Call of Duty, and shooters in general, have slowly moved away from telling the stories of flawed, limited humans, instead focusing on giving players the power fantasy of embodying what amounts to a defacto superhero. Wall running, double jumping, future tech – these all work in harmony to give us an experience that’s fun, rather than one that bears any semblance to reality. But with Call of Duty: WWII

For Whom the Bell Tolls

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“ Horror is a word I keep coming back to when telling people about Call of Duty: WWII.

They Marched Into Sunlight

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“ The Hurtgen Forest demo showcased just how gorgeous and terrifying CoD 2017 can be.

The Things They Carried

“ Sledgehammer promises to tackle issues of racism, religious persecution, and sexism.

A Rumor of War

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“ There are still countless questions relating to multiplayer, co-op, and zombies.

I spent the afternoon at Sledgehammer’s studio speaking with developers of every discipline, seeing a handful of different levels, and digging through the mission statement of Call of Duty: WWII. Here’s what I learned.Sledgehammer’s WWII (I don’t think I’ll ever get used to using this as a short-hand name for the game), doesn’t hop around the globe – there won’t be any levels showcasing the Pacific or Northern Africa or Italy or Russia. As the developers put it, they, “didn’t want a greatest hits of World War II.” Instead, it’ll focus on a war story that's grounded, human, and intimate, while still delivering the familiar horrors of events like D-Day and The Battle of the Bulge.You fill the boots of Ronald “Red” Daniels, a 19-year-old kid from Texas. He isn’t a superhero. He wasn’t trained to be an army of one. He’s a kid who wanted to serve his country, traveled to Europe for the first time in his young life, and had a gun shoved in his hands. Cut to next scene, he’s standing shoulder to shoulder with similar kids on a landing craft slowly approaching the shores of France on a June afternoon. It’s slightly overcast.Horror is a word I keep coming back to when telling people about Call of Duty: WWII, and for good reason. Sledgehammer was founded in 2009 by leads at Visceral, creators of Dead Space. Those horror roots are apparent in the madness of the D-Day mission – as Red emerges from the blood-soaked waters of Omaha Beach, he immediately dives headfirst in the sands behind the nearest hedgehog barricade. The cacophony of gunfire, explosions, and screams are endless. War is truly hell, and this game is trying to emulate that.You’ll be experiencing 95% of the game through Red’s eyes, and the developers insist that you’ll never be doing something that this 19-year-old kid from Texas wouldn’t be able to do. That leads me to believe that the final 5% of playtime will have you filling the role of pilot, or someone with a similarly-extraordinary ability.Your squad is fleshed out by a handful of characters who’ll help Red’s journey through Europe. You have two surrogate father figures in the form of Sergeant Pearson and Lieutenant Turner. Pearson, played by Josh Duhamel of the Transformer series, is all about completing the mission, even if it means losing his men. The other side of the coin is Turner, who values the lives of his soldiers above all else. The tension between these two diametrically-opposed creeds has the potential to create a compelling dramatic pull throughout the campaign.German artillery began raining down on the squad, ripping apart the giant trees with nightmarish force. The ancient wood splintering all around Red sounded like thousands of bones snapping in half. The monstrous trees came crashing to the ground, crushing and impaling men with complete disregard. Again, the word horror comes to mind when I think about how affecting the scene was. If this is the direction that the series’ iconic set-pieces are headed in, I’m all aboard.So much of the way that developers at Sledgehammer spoke to me about the game pointed towards a more thoughtful, methodical shooter that has more in common with the fantastic Spec-Ops: The Line than with any other Call of Duty game. For example, health doesn’t auto-regenerate if you duck behind cover long enough. Instead, you have to limp over to your medic and ask for help. Same goes for ammo – according to developers, if you run out, you’ll have to rely on your squad to toss you more.While all of this sounds incredible on paper, and I welcome the idea of one of the biggest entertainment properties on the planet taking these risks, I’m still skeptical of how surgically they can handle these issues when the primary verbs of the game are “point” and “shoot.” I’m also genuinely curious how a new generation of Call of Duty fans who got their toes wet in the post-Modern Warfare era are going to react to a campaign that strips you of those superhero powers, and instead humbles you into a character who doesn’t power-slide, but rather dives head-first into the dirt out of sheer survival instinct.Obviously, single-player is just one of the major pillars of any Call of Duty game. There are still countless questions relating to multiplayer, co-op, and zombies, the latter of which, given its popularity and Sledgehammer’s roots in the Dead Space series, is exciting. Luckily, we have a bit of info about some of those other modes.We know there is a separate, story-driven co-op campaign in the game, and yes, it will be zombies. The only detail we have is that it takes place near the end of the war, and The Third Reich has to dabble in the occult in a final effort to turn the tide of the war.The other interesting element teased is called “Headquarters,” which sounds like Call of Duty’s answer to Destiny’s Tower. It’s a social space that exists between matches for players to connect, hang out, and gain specific rewards. I’m super curious as to how Sledgehammer handles this.

From what I got a chance to see and hear, Call of Duty: WWII seems like the biggest departure for the series since Modern Warfare in 2007. Which is ironic, considering this departure was achieved by going back to the series’ roots. Whether or not Sledgehammer can deliver on all of these lofty promises remains to be seen, but my interest has certainly been piqued on the road to November 3rd.

Marty Sliva is an Executive Editor at IGN. A girl he was dating once stepped on his PlayStation 4, and now he no longer owns PT. But don't worry, they broke up. Follow him on Twitter @McBiggitty