Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Call of Duty: Black Ops II pushes the record-setting franchise into a near-future 21st Century Cold War, where advanced technology and weaponry converge to create a new kind of warfare between old and new enemies. In this conflict, the mechanized creations of men clash on the battlefield while their creators remain safe and detached, growing ever softer. One question hangs over the war: what happens when an enemy steals the keys to your conflict? To understand this possible future, you must understand where you’ve been.

In Cold War-era Nevada, a team of CDC operatives investigates the nuclear testing site "Nuketown" and is attacked by zombies. Dr. Edward Richtofen speaks through a television as his plan unfolds on the Moon. By entering the Aether, Richtofen seizes control of the zombies, but Dr. Ludvig Maxis joins forces with his daughter Samantha and Richtofen’s former allies—Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masakai—to stop him. Maxis launches three massive nuclear missiles packed with Element 115—the substance responsible for reanimating dead cells—at Earth, destroying the planet. One missile obliterates Nuketown and everyone there. Years later, Earth is a crumbling, hellish wasteland overrun by zombies. Four survivors—Samuel J. Stuhlinger, Abigail "Misty" Briarton, Marlton Johnson, and Russman—band together to stay alive in Washington, traveling with the help of a bus driven by a robotic driver. They are contacted by Maxis, now a digitally rendered A.I., who asks humanity for help against Richtofen. Maxis urges them to power up a tower in a cornfield using an electricity-based zombie. Richtofen also reaches Samuel—who can hear voices from the Aether—and orders him to persuade the others to power the tower for Richtofen instead. The player can choose to follow either Maxis or Richtofen. Audio transmissions reveal that survivors worldwide have been contacted by both, fueling widespread conflict between the followers of the two Germans. A settlement called Jackass Flats, once a safe haven, collapses to the zombie threat as the Maxis–Richtofen struggle consumes it. No matter who they support, the four are teleported to a shattered skyline in Shanghai, China. There, Richtofen orders Samuel to "mend the rift" and accept his role as Richtofen’s follower, threatening to expose Samuel’s past with The Flesh, a cannibalistic cult that survives by eating zombie flesh. Richtofen repeatedly revives the group whenever they fall to the zombies until they comply. Maxis, no longer hindered by electric devices, contacts them again for help. Through televisions scattered across the area, the four learn more about The Flesh and the beginnings of a new airborne Element 115 plague—the same element that reanimates dead cells and creates zombies. After Shanghai, Russman leads the group across continents to a massive hole in Africa known as "the Rift," hoping to uncover the unseen forces manipulating them. Maxis and Richtofen contact the survivors again, both increasingly desperate, and each demands that the group power up the third and final tower on their behalf. Maxis promises to heal the Earth, while Richtofen claims he will save them from Maxis. The group gains a new ally: a mute, unnamed giant in a western town built underground. They are also hindered by a ghostly woman in a huge mansion. From here, the story can end in two ways depending on the player’s choice. If the player aids Richtofen, he gains unlimited power over the Aether and Earth, kills Maxis, and condemns Samantha Maxis’s soul to eternal damnation. He then enters Samuel’s body as a reward for Samuel’s help, but discovers he cannot leave it and becomes vulnerable to the zombies again. If the player aids Maxis, he uses the towers’ power to enter the Aether and take ultimate control, trapping Richtofen in a zombie’s body. The Earth begins to shake, and Maxis tells the four he has begun the destruction of Earth and humanity to reach Agartha, where he believes Samantha is. Unbeknownst to everyone, Samantha is indeed in Agartha—though her father ultimately fails to enter it—and she reaches out to him in 1918 France during World War I. Maxis is a leader of Group 935, working to secure Germany’s victory in the war. Group 935 creates towering mechanical robots, suits of armor, and staffs that wield elemental powers. They also uncover an ancient tomb believed to be of Vrill origin, triggering the first known zombie outbreak in history. To stop Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States send Takeo, Nikolai, and Dempsey to capture Richtofen, the mind behind the advanced technology. By then, Group 935’s operatives have been wiped out, and Maxis has been lobotomized as he begins turning into a zombie. Setting aside their nationalities, the group fights the undead and is contacted by Samantha, who begs to be freed from Agartha. Richtofen places Maxis’s brain into a flying drone, and Maxis joins the battle against the zombies and the effort to free Samantha. They eventually succeed, and after Maxis reunites with his daughter, they enter Agartha to be rewarded. A cutscene shows Samantha and a boy named Eddie playing with toys of characters who have appeared in the Zombies mode across all three games. Air raid sirens sound, and the children retreat to the basement with Maxis. Samantha notes that her father has a plan to make their games real. It remains ambiguous whether the events of the Zombies storyline truly happened or were only ever in Samantha’s imagination.