Peter Sallale 
Treyarch’s highly anticipated battle royale mode for Call of Duty, Black Ops 4, Blackout, is free to access for any and all PC players today. Starting at 10 PM PDT, players can hop on to Blizzard’s Battle.net client and play the mode for the entire weekend. The beta can be pre-installed before the official 10 PM launch time.
As the Call of Duty series’ first foray into the battle royale genre, there is a considerable amount of excitement on the part of FPS fans. Already accessible on PS4 to those who pre-ordered, the beta has been well-received, with particular focus going to the levels of polish present and solid gunplay and mechanics. Surpassing both PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite in twitch views, the beta has caught the attention of many notable streamers, such as Shroud, Dr DisRespect, and Ninja. After the launch of the Blackout beta, PUBG fell under 1 million players for the first time in over a year.
Blackout’s gameplay follows the typical Battle Royale framework. Players skydive from aircraft to a location on the map of their choosing, loot useful items such as weapons and armor, and engage enemy players. All players have one life; if you are killed, the match is over for you. As the game goes on, the playable area shrinks, forcing the remaining players into closer proximity and encouraging encounters. The game supports both solo play as well as teams, where groups of up to four cooperate to be the last team standing. In this mode items can be shared between players, and players reduced to 0 health are “downed,” defenseless but able to move and be revived for a second chance by their teammates.
Players hoping to try out the Blackout beta should make sure to download Blizzard’s Battle.net client, as this is the only platform where it will be available. Call of Duty Black Ops 4 officially launches October 12th.
