Die Maschine

Overview

Die Maschine, German for “The Machine”, is the first Zombies map of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and the first map of the Dark Aether story. It is an expanded reimagining of Nacht der Untoten: the original bunker stands at the centre of the map, above Projekt Endstation, an abandoned Nazi research facility built around a particle accelerator. The mission briefing: “Dimensional gateways opening around the globe. An undead horde threatening all of humanity. A new Cold War threat emerging from the shadows. Investigate the abandoned Nazi facility at the heart of it all.”

In the intro, Samantha Maxis calls Grigori Weaver of the CIA from a phone booth in East Berlin and makes him watch a tape: Soviet troops entering the Projekt Endstation facility, the machine at its heart, and the zombies that kill them. A week later a Soviet clean-up crew burns the bodies and seals a soldier in the gas mask, Kazimir Zykov, inside. “It stayed buried,” Sam says, “until two weeks ago.” The Omega Group has since restarted the particle accelerator and torn a rift into the Dark Aether, and Requiem sends a strike team to Morasko to close it.

The map is split between the surface, around the Nacht der Untoten ruins, the Crash Site of a plane and the Pond, and the underground facility, with its Control Room, Medical Bay, Weapons Lab and Particle Accelerator. Through rifts, the players can also enter the Dark Aether, a dark mirror of the map.

The Nacht der Untoten ruins

The bunker of the first Zombies map, rebuilt at the centre of the map and wrapped in graffiti. Its rooms are the Omega Outpost, the “Living Room” and the “Bedroom”.

The Living Room

A room of the old bunker, where the D.I.E. Machine waits behind a locked door.

Characters

Black Ops Cold War has no fixed crew: each player picks an operator, and together they form the Requiem strike team. The rest of the cast speaks over the radio or appears in the Dark Aether.

The strike team

The operators of Requiem, a CIA-backed response team, flown to Morasko by Raptor One at the start of each game.

Enemies

Zombies

Undead soldiers in Second World War Nazi uniforms, overalls or bare-chested, with the yellow eyes of the Dark Aether.

Heavy Zombies

Zombies in heavy armor that must be shot off before they take damage. They start to come at round 20.

Megatons

Former Omega Group scientists in radiation suits, an elite enemy that lobs radioactive blasts. Killed, a Megaton splits into a Blaster and a Bomber.

During The Haunting, the Halloween event of the game, Mimics were added to the map as well.

Perks

Die Maschine brought back the classic machines and added a new perk. In Black Ops Cold War a perk costs 2,500 points for the first one, and the price rises with each perk a player already has, up to 7,000.

Juggernog

At the Crash Site, to the right of the plane wing. On a generator, it works without the power.

Quick Revive

At the Pond, on a generator.

Stamin-Up

In the Bedroom, just outside the obstruction that leads to the Crash Site, on a generator.

Speed Cola

In the Medical Bay.

Deadshot Daiquiri

In the Weapons Lab.

Elemental Pop

The new perk of the game, at Main Power. It gives the weapons a chance to fire a random Ammo Mod effect.

Der Wunderfizz

First on the Penthouse level of the old bunker in the Dark Aether; it crosses into the normal map 10 rounds after the power is turned on. Over the seasons it also brought Tombstone Soda, Mule Kick, Death Perception and PhD Slider.

Easter egg: Seal the Deal

The main quest of Die Maschine is Seal the Deal, known in the game as Evil Unleashed. It needs the Pack-a-Punch and the D.I.E. Machine with its four variants. The players build the Aetherscope, follow the Spectral Reflections of Doctor Vogel, restart Der Wechsler, turn the split Megaton back into Orlov and protect him while he shuts down the cyclotron.

Orlov

The Omega Group lieutenant inside the Megaton, freed in Der Wechsler.

The reward

An ending cinematic, the Seal the Deal achievement, and 5,000 XP with the Evil Unleashed calling card on the first completion.

The Aetherscope

A scanner built from three parts found in the Dark Aether, one of them in the Yard.

Seal the Deal, step by step

Secrets

Coffin Dance

Once the Pack-a-Punch is built, five blue orbs float around the Particle Accelerator. Shooting them all pulls the player into the Dark Aether, where four zombies dance with a crate on their shoulders. Back in the normal map, the crate gives a reward and always a free Juggernog.

Trivia

• The game files call the map zm_silver.
• It is the thirty-third Zombies map overall, and the first in which the players choose their own operator and starting weapon.
• In the intro, the phone number Samantha dials spells out “Maxis”.
• The message “CZARNOBOG’S WRATH IS COMING” on the plane wing at the Crash Site refers to Chernobog, a Slavic god of darkness.
• The Coffin Dance secret is a nod to the internet meme of the same name.
• The first trip into the Dark Aether has no time limit; it ends when the Pack-a-Punch is built or the round ends. Every later trip is on a short timer.
• Requiem calls the mission Operation Cerberus.