- Modern Warfare 4 promises to be one of the most anchored Call of Duty experiences in years
- It features realistic characters and playable “Mil-Sim” operators
- Lead Game Designer Says: ‘There’s a Lot of Depth with the Concrete Elements’
One of the first things I noticed when switching to multiplayer Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is its grittier tone and overall artistic direction. It’s night and day compared to the more bombastic and stylized direction of Black Ops 7populated with playable characters that look much more like modern soldiers.
A handful of beloved “Mil-Sim” (short for military simulation) operators from the past Modern warfare games are also returning, giving more realism-focused players the chance to play as anonymous soldiers like the SAS or Korean Army rather than the roster of distinct named heroes.
“We want these characters to feel grounded in our world and match the tone and mood of our world,” says multiplayer creative director Joe Cecot as we chat in one of the many meeting rooms at developer Infinity Ward’s Los Angeles office.
Even central characters like Ghost have brand new designs that embody a slightly more down-to-earth aesthetic.
“Joel Emsley, who is the creative director of our studio, is the person behind Price and Ghost and all these different iconic characters,” he continues.
“Every game he levels up and asks himself ‘how can I improve?’ We have these kind of “Mil-Sim” characters, and then we have Ghost, who looks like both “Mil-Sims”, but now he has the new mask that he modified from pieces of objects that he found. He’s this badass character who fits into our world but seems brand new.”
“I feel like with the nitty-gritty, there’s a lot of depth, and we want to continue to explore that,” adds the game’s lead designer, Jackie Reynolds, perhaps alluding to the studio’s approach to post-launch skins.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is expected to launch on October 23, 2026. This will be the first Call of Duty game to ignore previous generations of consoles, launched exclusively on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S and Nintendo Switch 2.
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