If you’ve played the Call of Duty games in recent years–arguably any of them past the first handful–then you know the games tend to star heroes with near-superhuman reflexes, athletic abilities, and rapid decision-making. For Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Infinity Ward is taking a step back, partially, from these larger-than-life heroes and putting you back in the boots of a regular “grunt” soldier.
The decision to move back to regular soldiers–which should be familiar to Call of Duty 2 players, for example–came about as Infinity Ward developed the setup for Modern Warfare 4’s story. Set during a renewed war between North and South Korea, it’s a conflict with global ramifications, and the mandatory military service ingrained in South Korean society played a big role. You’ll spend part of the game as the Korean soldier Private Park, who is facing combat for the first time.
“South Korea has a particularity that every single person there has to serve in the military when they’re young, and so for us, that’s an interesting perspective,” Infinity Ward co-studio head Jack O’Hara told GameSpot during a pre-reveal game presentation. It’s something we haven’t seen in a long time, with the seemingly immortal Captain Price dominating much of the Modern Warfare games and Treyarch’s Black Ops games starring the similarly impressive Mason family.
“It’s fascinating for us to go back to that perspective of young guys, 18 to 25,” O’Hara added. “They have no idea what’s going on, they’re receiving an incomplete picture from their orders, and they’re just trying to survive to the next moment.”
That doesn’t mean you won’t see any of your favorite Modern Warfare characters, however–just that there will be more of a balance between their otherworldly feats and the regular soldiers’ experiences. Captain Price and the rest of Task Force 141 will still be in the game, and the plotlines between the two will connect.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 could be a major turning point for Infinity Ward following the poor reception to Modern Warfare 3, and an opportunity for the story to get back on track. With the story seemingly breaking new ground we didn’t touch in the old-school Modern Warfare games, it remains to be seen if this can inject some new life into the series at a key moment.
Come launch day on October 23, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be available on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Switch 2, and PC.