2025's well-received Black Ops 6 already made some significant changes to traversal by implementing Omnimovement, but the return of wallrunning would drastically change locomotion once more.

Videos have begun surfacing online showing players wallrunning in both Black Ops 6 and Warzone via files added to the games in the Season 3 Reloaded update, per Dexerto. It's presumed that said files were added in order to test a wallrunning feature for Black Ops 7, though this is unconfirmed, and the mechanics only appear to be accessible via an exploit. Wallrunning had previously featured in multiple CoD titles, including Black Ops 3 and Infinite Warfare, but proved divisive.

Click here and here to watch the wallrunning videos on X (formerly Twitter).

Wallrunning Is Controversial In CoD

Its Removal Was A Selling Point Of Black Ops 4

Wallrunning was arguably the peak of CoD's steady increase in movement capabilities following the slower pace of the classic Modern Warfare series. It came into its own in the near-future and the more overtly futuristic settings of Black Ops 3 and Infinite Warfare. The rumored Black Ops 7 is supposedly going to be a sequel to Black Ops 2, which partly takes place in the – at the time – near future of 2025.

After Infinite Warfare (and WWII) though, the removal of wallrunning was used as a promotional highlight. If you look at the PlayStation Store listing for Black Ops 4, for instance, it says, "multiplayer is a grounded experience that does away with the thrust-jumps or wall-running of previous entries." Some like the traversal options wallrunning provides, likening it to the beloved Titanfall 2, but many also felt that it disrupted the flow of multiplayer matches, pulling CoD too far toward its arena shooter inspirations.

Our Take: Wallrunning Feels Like A Change For Change's Sake

I'm Having Deja Vu

If you need more proof that Call of Duty is running out of ideas, this is it. There's no confirmation that these datamined mechanics are returning in Black Ops 7, but it wouldn't be surprising. The series releases a game every year, and is perennially criticized for it. Arguably the greatest overhaul we've seen was with 2019's Modern Warfare reboot, and even then, it's still the same old CoD.

Wallrunning was introduced, taken out, and may now be reintroduced, and I can predict that it will be taken out again (and maybe even flaunted as a positive like it was in BO4). If wallrunning is in BO7, it'll likely be there to separate it from BO6, since this year's CoD is likely to be light on innovation like Modern Warfare 3 (2023). The reception is likely to be the same: some will praise wallrunning as it moves Call of Duty even further into twitch shooter territory, and others will loathe it for disrupting the classic experience.

Sources: Dexerto, viipeter_/X, needlessrelic16/X, PlayStation Store