As silly as loot crates raining down onto the Normandy beaches in Call of Duty: WWII may be, the most tangible silver lining in the push towards 'games as a service' seems to be a move away from DLC and season es as the one and only way to expand a game post-release.
It seems that every major multiplayer shooter – from Overwatch to Battlefront 2 – is running some variety of winter event this year to keep eyes on the game. Call of Duty: WWII's offering looks like it may be one of the better this season, from now until January 2nd.
How fitting that Call of Duty: WWII had landed in the middle of enemy territory, surrounded on all sides by amazing FPS games. Don't like your war old-school? You've got plenty to pick from.
The event is now live, and for the next month you can grab yourself a free loot box once every few days, plus a variety of perks by completing bonus objectives and bounties posted. Among the earnable rewards are a set of winter variant guns, including a snow-covered Sten, a bandage-wrapped Gewehr 43, and an icy GPMG, all of which you can requisition from Captain Butcher, temporary quartermaster for the event.
The biggest perk of this event is time-limited global access for all to a snowy winter variant of the Carentan map. The original, non-snowy version was previously a perk for pre-ordering the season for the game, but at least for the time being, everyone can get to play around in this familiar old map, a throwback reference to the original Call of Duty.
Winter Siege also sees the return of the fan-favourite Gun Game mode, a Call of Duty staple, and a surprising omission from the base game. Starting out with the weakest pistol in the game, players scramble across the map to score kills, each frag providing you with an instant a fancier (if not always better) weapon. The winner is the first to smack another square in the face with a rocket launcher – how better to end a match than to send someone else out with a bang?
You can read up on the full Winter Siege schedule for the game our full review here, if you're still on the fence.