The Downfall of Storytelling in Call of Duty Zombies 

Holding a community's hand through a simple 'Good Vs. Evil' story. A community that literally deciphers morse codes from random flashing lights and a hidden piece of paper in less than a day

Milo’s been going crazy this last few weeks and I’m so here for it

As a zombies veteran I laughed out loud at how good some of your points were. You should be lead story developer lmao

You nailed it 🎯 Part of the zombies charm was for the community to talk about theories and figure out what’s going on… it’s the mystery that’s lacking now. The main quest Easter egg was the second thing that brought the community together… again involving mystery and figuring it out together.

Just the downfall in general…

Thanks for saving my family from that fire the other day milo, real life saver you are. I'll never forget it.

Milo has been killing it with his videos lately. He is single-handedly keeping the zombies community alive. This man deserves to be the official zombies community manager.

I would love to see a new zombies storyline in the future but the aether story will always be the best!

It would’ve been cool if Cold War continued the theme of featuring an old zombie map as part of a much bigger map. Like how Die Machine had Nacht, it would be cool if Mauer had Kino and so on giving us a completely expanded experience and fresh perspective on maps we’ve known for so long

for me, it went downhill when the apothicons were brought in. All the conspiracy stuff and real world events like the great leap forward made it juicy. It was a great time :)

I miss the cryptic stuff of the old story. The cyphers, the obscure EEs, the radios scattered around the map that posed new questions, etc. It feels like the new story is just babying us

What bothers me the most, is the fact that we probably wouldn't have this discussion if Treyarch (and i guess Activision) kept their promisse and continued/finished the Chaos Storyline. They said "fuck it" and revived the Aether Storyline for no reason. Which in my perspective completely disrespects both storylines.

I can tell Milo has started leaning more to doing videos he enjoys making rather than just focusing on what he thinks we want to see, which I hope he taps into even more Milo isn't crazy, (probably) just a fellow human being like some of us here

This is so sentimental man. So much time spent watching zombies theories, even tried my hand at some. This is a true walk down memory lane, I feel like I’m at my mommas house again, even though I’m in my apartment and she’s been gone for one year now. Thank you Milo for continuing to do what you do.

This might get a bit abstract but bear with me. Essay incoming… Environmental storytelling was utilized a great amount in the earlier zombies. I think it's interesting how a shocking amount of writers or directors think you need to tell people everything. I think personally the reason there's so much telling instead of showing nowadays is linked to propaganda and how these things are made (they are also not viewed as art pieces but products) but also lack of faith in the audiences intelligence or just plain conceitedness in their own intelligence. Part of the fun of being a reader, player, or audience is putting pieces together. Not to mention it feels more organic that way instead of having exposition dumps, even if exposition can be a valid tool if used properly. Zombies alludes to many things and actually rewards exploration and player curiosity. Basically the mode rewards you for using your brain which is an amazing irony in a mode about zombies. The storyline was also great and tackled many heavy themes, and even if it seemed like some schizo stuff, it amazingly had historical backing. I don't know about you, but the stuff I learned about the nazi regime from researching stuff due to zombies was way more interesting then anything I learned back in high school. Like the Vril-ya, Die Glocke, the Black Sun, Argartha, Wonder Weapons, the search for ancient artifacts. It seems like some wacko conspiracy stuff but a lot of it is real. And I believe it ties into what zombies really got right. It married myth and history. It leaned more into myth and fantasy later on, mostly departing from the horror mad scientist vibe, in turn becoming less grounded, which some people didn't like but I'd argue with the help of the occult references it was always there as an undertow. The existential horror was residually still there but instead it tackled existential themes with various references to mythology. I think it also reveals the genius of zombies in a way. Inevitably in its depth and existential stakes you find mythological and religious themes in its narrative. The zombie itself can be seen as a metaphor for a nihilistic person. I think it's why the idea of zombies has made a resurgence in recent years. But the symbolism in zombies inevitably emerges. And I think it may even make the claim that mythology applies to general history. Which is why I think zombies transcends simple militaristic narratives in most Call Of Duty's. But a basic gestalt is there is an underlying hidden order in the chaos… Which I think people loved to explore and is true for many aspects of life. And maybe it even revealed a profound meaning that emerged from the chaos of the narrative. Another problem with modern zombies is a feel like the characters are not memorable. But let's be honest, will the old characters ever be topped? Probably not. But old Treyarch did a fantastic job of making us interested or invested in characters in one off maps. I'd say Mob Of The Dead comes to mind (Victus is a mixed bag). Also an underrated point is difficulty. People weren't great back then since we were all new players, but the round counter was a measurement of skill and the natural inclination of many players to get better was there, whether to get to a higher round for egoic boasting or just the satisfaction of growing in skill. Not to mention, the small RNG aspects of the mode that give it replayability, and the satisfying growth in strength as a player alongside the increasing demand of the strength and ferocity of the zombies. All of it was a recipe for a masterpiece. I feel like with this new mode it doesn't do any of that. If you enjoy it and have fun with it, more power to you. But to me, its just more generic, bland, and boring. Admittedly, I haven't played anything past BO4. But instead of moving on in a different direction they cling to the past to cash in on nostalgia and their old golden egg. Do the mystery box or wall Weapons make sense thematically anymore? Is that really all the veteran players mean to them? They want to catch lightning in a bottle again, and I would honestly go so far as to say without understanding what made zombies so great. They're kicking a soulless dead corpse that won't reanimate… A song comes to mind. You know the line lmfao.

