Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is getting the brand-new Ashika Island map for Season 2. The latest blog post from Activision includes new images and close-ups of the map’s main points of interest, and Ashika Island’s story details could be teasing an unexpected return for one of Modern Warfare 2’s campaign characters.
Ashika Island is a smaller, secondary map designed for Warzone 2’s “Resurgence” respawn modes and DMZ. The island is described as being part of a small archipelago located somewhere in the Asia Pacific region. The official reveal trailer can be seen below.
Season 2’s story details reveal that Ashika Island has been used by a group known as the Ultranationalist Konni Group for the transportation of chemical and biological weapons. Intel from a “redacted” source suggests that noxious weaponry was being shipped there from a suspected biolab facility in Al Mazrah.
One of the most interesting details provided for the island’s story is that “recently intercepted communications suggest that elements of Shadow Company, under the leadership of [[REDACTED]], have taken control of the isle, seemingly on the hunt for members of the Konni Group.”
Given the tease of a redacted Shadow Company leader, it’s possible Season 2 is going to reintroduce Phillip Graves from Modern Warfare 2’s campaign, as Shadow Company works remove Konni Group from the island.
Modern Warfare 2 campaign spoilers follow: Leading the Shadow Company PMC, Commander Phillip Graves was an ally who turned into a secondary antagonist in Modern Warfare 2’s campaign. In the second to last mission, Ghost Team, players are tasked with stopping Graves by destroying his tank with C4. The explosion presumably kills Graves, but there’s no body or evidence shown to confirm the character definitely died in the tank. Fan theories have long speculated that Graves survived and would resurface in the future. It’s often a Hollywood rule that if a body isn’t shown in a story, they’re probably coming back at some point.
The artwork for Season 2 shows the return of Ronin, an operator from Modern Warfare 2019. While it’s likely that Ronin will be the battle pass operator, Graves could potentially return to the story and become one of the shop’s fancy operator bundles. We’ll likely learn more when Season 2 arrives on February 15.
Season 2 is set to bring major changes to Warzone 2. Players can expect DMZ mode to get wiped for a fresh start, a traditional 1v1 Gulag for the Al Mazrah map, plenty of quality-of-life improvements, and more.
On the multiplayer side, Call of Duty’s Hardcore multiplayer mode is finally arriving in Modern Warfare 2. Ranked Play is also being added for those looking for a more competitive mode. A new map, perk changes, and more have also been announced. Make sure to check out everything we know about Season 2 of Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2.
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