Call Of Duty: Warzone fans can finally return to Verdansk after five years

Three Call of Duty soldiers inside the back of a plane looking down to look at the map of Verdansk — It’s like it never left (Activision)

If you’ve dropped off playing Call Of Duty, you may be tempted to jump back in, following the return of Verdansk and the most nostalgia driven update yet.

Back in 2021, Activision opted to replace Call Of Duty: Warzone’s map – the fictional city of Verdansk – with an entirely new one, to coincide with the launch of Call Of Duty: Vanguard.

Fans did not care for it and after only four months, Activision admitted it intended to bring the Verdansk map back in some shape or form. However, it was unclear if it would be part of the new Warzone sequel or be exclusive to the original game.

In that time, Warzone 2 has completely replaced its predecessor (even being rebranded as just Call Of Duty: Warzone) and, in the wake of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6’s third season, Verdansk has officially made its long-awaited comeback.

By the time you’re reading this, the season three update for Call Of Duty will have already gone live, at 5pm BST, meaning you can jump right in and re-experience the original map after five years of waiting.

According to a blog post on the Call Of Duty website, this is a full recreation of Verdansk built from the ground up. However, Activision promises that it’s the exact same map long-time players remember from Warzone’s early days.

About 5% of the map has been slightly tweaked, with Activision incorporating quality of life improvements to certain parts of the landscape. Plus, while it’s mostly identical to how Verdansk was in 2020, some elements from later iterations have been included as well.

The blog post includes a thorough breakdown on the most minute changes, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, right down to how the trees are in different positions.

Activision is also encouraging players to scour for hidden secrets and is teasing that the map will see further updates and adjustments as the season progresses. Hopefully, Verdansk won’t get nuked a second time and vanish from Call Of Duty for another five years.

Call Of Duty: Warzone hasn’t been the only live service game to fall back on nostalgia lately. This is no doubt thanks to Fortnite, which saw a massive boost in popularity when it introduced the Fortnite OG season and brought content from older seasons back to the game.

Aside from encouraging Epic Games to make Fortnite OG a permanent inclusion, other live service games have since followed suit. Apex Legends, for example, added a Launch Royale mode in November, that aimed to recreate how the game was when it first arrived in 2019.

Overwatch 2 attempted the exact same thing with Overwatch Classic. Considering the original Overwatch had been shut down in favour of its more maligned sequel, this mode was welcomed with open arms.

It will be interesting to see if Call Of Duty’s appeal to nostalgia will boost its player numbers in any meaningful way, especially when there are rumblings that it could eventually be shut down.