Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 brings the return of Treyarch's traditional round-based Zombies, and for the first time since 2018, the mode features a set of four playable story characters. However, players will have a choice on who they'll play as for each match.

Treyarch has confirmed that the narrative started in Black Ops Cold War, which is called the Dark Aether storyline, will continue in Black Ops 6. The game launches with two maps and a cast of four playable story characters, and three of the crew members should be familiar faces for Zombies fans.

As seen in the screenshot below, Black Ops 6's Zombies storyline brings the return of Elizabeth Grey, Grigori Weaver, and Mac Carver from Black Ops Cold War's Requiem team, while Maya Aguinaldo is introduced as a new character to complete this cast of four.

One big complaint from Black Ops Cold War was the odd feeling of disconnect, as the game forced you to play as a BOCW operator skin instead of featuring a cast of story characters with unique voice lines. It also made for awkward moments when a player could exfil from a match as a Samantha Maxis operator skin, after completing the game's final story Easter egg, where Samantha devastatingly sacrificed herself to stop the Forsaken boss.

However, Treyarch did confirm with Call of Duty content creators that players would have a choice in who they played as, allowing for the choice of selecting a story character or a random operator skin from Black Ops 6.

Playing as part of the Zombies crew comes with the added bonus of immersion and unique character voice lines that include bits of story, while the choice to play as a random operator lets players simply slay the undead as one of the fancy operator skins they unlocked.

For more on Black Ops 6, make sure to check out all of our highlights from the big reveal, including details on the campaign, multiplayer maps, and Treyarch's new omnidirectional movement system.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released on October 25 across PlayStation, PC, and Xbox, including a launch on Game Pass for day one. A Black Ops 6 beta will take place before launch.