Call of Duty: Warzone's irradiated areas are turning players into zombies

Zombies have been crawling around in Verdansk since February, but now it seems some players may be joining the ranks - as new radiation zones are transforming players into the undead.

According to the official lore explainer, radiation levels on the map yesterday reached "100 per cent", and nuclear zones are now appearing around the Vodianoy shipwreck and the Prison. For now these seem to be the only two areas affected, but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw this spread to other corners of Verdansk.

The radiation zones slowly do damage to players - although a gas mask provides decent protection (and you can also just run around picking up stims, apparently). Those who die in these zones are then transformed into zombies, and sent back into Verdansk to wreak havoc. Unless you're playing in solo mode, as then you just get sent to the Gulag.

It seems the zombie mechanics are very much the same as those used for the Haunting of Verdansk, the Halloween event for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone. This boasted a chaotic Zombie Royale mode which saw players transformed into zombies instead of being sent to the Gulag. Zombies have the ability to jump large distances, and are also given gas grenades and EMP blasts.

The Dam area, meanwhile, is now infected - meaning you should find a swarm of regular zombies in the vicinity.

As ever, this all seems to be building up to that much-teased nuclear event. The explosion is due to transform Verdansk into an '80s version of itself, and a tweet from the official Call of Duty Twitter account suggests it's due to happen on 21st April at 8pm UK time. That hasn't stopped some of the nukes from launching a little early, however - with some rather funny results. Let's hope it's not dud on arrival.

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