Mechanics

Two systems in Black Ops Cold War sit above any single mode. The campaign keeps a ledger of your choices and pays it out in one of several endings, and every mode has a tab of classified Dark Ops challenges that only reveal themselves once you stumble into them. Our two pages on these systems are summarised here: first how the endings branch, then the full challenge list with the requirement for each.

How the endings branch

Our endings guide separates the decisions that change the ending from the ones that only change the recap. Most of what you do in the safe house belongs to the second group.

Tell the truth and the campaign adds a mission at Solovetsky Monastery, where you disable the radar array Perseus meant to use to detonate the nuke. After a recap of your choices you join Adler on the cliffs, he thanks you for your service and draws a pistol because you know too much, and the two of you shoot each other. Perseus is never caught.

Lie, and the team goes to Duga instead. Warn Perseus first and the base is empty; when Adler asks whether you lied, signalling an ambush brings Perseus’s men down on the CIA, after which you hunt Woods, Mason, Adler and whichever of Park or Lazar you saved in Cuba. Adler is found wounded in a building, asks for a cigarette and tries to stab you; win that struggle and Perseus lets you launch the nukes yourself. Stay silent about the plan and there is no ambush option: the CIA executes you for the betrayal and Perseus detonates the nukes on his own.

Whichever branch you take, the recap is narrated by Hudson or by Perseus and covers the outcome of Operation Red Circus and Operation Chaos, the fates of Qasim Javadi and Anton Volkov, and what became of the operative you left behind in Cuba and the one you saved. Our campaign walkthrough covers the evidence that feeds the first two lines.

Dark Ops challenges

Dark Ops challenges are the classified rows in the Dark Ops tab. Each pays a Calling Card and a large amount of XP, and the game never tells you the requirement, so our Dark Ops challenges page lists all thirty-nine: thirteen in Multiplayer, twenty in Zombies and six in the campaign. Several are things you may already be doing. Decrypting the Operation Chaos disk clears What do the numbers mean, finishing the Die Maschine and Firebase Z quests clears Evile Unleashed and Maxis Potential, and the medal challenges in Multiplayer come from ordinary good games.

Two campaign entries connect to other guides. Retro Gamer depends on the arcade cabinet in the safe house’s locked room, where only Pitfall II is playable at first and the rest unlock as the campaign progresses, which our safe house gate page explains. What do the numbers mean is the Operation Chaos decryption itself.

Frequently asked questions

Which ending is the good one?

Telling the truth in the interrogation, which sends the team to Solovetsky. Our page calls it the best of the outcomes even though it ends with you and Adler shooting each other.

How many Dark Ops challenges are there?

Thirty-nine on our list: thirteen Multiplayer, twenty Zombies and six campaign. Dark Ops Master, which asks for all of them, is counted among the thirteen.

Which Dark Ops challenges are quickest?

The single-medal Multiplayer ones, Back at You, and the campaign pair from Desperate Measures, since both happen inside one mission. The Zombies quests take a full match each but our Zombies maps guide walks both. Everything else we cover is on the Black Ops Cold War hub.