unfair a 2v2 Gulag will be.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2launches on November 16 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
