While Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s campaign has numerous choices for players to make throughout, the only one that has any real impact on the ending happens very late in the game, during the Identity Crisis mission. Russell Adler will ask the player character Bell the whereabouts of Perseus, and players are given the option to tell the truth or lie. If players tell the truth, then they will get Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s good ending. If they lie, they wind up with the game’s bad ending.
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Besides different story events happening, the choice Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War players make during this part of the game also has an impact on which level they play. The good ending mission is called The Final Countdown, whereas the bad ending level is called Ashes to Ashes. Anyone that wants to unlock all of the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War achievements and fully complete the game will need to see both endings eventually.
The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War endings are different enough that it’s definitely worth seeing both of them, so players should make it a point to take both routes. They don’t have to replay the entire campaign from scratch if they don’t want to; they can choose the Identity Crisis mission from the mission select screen and then go with the opposite option they did last time if they want to unlock the other mission and see the other ending.
Since the events in the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War bad ending contradict Black Ops 2, which chronologically takes place after this game, then it’s safe to say that the good ending is also the canon one. It actually leaves some loose ends, particularly as it pertains to the threat of Perseus, that may be followed up on in a Black Ops Cold War sequel, though such plans have yet to be announced.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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