At E3, Infinity Ward is showing members of the press and those attending a very early level in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s campaign, which sets up the story that players will play throughout in the title.

The Beginning

The story begins on Earth, where the world’s organizations, known as UNSA, have gathered at Geneva, Switzerland for the Fleet Parade Week.

“We try to start out the game trying to show who this enemy is, the depravities they’ll commit to get what they want and, with that context, you’ll understand what the stakes are,” Kurosaki said in an interview with Polygon.

The entire Fleet Week Parade is sponsored by the Solar Alliance Treaty Organization, SATO. The week’s celebration is ended abruptly, however, as the Settlement Defense Front (SDF), the enemy group in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, strikes the city. SDF, according to GameInformer’s newest magazine issue, is trying to get complete control of the galaxy. Infinite Warfare’s story stays within our solar system, Infinity Ward has confirmed.

The basis of the story for Infinite Warfare is the fight for resources as the availability of Earth’s resources is starting to fade away. Following SDF’s attack on Geneva, everything’s in chaos; enemy drop pads are landing across the area, with SDF soldiers coming out ready to take control. SDF has a two pronged assault when they start their attack on Geneva: a sleeper-cell takes down Earth’s planetary defense systems, while also ground forces attack and take down world leaders. The sleeper-cell that attacks in Geneva is called Riah; they have slowly waiting and planned for years to make their attack.

Players play through the entire campaign as Captain Nick Reyes; Reyes starts off with fighting on the ground in this opening mission — attempting to take down the enemy forces, but quickly, the action transitions to the Jackal fight as SDF forces are taking down Earth’s defense systems.

Following this opening missions, Reyes is promoted from a Lieutenant to a Captain, who takes command of one of the remaining ships available, the Retribution.

Retribution

At the Retribution, players have great control over which mission they want to play next. The entire story in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare can be played linearly, but there is also side missions. These side missions let you attack SDF ships where players will have the ability to get new weapons and more equipment to better suit themselves up to fight on in the story.

“What you get narratively from experiencing these missions, it fleshes out the world of the Settlement Defense Front, and the way they […] how they live, the contents of their ships — there are mechanical benefits of going on these missions,” Minkoff said to Polygon.

You have the ability to see your crew, interact with them, and even get ready for your mission on the shooting range in the ship. The feeling and mood of the crew on the Retribution will change and adapt as the story progresses on.

“The Retribution is our home. an evolving, mutating hub for Reyes to come back to between each mission,” Kurosaki says to GameInformer. “Remember that there is no backup for us. The Retribution was not supplied before the Geneva attack when this thing started, we just happened to be at the parade. We’re not ready for deployment. Your crew will be bringing together everything they have to keep that thing floating and keeping us from losing the war.”

Infinity Ward says the Retribution’s inside was designed around Navy and NASA protocols and functionality. Many parts of the ship can be replaced, which allows the ship to be prepared for any number of challenges.

Settlement Defense Front

The SDF is probably one of the most “evil” enemy forces encountered in Call of Duty. The face of the SDF is played by Kit Harington. In the newest GameInformer issue, Taylor Kurosaki says:

“They (SDF) considers themselves the true inheritors of the solar system. They feel like their way of life is stronger, more pure. They fell that by living off-world that makes them more worthy of running our solar system and consider the people of Earth weak.”

The SDF is seeking out ways to get resources; if the SDF wins, that means much needed resources do not make it to Earth. SDF has used their advancements to re-program many of their ‘service droids’ from doing labor work to becoming killers. SDF puts a large focus on the usage of being efficient, which ensures none of their resources goes to waste.

The face of the SDF is Admiral Salen Kotch, who is the commander of the Olympus Mons, the enemies’ main home ship in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The Olympus Mons is twice as a large as the Retribution, according to GameInformer. The battle will exist between fighting the never ending enemy forces and re-taking control over the resources of the world to bring to Earth.

Infinity Ward has put an emphasis to state this story is trying to bring that “classic war” style battle, soldier on soldier, while still taking Call of Duty to a brand new setting.

Sources: GameInformer’s July Magazine, Polygon