Leaks suggest CoD campaign mechanic could make controversial multiplayer debut in Black Ops 6

Over the past few days, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has been accessed months early by players using modified last-gen consoles.

A bunch of the game has already leaked, including perks, Scorestreaks, weapons, and more. Today, another gameplay clip showed up online, showing off what looks like a new feature for Black Ops 6 multiplayer: the ability to take enemies as a human shield.

A short video sure to be taken down soon, posted by leaker @ForwardLeaks, shows a player walking up behind an enemy in a multiplayer match. Two prompts show up, with one for holding the melee button for executions as has been normal in the past few games. But with a double tap of the melee button, the player grabs the enemy as a human shield.

The player then holds the opponent with their left arm while firing a pistol with their right arm, using the enemy to shield themselves from incoming damage. The pistol has a wide reticle and the player is unable to aim down sights, and there’s also a circular icon on the screen denoting a timer of when the human shield will expire.

It appears that the timer lasts around 10 seconds. Before the timer runs out, the player must execute the enemy or they can be killed. So while the mechanic seems odd at first, it looks like there’s a big trade-off from using it.

This has often been used in the CoD campaigns as a mechanic, most usually by the enemy, that includes a slow-down moment where the player must save the hostage by shooting the enemy in the head. But this looks like a controversial new wrinkle on multiplayer entirely.

The clips that may surface on social media featuring CoD gamers picking up massive killstreaks while using human shields, though, will undoubtedly be plentiful not long after launch—and for that, I’m all aboard.

BO6’s early access beta begins on Aug. 30, two days after CoD Next, where more of BO6 will be shown. The game fully releases on Oct. 25.