It’s so damn awesome just hearing Milo’s passion for Zombies. Feels like the BO3-4 days

another example is in the GK trailer we saw the mark 3 and everyone had a “what is that” reaction while they straight up told us everything about the new wonder weapon

You put it into the best words possible, the zombies community is so lucky to have big voices like yourself to speak up for it and actually be talking the most sense. Keep up the great uploads Milo 🔥

The whole Zakhaev vs. Richtofen comparison had me thinking about one of my favorite cutscenes in Zombies: the mind-bending end to the Shadows of Evil easter egg. You just finished exploring this new map in this new time and place with all these new enemies, and out of nowhere this familiar face jumps out of a portal and is like "Hey, I need this important relic. I literally don't have time to explain. I need to fix the universe. Thanks!" Like that was mind-blowing to me. I miss those days when a few seconds of showing a particular character or object could generate hundreds of questions. That's why I'm not interested in new Zombies content. I don't need my hand held going through a REVEAL TRAILER of all things.

Man these videos are such a breath of fresh air as a zombies player. It feels like I'm chilling with an old friend playing old games. ❤

love seeing milo making a lot of zombies content again and it doesnt feel forced

This is the only element of Zombies that made me infatuated. I'm a filmmaker and have seen a lot of stuff, nothing in media has ever resonated or fascinated me like the decade of Zombie story-building. The ever evolving premise, characters and world hasn't been reached by any other format of media imo. This is why one day I believe it has a chance to be one of the most successful TV shows of all time, but even a long running series would comparatively be a movie to the book that Zombies is.

RIGHT! milo hit the nail on the head. this is exactly why the new mode is unapealing to me. its not just the gameplay. the marketing tells me theres nothing for me to do in the game. This also reminds me of the reocccuring concept that is being brought up online of the internet managed to reinvent the cable model. But in this instance i feel like its similar because now every game wants a disclaimer on everything, a sanitization of everything, and frankly also a subscription for everything.

milo i just wanted to say this is one of my favorite videos this year or maybe even past few, and i would love to see more stuff like this. your the reason i love zombies in the first place and why im so passionate about it. i hope the new zombies is good for the communitys sake, but i will always watch anything you put out. my man keep up the fantastic work.

The piece at the end about the storytelling went crazy and really is a microcosm of the entire storytelling strategy at large since cold war began.

Milo man, i gotta say how nice it is to see your videos popping up so much recently, I grew up with your channel and i'm really digging your new video style, feels like my own personally tailored podcast.

Very well said! The way that info is given instead of left as a mystery takes away from the player's experience in the end

This is the first CoD im not buying but i will be here for every single video you make Milo. I love listening to you to talk to us hardcore fans like adults

Milo is speaking on the behalf of a lot of us tbh

i remember when ascension came out looking at the forms (i think it was like game faq or something) while currently everyone was trying to figure out what to do for the easter egg, and everyone was stuck on the part with the gersh device - that was top tier zombies

I felt this, homie just brought me back to the good old days when I didn’t know a thing about zombies but still trying to understand the story as to why they exist. It was a fun mystery and experience.

