The PlayStation Blog spoke with senior director Jon Horsley from Sledgehammer Games about the Zombie Mode in the forthcoming Call of Duty: WWII. There are a few interesting tidbits scattered in the interview, but it also sounds like there isn't anything particularly new here compared to the Zombie Modes of the previous Call of Duty entries.
The one aspect of this particular Zombie Mode that may have some promise is the studio's background (the two founders previously worked at Visceral Games on the first Dead Space title) in horror games. Jon mentions that "our goal was to make this the most terrifying Zombies experience we’ve ever created." There wasn't a whole lot of elaboration on that, but I suppose that will be one of those things players will have to see and judge for themselves once the title is out at the beginning of November.
Aside from that, a few other details that emerged from the interview:
Special Zombie Types - Not every shambling corpse you'll encounter will be just another zed head. Per Jon: "these zombies retain some of the discipline and purpose of the soldiers they once were. Each zombie type fills a specialised role as well: there are flaming zombies and running zombies, for example, and they will give you serious problems if you get cornered." Environmental Kills - There are all manner of horrible instruments of death lying about the place, such as saw blades, and you'll be able to use those to your advantage in order to slay the zombies Secrets and Rewards in Every Level - It sounds like similar to how the Zombie Mode in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare featured a rather elaborate puzzle to solve in order to allow you to unlock some special upgrades, the Zombie Mode in Call of Duty: WWII will also feature some of those things. Per Jon: "Players can upgrade their weapons in a variety of ways, one of which is via the special machine hidden in the level. There are other ways, too, but it’s too early to get into all that fun stuff…." There Will Be Permanent and Temporary Perks - Some of these will only be available in the current match, others will persist throughout.There isn't any big reworking of the four player horde mode here, but it also probably isn't needed. The Zombie Mode formula has, more or less, been worked out for this franchise, and every further iteration upon it is just some slight tweaking of that formula. Hopefully the horror elements will be well executed to make THIS mode feel different from the previous ones.