SDCC 2017: Call of Duty: WWII’s zombie mode gets trailer and details

Call of Duty has a very long history with a mode that was initially just a hidden level that you got after beating the campaign in Call of Duty: World at War. Of course, we're referring to the iconic zombies mode that has become a series trademark at this point. It used to be exclusively in Treyarch games, then Infinity Ward began adding horde modes via regular campaign enemies and eventually a mode where you'd kill aliens. Sledgehammer Games didn't even bother dancing around it and went straight for zombies as a hidden addition in their first solo outing for Call of Duty with Advanced Warfare. Last year, Infinity Ward ditched aliens and dipped their toes into the zombies mode and it proved to be quite successful for them.

Not only is it fun to try and survive as many waves of the undead as possible with three of your buddies at your side but there's usually some really complex easter egg that tells an overarching story. The internet gathers together each time a new zombies map is released and tries to piece together the puzzle of each easter egg until it all finally comes together resulting in an achievement and conclusion to that map's specific story. There's a LOT to it and it makes tons of money, it's one of the things that keeps people coming back to Call of Duty, some people only play the survival mode and don't touch the regular multiplayer or campaign.

Now that you're caught up to speed, Sledgehammer Games has officially released a trailer (which was leaked earlier this week) for their brand new zombies mode which is simply titled Nazi Zombies. The story centers around the Monument Men who risked their lives to save various works of art in real life. Sledgehammer promises that the story of the mode will be focused on the characters and their journey. Nazi Zombies will also feature the hardest easter egg yet which will likely involve rescuing some sort of art.

A number of actors including Doctor Whos' David Tennant will be joining the cast. Tennant will play Drostan Hynd, Elodie Yung will play Olivia Durant, Katheryn Winnick will play Marie Fischer, Udo Kier will play Doktor Peter Straub, and Ving Rhames will play Jefferson Potts. You can view Sledgehammer's full official description of te mode below.

"Sledgehammer Games delivers an original and terrifying new co-op survival experience in Call of Duty®: WWII Nazi Zombies. Players will embark on a chilling and mysterious journey through a snowy Bavarian village in Mittelburg, Germany, as they attempt to recover priceless works of art stolen by the Axis powers in World War II. This village holds a shadowy secret key to an unimaginable and monstrous power. Nothing is as it seems in this zombies horror, as a dark and sinister plot unfolds to unleash an invincible Nazi army of the dead."

Sledgehammer's take brings the classic zombies mode back to its roots by adding Nazi zombies into a CoD game for the first time in a while (outside of the Zombies Chronicles DLC for Black Ops 3). While it appears that there will be your standard, cannon fodder zombies, there will also be enhanced zombies who are much deadlier.

While the zombies modes have always had a somewhat unsettling nature to them, their campiness and humorous cast took away a lot of the fear of the undead. Sledgehammer's newest entry looks to play into the horror aspect and the team will use their Dead Space background to craft a scarier story which will set it apart from other Call of Duty zombies modes.

More details to follow.

Call of Duty: WWII will release on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 3rd, 2017.