A classic call of duty commentary, god it feels so fresh to have these back Milo

That's great you came back to make a few videos every week. Have a nice day, Milo!

I think one of the main reasons why zombies became so good was that Treyarch actually listened to the community, not to mention the whole mode was a giant mystery until you completed the campaign. You can watch KrazyRabbits 40 minute video on random facts about the mode and theres clips of the zombie devs talking about the mode. The communitys speculation about the story is also what helped the mode become better seeing how someone thought the zombies would swipe you and say Sam which helped create most of the storyline along with some other random theories in the community.

Please keep these videos coming Milo. They’re so well done and what you present is so important for the future of the mode.

Cool to see you play the old zombies maps again, would love to see more!

Fantastic idea for a video! The early zombie maps reminded me of Outer Wilds in a way. You repeatedly go through the same environments, and try to connect dots from different areas, whilst constantly fighting a force that always wins in the end. Environmental storytelling at its best!

just wanna say i love the type of content you have been putting out lately.

It’s always a treat to see a long commentary Milo vid. Love the content you’ve been putting out lately!

Milo was so real for the "dumbing it down for the noobs" to where it's painful like I get introducing new players to the story, but leaving leaving it open ended is a must- I swear they forget that the hardcore fans have been solving symbol cyphers over nearly a decade too lmao

I remember reading Reddit post after Reddit post about the mountains on Shangri la. Those were the days.

This is incredibly put together and you explained and articulated every point so well (just like they’re doing for zombies lore 🙃). Totally agree. It’s sad to say, but we will never reach the peak that was bo3 zombies again. I don’t think we’ll even come close. It may sound harsh, but we’ve lost all creativity in the mode with the likes of blundell, Ross etc. all leaving their respective studios, and the modes feel like (and mostly are) a total cash grab now that relies on fan nostalgia to rake in pity bundles. I remember taking a ‘sick’ day off school to dedicate it to solving the GK Easter egg and figuring out all the lore. Watching along to countless livestreams from you, pizza, lex, Noah, pretty much everyone lmao, and getting so hyped when we thought we found something. Nowadays, everything is spelled out and it panders to casual players and non zombie players by making itself too simple. That was the last time I was THAT invested in zombies, coming up to a decade ago. They followed the same pattern with zombies through WaW - Black ops 3 and it got increasingly better, to the point where ZC became (if not, one of) the best selling dlc of all time. They changed the formula for BO4, and things started to go downhill. They changed more and more, until now when it’s a completely different game mode to what it used to be, numbers are at an all time low for zombies, and the vast majority of people are upset. They didn’t listen to the community, and tried to one up themselves by ignoring out wants and focusing on making unnecessary changes we didn’t ask for in a hope to “freshen” a mode that didn’t really need that much freshening. I could go on for triple this long, but I don’t have the time or patience. Good video Milo, these conversations that involve the lesser talked about things such as the way things are told, and the ignorance to the community need to be talked about if we have any hope of getting zombies even remotely close to what it should be. 👍

keep posting Milo! love these past videos from you

Idk what it is I normally didn’t watch Milo except for his no nonsense guides but lately I’ve been clicking on every notification of his and I’m all for it!

a new mrroflwaffles era has begun and im loving it

milos american accent will forever haunt my dreams

I was alive to play World at War zombies from the start and there was literally no talking or explanation of anything in the maps outside of what you would discover or hear from other players theorizing. Part of the fun of 2009-2010 was that a lot of people agreed on the essential story of WaW zombies, but outside of the few established facts, people’s opinions varied wildly on the ancillary details. There is so much mystery that is now gone nowadays, and part of the fun of WW2 zombies or Cold War was the fact we had little idea of what was going on outside of the broad details. I agree very much with the video, keep it up

I’ve always loved how detailed and well spoken Milo is at explaining the zombies storyline, even way back 10 years ago

Thanks for making this video Milo💙. Been feeling for years even during Cold War that trearch no longer care about US “veteran players” 😔 I wish there was two separate game modes now zombies and the new zombies stuff for the war zone crowd

man milo really is pumping out these great videos lately

I love how you start raving about the thompson and then you see the ppsh and just trade it without hesitation xD

you have been on fire with the daily uploads thanks milo

Love these updates keep up the good work.

