Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 releases on October 25, which introduces Treyarch’s new omnidirectional movement mechanics. This updated movement is one of the main topics in the first episode of Call of Duty’s official podcast, including discussion of the skill gap and movement settings for Black Ops 6.
As previously announced, Treyarch has overhauled how players can move in Black Ops 6, with omnidirectional movement that allows players to sprint, dive, and slide in any direction. Players can also dive and spin around in a full 360 degrees, and the movement system will be active across the entire game, including campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies.
Call of Duty’s podcast includes an interview with Treyarch’s associate design director, Matt Scronce, who goes more in-depth about this new movement system. The developer explains that Black Ops 6’s movement gives people the opportunity to live out the action hero fantasy, but says that players can still play and “hold their own” against opponents utilizing omnidirectional movement if they choose not to use the advanced movement features and prefer standard Call of Duty movement.
“We’ve been very conscious of making sure that we’re not widening the skill gap too much,” Scronce says. “If you just want to slow down, [the movement] you can and still be successful, you just may not look as cool. And that’s fine.”
Players won’t be forced to partake in the action-style diving and sliding, but they won’t be able to toggle off the new movement feature either. “Omnimovement is a core foundational feature that cannot be disabled by a player,” Scronce confirms.
In addition to omnidirectional movement, Black Ops 6 also features Treyarch’s new “intelligent movement” system, which aims to reduce how many buttons or keys players need to press to perform movements.
Scrone says that the intelligent movement feature is optional, so players will be able to toggle this feature on and off as they choose. The developer reveals this feature will be off by default, but players can toggle it on to have access to three settings with tunable options for each, with the goal to reduce key presses for actions like sprinting and mantling cover.
Activision also used this podcast to reveal the beta dates for Black Ops 6, and with such drastic looking changes to Call of Duty’s movement, this will be a good opportunity for players to test out the new movement mechanics before launch. Here’s everything you need to know to access the beta.
Additional Black Ops 6 details will be provided during Activision’s Call of Duty: Next event on August 28.
