Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies Forsaken ending explained

We have finally reached the end of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's Zombies mode. As in the past, the story was complicated and left us with a lot of questions. While we don't specifically know the future of Dark Aether's story other than that a prequel will be covered in Call of Duty: Vanguard, we can start by looking at what happened with the Forsaken ending.

Before we begin, the ramifications of this ending could go a number of ways, and who knows how Treyarch will handle it in the future. We can make some assumptions, but time will tell how correct we are. Also, it should go without saying, but spoilers anticipate.

Is this the end for Samantha Maxis?

Black Ops Cold War Zombies introduced a new reality for Samantha Maxis after she and Eddie joined it since the end of Tag Der Untoten in Black Ops IV. After she grew up and became a spy, this game focused on reintroducing her powers that we have seen many times in the past. One of the biggest changes with Samantha since her beginnings is that this version of her has a purified soul after Monty took her away in Black Ops IV. With that in mind, that's why she chose to sacrifice herself by diving into the portal protruding from the Forsaken and transporting herself back into the dark ether.

she's fine? Likely. Who knows if Treyarch would ever abandon their stellar son. Samantha is a warrior, and with her powers of hers, we expect her to survive the dark ether, even with five years passing in the human dimension. We expect her Samantha to appear in the next Call of Duty game developed by Treyarch or if she will be releasing a standalone Zombies game. Don't expect to see her in Vanguard as that story takes place in the 40s and she hadn't moved into this new universe until the 60s.

What's Eddie up to?

One of the biggest "surprises" of the Forsaken ending is that the director of Requiem is Eddie Richtofen. The same Eddie who traveled realities with Samantha in Black Ops IV, not any other version of Edward Richtofen we played like in previous Treyarch games. What we don't know is what he's doing right now.

Our biggest clues are his notes to an unspecified group attempting to accomplish something called Project Janus, of which we have no information. We knew he saw Samantha as a threat, but now that she has contained the Forsaken, what's next? Every version of Richtofen we've ever seen has a great plan. What could this be?

Like Samantha, this version of Richtofen is purified, but there is a possibility that he has come into contact with the dark ether, which could bring out his more evil side. Samantha had some of the same experiences while in the dark ether during Firebase Z. That said, our brief glance at Eddie showed a man who had no scars on his face (aside from above his eyebrow) and may not have seen any action. of battle personally.

If you look at the photos on his desk, you can see a picture of him with a wife and child, which is unlike anything we've seen in the past in Richtofens, and also what looks like he comes out of a cockpit. There are also light Easter eggs in this scene, including a snow globe that contains Monty's house and that globe appears to be positioned directly where Peck points in the scene of him.

While we can easily dismiss Eddie as evil for betraying the rest of Requiem, he may act completely differently than we're used to. Until we see him in action and find out more about him, we can't be sure.

Why did Eddie have Requiem arrested?

The fact that Eddie wanted to remove the entire Requiem team boils down to the fact that they knew too much. Each member of the team not only had in-depth studies of the dark ether and its power source, but they all saw firsthand all the blast zones and, ultimately, what was trapped inside that mechanical Pokéball. He could hold them captive to continue the Forsaken research or he knew they would work against his plans of him with Janus or any other group he is working with. We doubt any of them are dead yet, but that could change if we could believe the vision we had from the Forsaken.

What is Blacksite 13?

While Richtofen had Carver, Gray, Strauss and Weaver arrested, he sent the strike team we played during the game to a location called Blacksite 13. The fact that he specifies this and not where the others are sent tells us that this is a different position. The only clue is that they are being held for "indefinite containment". What does this mean for the attack team? We imagine that the next time we move forward with this story, we will play again as story-linked characters, instead of character wrappers to show any operator skin you have equipped.

On the contrary, you might also see it because our Operator skins are just in another prison near Japan where Peck might go, but we think he will go to visit Weaver and the others instead is more interesting.

What is Peck doing?

After Requiem is locked up and the director is revealed to be Eddie, we take a time jump to five years later in Japan, where it is revealed that Peck survived the gas blast with Kravchenko and is now looking for "old friends". If we could take seriously the vision of the Forsaken during his boss battle, we'd say that Peck will find Carver, Strauss, Gray and Weaver in whatever prison they are held, but they will eventually die.

Why are you looking for these people? We honestly couldn't tell. Peck may have found out about Eddie's plan and may be working to get them out. However, wherever they are kept it could be the same place Eddie keeps the Forsaken trapped in that mechanical sphere when Samantha sacrificed herself. Peck is not the hero type, so he could use whoever he is trying to find to return to the Forsaken and perhaps conduct his own studies on him. The Forsaken is still alive and could be released at any moment from Peck's meddling which could lead to the death of these "old friends", as we saw in the vision, which took a quick look at an area of ​​the prison.

Who was on the wall in the vision?

While you may have been busy looking at the dead Requiem members on the floor in the Forsaken vision, there was a very intentional marking of a person on the wall. They look like females with green eyes and red hair. The writing on the wall that says “No one escapes alive” gives us strong Alcatraz vibes from Mob of the Dead, which could be a link to that dimension of purgatory, but focusing on the woman, we've never seen it before. Her bright eyes of hers indicate that she has some kind of power, but she's not purple like Samantha's. In short, this may be the next big villain, but we have no idea who he is at the time of writing.

How did Peck survive?

Upon discovering that Zykov is actually the Forsaken, we constantly hear Peck and Kravchenko going back and forth as they attempt to survive the horde of zombies that attack them. Until just before the boss fight, Kravchenko yells at Peck for accidentally shooting a gas pipe, and an explosion cuts them off. This explains the burns on Peck's face. That said, Peck may have been fooled by the Forsaken like everyone else, but he's still a genius who we believe can tell what a gas line is. We predict he took a calculated risk by shooting the gas line to kill Kravchenko (who may even be potentially alive, we've never seen his body).

If both he and Kravchenko had survived that zombie onslaught, Peck knew that Kravchenko would have killed him for sure. He saw an opportunity and blew up the room, escaping with a burned left side of his face to accompany the missing right eye.