I think a lot of it comes down to gaming difficulty and accessibility. Back when WaW came out, gaming in general was less popular and games were a lot more difficult. With gaming getting a rise in popularity, gaming companies want to make their games more accessible to gather a larger market share. Therefore Games have in general (in the mainstream) become easier. Because there are also so many more competing games, players are generally spending less time in each game. Storytelling has therefore become more streamlined, and things like Easter eggs and secrets get neglected in favor of mass market appeal and handholding. It’s such a shame!

I would never buy the door to the left, simply because of how OP that original camping spot was near that window. 👌🏼

Loved hearing him talk about loving the flame thrower and then immediately cutting to the round end screen 😭

I forgot about the counter culture feel zombies had. In bo2 I used to always refuse to play multiplayer and exclusively play zombies

Bruh, HOW MANY VIDEOS. IS THIS EARLY CHRISTMAS!?

Absolutely. Been following you since maybe black ops if I'm not mistaken. The dissections you've done on the environment designs and radios and bringing the threads together gave me such a love for the storyline. This video is it man.

I cannot explain how much I adore having some more milo content, god do I miss the days of bo1 and bo2 watching your videos religiously

im the most interested in stories that make me question things. i want the story to give me bits and pieces so that i can put them together myself. thats why i like from software games so much. explaining why when and where like this dude did in that reveal was bad cause it takes away any interest ive had in the mode. the best stories are the ones that create more questions than they answer. its an important thing to make your fanbase actively interact with each other to find a common ground on those things. thats the main reason the zombies community got so passionate in the first place. cause blundell knew what to say and what to keep secret. from software games are so vague in storytelling that all the things you hear around the world surrounding god like beings and higher purposes feel like legends, myths and folktales that could actually be true. it increases the believability by a factor of 100 in comparison to games that just straight up tell you how it is. vagueness is one of the best tools in storytelling but its sadly not used very often.

Hey guys Mr Roffle Waffles here

Milo straight going ham on the facts especially at the end of the video ❤😂 Much love and respect for you! You nailed it explaining how much of us are feeling at the current moment.

To see you playing Der Riese in WaW and changing to The Giant in Bo3 was emotional. Aether has been such an important part of my youth. You were part of that, thanks so much Milo

I thought the video was going to go in a different direction with talking more about the internal stuff within the game and game world only from the title name compared to the video which included a lot of the external things with Jason Blundell and Cod Next. However I still agree with a majority of what was said. Externally away from the game, I don't feel like there's much mystery going into MWIII as answers were questioned and did feel talked down to a little. I never really thought about how other audiences would see that information and just assumed it benefited them without really thinking about it. Internally in game , I'm not a fan of the "new" direction of learning stuff in lore. Yes I love the Intel/Notes system but man make 4 operators (similar to WWII) have actual Zombies Dialogue that can have interactive conversations and talk to us. I'd love the interactions in Blood of the Dead between Primis about there emotions and thoughts. I'm someone who has a pretty strong imagination and so I love putting myself if possible in the characters shoes in situations because it makes myself feel more emerged into the game world. In Cold War even with the notes, I couldn't get emerged into that game world because the interactions of what was happening were with Weaver, Dr Grey etc. all of which weren't me as the character and all of which aren't physically dealing with the danger of the game world. I love going back to Ancient Evil and putting myself in the shoes of a member of the Chaos Crew and work out what I'd be feeling and doing after the end of the main quest EE. Even still in Ancient Evil, I may learn a little new thing here and there from a conversation between characters. Do I think storytelling is "dead" in zombies. Of course not. I'm just not as emerged into it and therefore my interest isn't there as much. That's why when at CoD Next, when I felt like I had no real story interest besides the Weaver Situation and I only cared for the gameplay aspect. Sorry if this doesn't make sense or waffles too much. It's Midnight when this got released and I'm tired lmao

learned so many tidbits about der riese from this vid like the zombie hazard sign. pls make more like this on other maps

In love with the content lately, been here for years and absolutely love the pacing recently.

