Modern Warfare 4’s Beta Maps Will Open New Routes With Climbs and Slides
Infinity Ward built South Korea-inspired multiplayer spaces around cleaner sightlines, pipe climbs, supine slides, and a mantle slide that preserves momentum.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s first beta weekend is scheduled for August 21 through August 25, and Infinity Ward has outlined how its multiplayer maps and movement systems are being built around faster decision-making, flexible routes, and a strong South Korean visual identity.
In an Xbox Wire interview with Infinity Ward’s multiplayer team, Studio Multiplayer Creative Director Geoff Smith, Technical Designer Jack Hoppus, and Art Director Sergio Gill discussed the ideas behind the upcoming shooter’s maps, traversal tools, weapon handling, and competitive readability.
Silkworm and Lotus Set the Visual Direction
The Korean Peninsula serves as the setting for much of Modern Warfare 4, giving Infinity Ward a backdrop filled with political tension, varied architecture, and influences from contemporary Korean culture. Multiplayer maps Silkworm and Lotus helped establish that direction early in development.
Silkworm takes inspiration from a South Korean city, while Lotus is set in a more rural coastal environment. Their visual language also helped inform Hajin, the larger Warzone map, while giving Infinity Ward’s art team a library of locations, materials, and environmental details to draw from.
Photogrammetry and on-location scanning were used to capture real environments, with the team paying close attention to landmarks and small details that communicate where a map is set. K-pop, PC bangs, esports, food, dining, and fashion all influenced the spaces, signs, billboards, and storefronts. Even small touches, such as vending machines, cycling digital advertisements, and moving crab claws on coastal buildings, were brought into the maps.
Those details still had to stay out of the way of the firefight. Infinity Ward adjusted real-world spaces to fit multiplayer movement, which means doors, windows, streets, and other objects may be slightly larger or shaped differently than they would be outside the game. Walking footage and scans from South Korea also helped the team understand how crowds, rain, and city spaces feel from a player’s perspective, with dynamic weather making its way into some core maps.
Smith compared the map lineup to an album: each location should feel different from the one before it, rather than repeating the same layout and combat rhythm. The maps also connect to the campaign and Warzone, helping the wider game feel like one shared world without sacrificing clear sightlines or competitive play.
Less Cover, More Movement Choices
Infinity Ward wanted Modern Warfare 4 to retain a grounded military tone without making matches feel slow. Instead of simply increasing character speed, the team reduced the amount of cover across some spaces. Fewer objects to check can make a route feel quicker while also lowering the number of angles players need to process as they move.
Movement itself is getting several new options. Pipe climbs can take players onto rooftops without relying solely on ladders, and some pipes also work as traversal routes through the maps. A mobility course will give players a place to practice those mechanics before applying them during rotations and flanks.
On Lithium, garage doors leave enough room for a supine slide underneath, creating a low route for players attempting to get around an opponent. Other spaces were modified to let players slide beneath vehicles, adding shortcuts that would not be possible with standard movement.
Silkworm is built to showcase the new mantle slide. Pressing the slide button while moving onto a mantle lets the player carry momentum into the animation, keeping the weapon raised and ready to fire. Cars placed along the map’s streets create opportunities to slide across hoods and keep moving instead of stopping at every piece of cover.
The traversal tools were not all present at the beginning of map production. Some were added after the layouts had already been played extensively, allowing designers to place a pipe or windowsill exactly where a shortcut or flank route made sense. That late testing helped turn otherwise ordinary spaces into routes with more options.
Copper Pipes Help Players Read the Maps
New movement only works when players can quickly tell which parts of the environment are usable. Infinity Ward gave climbable pipes a clearer visual identity by using copper, whose orange color and response to lighting help distinguish it from ordinary drainage hardware.
The same visual logic applies to spaces designed for sliding. Once players learn how those cues work on one map, they can recognize similar opportunities elsewhere, including the slabs and low routes found on Kill Block. The goal is to make traversal feel discoverable without covering the screen in prompts.
Weapon Handling Influences Every Engagement
Movement is only one part of the multiplayer design. Hoppus said the removal of bloom, along with changes to weapon sound and weight, gives engagement distances a larger role in how the maps are built. Players who prefer close-range pushes and those who hold longer sightlines should both have room to play.
Those choices affect the environment too. Interiors account for how players approach windowsills, gun mounts, and cover, while objects placed around those areas must support movement rather than block it. The result is a map design process where art direction, weapon behavior, and traversal all have to work together.
Infinity Ward also tested the systems with community members, content creators, and professional players. High-level players can expose animation breaks and unexpected interactions quickly, giving the team chances to correct problems and tune the movement before launch. At the same time, the designers want the basic mechanics to feel intuitive for someone returning to Call of Duty, with deeper routes and techniques available for players who choose to master them.
Modern Warfare 4 Beta Dates and Platforms
The first beta weekend is scheduled as an Early Access test from August 21 through August 25. It will be available to players who pre-ordered Modern Warfare 4 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, or PC.
The second weekend will be an open beta for all players across every supported platform, including Nintendo Switch 2. That test is scheduled for August 28 through September 1.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is scheduled to launch on October 23, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Will the new routes and mantle slide change how you approach the beta? Share your thoughts in the comments, and stay connected through X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
Developed by Infinity Ward
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is a first-person shooter and the follow-up to Modern Warfare III (2023), continuing the rebooted Modern Warfare storyline. The campaign is set during a North Korean invasion of South Korea and features dual perspectives: a young South Korean soldier named Private Park facing his first combat deployment, and Captain Price operating outside official channels on a personal mission. The game also includes multiplayer with 6v6 core maps, large-scale vehicle combat maps, and a dynamic map system called Kill Block that reshapes layouts between rounds. A DMZ extraction mode is also featured. The game is released exclusively on current-generation platforms and PC.
- Genre Shooter
- Platforms Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Perspective First person
- Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative
- Release October 23, 2026
- Publisher Activision
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Age Rating
