Look, I only bought Call of Duty: Ghosts back in the day because dog. Dogs in games are great and hilarious, and in Call of Duty I love seeing a dog wearing camo, maybe some goggles, tearin’ shit up, destroying things, barking freely, and just living their best mass-murdering lives. Now dogs are coming back to CoD and oh. my. god. They wear sleeves!
Call of Duty just launched its fifth season today, August 2, and with it the usual live-service trappings including a new battle pass, and new cosmetics in the shop. “Tactical pets” are also fresh to the game, and the first one is a German Shepherd named Merlin who’s included in the new BlackCell battle pass. For now, Merlin is exclusive to “Arthur” (no, not the aardvark), a new Operator who, um, wears Merlin on his hip? You know, this is hard to explain, so just check out the 30-second trailer.
As you can see, Merlin has his own finishing move where you can let him maul someone to death for being such a patient good boy. Activision stated on its announcement blog today that Merlin and other tactical pets cannot be harmed, so no need to worry about our new best friend when the bullets start flying. Merlin is usable in Modern Warfare II’s multiplayer, Warzone’s battle royale, and DMZ.
Battle Buddies are another new addition to Call of Duty. The Activision blog describes them as virtual assistants who double as announcers. “Gwen” is the first, arriving as a talking gun display which is…interesting. She’ll announce Killstreak unlocks, kills, and other in-game events.
Other additions to CoD this season include a Graves Operator skin (Modern Warfare II’s antagonist), as well as a handful of other new Operators including Oz, Mila, and Velikan. And don’t forget Snoop Dog.
Call of Duty season five is now available and is expected to run until sometime in September, 2023.