Which cod zombies game had the best story telling 🤔

The devs really want to make it easy for new players to understand and play the story. In the past new players would kill zombies and die and get over it because they didn’t want to put in the effort to learn the story. Now they just hold your hand and that makes it so much easier and “fun” for the casual player. Which I hate. I truly feel that zombies will never go back to that because at the end of the day the higher ups just want more people to play and the only way they can do that rn seems like Is to hold ur hand thru the story.

Fantastic video milo. Absolutely nailed it ❤ zombies is a very simple formula to me, "You don't know what you don't know" works so well and it feels since Jason's departure treyarch just don't understand anymore. They're so out of touch

Been absolutely loving these cut-commentary videos of milo just gaming. Keep this up please!

Honestly the change to changeable operators in Cold War killed it for me. Didn’t feel like it connected to me at all

I'm genuinly confident that most storyline guys, or the hardcores that breath CoD:Zombies, could provide a better story for the players, if you gave them the chance, than what Treyarch brought to the table the last few years...

You do such a good job of explaining this. I fell in love w zombies during bo3, because it felt like a completely different, mystical, magical world where anything was possible. It was this own little special world that was so different from the rest of cod

It has been a bit since i enjoyed a live recording of a zombie commentary ❤ great one mr.milo

Your forehead boutta have some heavy wrinkles later if you keep raising your eyebrows like that

Treyarch fan boys ruined zombies. All innovative maps are shunned

Milo your uploads lately have been helping me get my mind off a lot of adulthoods trials and tribulations. Thank you for keeping this community alive

the bags under milo’s eyes deepen every mw3 video he makes

To me the zombies story started at Nacht and ended on Moon the rest is just bullshit

yapfest 2023

Milo I love how you say it straight brother. Miss the OG feel of zombies and hope we can get a little closer to that someday

Thanks for the videos recently Milo. They’re amazing to fall asleep to.

This is a really important video, I hope zombies can recover but i'm not so sure anymore. Glad that you still care!

Loved the video milo. Please do more like this one

This absolutely covers all my issues with the new story. It feels so hand fed to the point where during cold war a lot of the time when I was thinking of these questions I would have in the back of my mind I would think 'oh the intel probably answers that' and never even both interacting with the theory side of the community. I love watching theory videos myself and when the storyline boils down to read read read read read to get all the answers to all my questions it's not really enjoyable.

I had this video on in the background while doing other things, and all I gotta say is you voiced my thoughts and opinions perfectly. I feel like us og players are no longer the main focus and that is just a bummer

You know what bro, you've made me day Milo. I am high as Der Eiesndrach if on the mountains, and i got home and bed and saw Milo release a long ass upload and now i can lay down and chill. Great times, thanks all

I love Milo with no filter 😊Appreciate you brother standing up for all the veteran players 100% agree!! Bring back Blundell 🙏🙏

This is such a nostalgic video for so many reasons if it was just a voice over commentary I'd be back in 2009

Loving this style of videos, keep 'em coming!

Thank you Milo for speaking out, everything you said was SPOT ON!

I’ve been so dang happy with the videos recently

I remember, looking up story videos for world at war zombies and all the videos were spooky music and images with texts on them. Yet it was one of the more frightening things when growing up. But it was also super fun to learn about the story and that’s partially why we stuck with it for so long in my friend group!

I love what you are bringing up! I am a huge zombies fan and still am playing BO3 every chance I can. BO1, 2, 3, and 4 are all super strong zombie games in my opinion. So good to talk about things that have changed which aren't for the better. I miss the cryptic storytelling in the older games.

Milo has been cooking so much lately I LOVE IT

This is Milo directing the storyline at its best love your work keep grinding my zombie God lore searcher

I think you are totally right about wanting more mystery in the story thats what got me hooked

I’ll never understand why a publisher like treyarch wouldn’t get direct ideas and feedback from popular creators like Milo. Milo has such a good grasp of the story and would be great to help bring ideas that they never thought about to light.

milo we’re clicking on every video right away now.. keep it up with the consistent uploads bro!