In the vast universe of video games, there are stories of projects that never saw the light of day. One of them is Call of Duty: Fog of War, a third-person shooter set in Vietnam that promised a unique experience focused on horror and tension, instead of the frantic action common in the series. Glen Schofield, a renowned key designer of Dead Space, was one of the driving forces behind this ambitious proposal.
Call of fear
In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Schofield shared his vision for Fog of War, highlighting the narrative approach that aimed to provide a more cinematic and personal experience, similar to that of Uncharted. “We wanted to make a terrifying version of Vietnam”, he commented, emphasizing his intention to create intense and personal combat, with mechanics that had never been seen before in the franchise.
The planned sequences included passages in dark tunnels, where the atmosphere of fear would be palpable, with the uncertainty of shooting in the shadows. Schofield recalled a scene where the player had to follow a river while an American bomber, the B-52, burned in the jungle background. The cinematography would shift to a third-person perspective game, similar to the iconic moments of the Uncharted series, adding an unexpected layer of tension to the war genre.
However, the story of Fog of War faded when Sledgehammer, the studio co-founded by Schofield, was assigned to Modern Warfare 3 due to internal issues at Activision. This turn of events left fans wondering what could have been of this game, which promised to redefine the way conflict is represented in video games.