Jack O’Hara, Game Director at Infinity Ward, says that the implementation of swimming in the previous games wasn’t the best they could have done. They had a meeting on how it could be improved, which we expect to see later this year. Swimming in a multiplayer match was first introduced in Black Ops 3. The same was seen in Black Ops 4 and Cold War, but to a more limited extent. Jack O’Hara says that, this time, water combat would be in a meaningful way. Water utilization will affect not only the campaign and multiplayer but also Warzone 2 after the integration.
This isn’t the first time that we will see a swimming feature in a Call of Duty battle royale. We’ve already experienced the swimming mechanic in Black Ops 4’s battle royale mode - Blackout. One of the recent leaks showed the entire map structure of the upcoming Warzone 2 map, and the bottom half of the map is comprised of water. There is no doubt that water mechanics will play a huge role in combat.
Speaking of combat, according to O’Hara, only pistols, throwing knives, and melee can be used underwater. ADS and switching to the primary weapon will be disabled when underwater. Something interesting to note is that the wave distortions are server-sided and can play a significant role in some clever plays. O’Hara said that equipment such as land mines will float on water with the waves and can be used to destroy sea vehicles such as boats.
They’ve added clean and musky water, rivers with actual currents, shipwrecks, and even sea rapids to make the world ultra-realistic. Everything in the water will be reflected above the surface to ensure good visual fidelity despite having water in the game. As mentioned above, the wave distortions will be server-sided, but other actions such as refraction, swimming, light, and collisions will be all client-side. It seems the water mechanics will be the best we’ve seen in a Call of Duty game so far. We will find out more on October 28, 2022, once the game is out for everyone to play.
