Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s Stranded mission had me hooked for hours, yet left me wanting more

For years, Call of Duty’s campaign mode has used big, scripted set pieces to tell the overarching story amid all the adrenaline-pumping action. The 2023 Modern Warfare 3 tried to shake up the established formula by introducing a handful of short open combat missions, and I genuinely liked the idea, but the game’s overall negative reception seeped into how those missions were received.

I feared the next iteration might abandon the idea because of the backlash, but I am glad it didn’t. MW4’s “Stranded” mission uses the same approach, but instead of fragmenting it across the campaign, it puts it all in a single large-scale open-world mission.

It’s easily the longest and most unique mission in the game.

Stranded throws Call of Duty off the rails

It’s easily the longest and most unique mission in the game. It might also be the one that shapes your opinion of the overall campaign. If you love the freedom to do things however you like, similar to an open-world RPG, this will probably be the highlight of the game for you. If you prefer the tighter, more linear missions, it will test your patience and push you well outside your comfort zone. I happen to fall into the first camp.

The mission starts with your team on its way to drop into North Korea and destroy an artillery base near Rajin. Before you can reach the drop zone, North Korean anti-aircraft fire and fighter jets bring your transport helicopter down. You crawl out of the wreckage and make your way through the snow, dodging searchlights and patrols, until you reach an abandoned house with a basement. That basement becomes your base camp.

One of the North Korean patrol leaders, instead of turning you in, offers to defect and points you to three nearby targets. The first is a jamming station up in the mountains, with scouts all along the climb, so sneaking up is the smart move. Then there’s a SAM site out in the open next to a village full of dug-in enemies, where I found it much easier to pick people off with a suppressed sniper before moving in. Finally, there’s an explosives bunker that’s cramped, dark, and half underwater, with flooded sections you have to swim through on night vision.

Stranded rewards patience more than firepower

Between them lies a vast area full of outposts, K-9 patrols, supply crates, and hidden bunkers. With a wounded squadmate back at camp, you also need to reach headquarters to plan an evacuation, but how you go about all of it is entirely up to you. Getting spotted has deadly consequences, as I learned more than once. Patrols sound a siren to alert nearby allies, and certain areas get a lot tougher once the alarm goes off.

The atmosphere is brutal. It’s cold, snowy, and the wind never stops. Up near the mountains, visibility gets so bad you can barely spot an outpost until you’re right on top of it. That’s handy for sneaking up on enemies, but it sometimes works the other way around as well. One of the most useful tools here is a heartbeat sensor, which I kept equipped at all times. 

There’s also a looter-shooter side to the mission. You gather supplies out in the field and bring them back to base camp to repair your gear. A ghillie suit reduces how quickly enemies detect you, tactical gloves speed up reloads, and snow boots let you sprint faster. You can upgrade weapon attachments as well.

You can even build special equipment like a mortar and a grenade launcher, both of which come in handy when completing your main objectives. I took my time and did as much as I could, enjoying everything this vast mission had to offer. It was a nice change of pace from the rest of the game. Placing it just before the final few action-packed missions was also a smart call.

All that freedom comes at a cost

That said, I can see why Stranded doesn’t work for everyone. It slows the campaign right down at a point where the story is building towards its finale, and if you’re invested in what happens next, spending hours looting crates and clearing outposts can seem like a detour. The narrative of a squadmate bleeding out back at camp also clashes with the pace you’re free to play the mission at.

The trips back and forth to base camp can get tedious, and after a while the outposts start feeling very similar. And for players who come to Call of Duty for tightly scripted, cinematic moments, a slow-burn mission in the snow can seem like it belongs in a different game entirely.

Call of Duty could do a lot more with this idea

Still, I think Stranded points to something future Call of Duty games could build on. DMZ already has similar scavenging and crafting, but it comes with PvP and the constant pressure of other players hunting you. A co-op PvE mode built like Stranded, with open objectives and no other squads to worry about, would be perfect for players who just want to jump in with friends and take things at their own pace. Stranded has already laid the groundwork, and I’d love to see Infinity Ward take it further.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is available on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo.

The following are the PC requirements for the game, as per Steam: