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So this was dropped on the Gaming Leaks and Rumors Subreddit and this is an absolute massive dump of information. Like not vague mentions of stuff that would have been in the campaign but detailed lists of exact mechanics with even WIP screenshots. There will be no way to show it all on here, so click the thread if you want to see it all:
The Mode
Black Ops 4's original campaign was called Career. It was scoped to be a 2v2 "race to the finish" mode as covered by Jason Schreier with his 2019 article covering the developer abuse within Treyarch. The mode was scrapped in early 2018 due to technical issues & the overall gameplay loop being described as too repetitive on top of the title being set to release a month earlier for October 2018. Outside of that, there's very little knowledge in the public for how this mode would've played.
The goal being,
Example of branching objective and mission paths from Black Market Convoy.
- The goal was to take the format of the campaign and evolve it into a co-operative live service that linked back into the Multiplayer & its Specialists - creating a singular narrative universe that could also engage players who wouldn't usually play with the campaign.
- Whilst creating a unique 2v2 experience was the focus, you could also play Career by yourself and have AI fill in the gaps.
- Your actions doing the game would have genuine consequences, with the mission having dynamic changes depending on which faction succeeds or fails.
- In some cases, the next mission and the story would be completely different depending on who won or lost.
The Fundamentals
Example from the missions "Data Control" and "Data Escape"
- Mission Design
- Each mission was designed to be 15-20 minutes long, with some of them including a timer.
- There would only be only around 6 story locations: However, each location would be 2x bigger than campaign missions from Black Ops III - with every Career mission being a "sector" of the larger map.
Cybernetic Systems image from early documentation
- Combat
- As is standard for a campaign, you would have AI to fight against
- Sometimes being from the other faction, or third parties depending on the mission.
- There would be parts where both sides could get into shootouts (PvP Section of a mission), hindering the other factions' progress.
- If you were killed, you'd go into a downed state to be revived - and if you bled out, you would respawn at a base nearby to the action.
- Several missions included vehicles such as the VTOL and ATV. Most of the vehicles within Career would later be reused for Blackout.
- All players also had three selectable abilities on their D-Pad,
- All on a cooldown - similar to the Cyber Cores from Black Ops III.
- There were also many side objectives alongside the main mission goal, like calling in enemy reinforcements, or creating false distress calls to lure away enemy NPCs.
- Companions
- Each player could select a Companion, all of whom were Multiplayer specialists. These Companions would be locked behind certain factions, and would have their own special abilities and narrative arcs.
- From a gameplay standpoint, your Companion would fight alongside you. They could also be commanded by pressing down on the D-Pad. Some missions even had side objectives and areas that only certain Companions could access.
- As the story continued, you would build a relationship with your Companion that changed dynamically depending on your faction's progress.
- There were also plans for side missions that were focused on your individual Companion.
FPA team, changing your selected Specialist in an early 2017 build. -
The Side Content
Alongside the core Career experience were plans for several other modes that reinforced the live service model. These included Skirmish - an always-online Multiplayer element of Career where you could play stripped down missions in a variety of playlists, a custom game modes creator, and the return of Nightmares from Black Ops III.
Skirmish
In Skirmish, the core gameplay elements of the Career mode are retained, but there is no branching story, mission consequences, or cutscenes. While Career was a story focused experience with a large emphasis on long-term decisions, Skirmish allowed you to play Career missions in individual public playlists - similar to traditional Multiplayer. The idea being that people who have already completed the Career Mode would be able to jump back into the experience without worrying about their faction choice and other decisions connected to their save file.
- Newsroom cutscenes would also be replaced by Help screens to assist players who may not have experienced the mission previously and level progression was enabled. It was basically a "best moments" Multiplayer moshpit that was intended to receive post-launch support, feeding back into the idea of a live service campaign.
- There would be several distinct playlists to engage with while playing Skirmish. Playlists such as Free Agent would include every type of mission, while Warzones would include larger conflicts with NPCs and vehicle spawns bumped up to the maximum. In contrast, the Wet Work playlist focused around stealthy missions.
DLC Seasons
Additionally, there were plans for different "seasons" of Career and story DLC post-launch. It was originally planned for each season of Career to include 3 or so new missions - which would be the first time a mainline Call of Duty campaign received new story content after its launch.
Like- I said there is literally so much here, so I just picked some parts.. Honestly kind of sad this didn't happen- it sounded pretty interesting, even if they did scrap it for being way too repetitive.
