The release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was expected to be a major event at the end of the year. But barely launched, the game is already attracting criticism, particularly regarding its single-player campaign. And for good reason: the players discover with surprise that it is can’t pause the gameeven solo, and that no checkpoint does not allow you to save your progress during a mission.
The first hours of play reveal a structure designed as a disguised cooperative mode. Even if you play alone, the squad members are not replaced by an AI. Each role seems designed for a human player, which creates dissonance as soon as you attempt a solo session.
A single player campaign… which isn’t really one
What is most shocking is the total absence of intermediate backup. If you leave a mission in progress — voluntarily or due to disconnection — you will have to start it from the beginning. No checkpoint, no automatic check-in. A brutal throwback to an era that players thought was over.
And that’s not all: the campaign requires a permanent Internet connection. Progress is therefore not retained offline. A network outage, and everything has to be done again. This radical choice reinforces the impression that the campaign was not designed to adapt to solo players, but rather to function in a permanent multiplayer setting.
A broken immersion for a disconcerted public
This rigid system breaks immersion for many players. In a game where you play a soldier evolving in a tense and unstable world, not being able to put the controller down for a few moments breaks the rhythm. A notification, a call, an emergency… and it’s quite a mission to relaunch.
For a series as massive as Call of Duty, which has always claimed maximum accessibility, this decision is confusing. It deviates from the expected standards for a comfortable and fluid solo experience.
The campaign takes place in 2035, ten years after the events of Black Ops II, and follows David Mason and his squad as they hunt down a manipulative enemy. But despite this rich and narrative context, it is the rigid and connected gameplay that commands attention today.