Vanguard Zombies graphics bug turns whole map into The Matrix

Andrew Highton
vanguard zombies looking menacing

Call of Duty: Vanguard’s already notoriously troubled Zombies mode has run into another issue. A weird glitch can occur that messes up the game, transforming it into a bright, broken disco that resembles a scene from one of the famous Matrix films.

It’s quite apt that a new Matrix film has just been released as Vanguard Zombies has inadvertently paid tribute to it and the franchise. Weird texture glitches are nothing we haven’t seen in Call of Duty before. Warzone’s demon glitch has grown into a horrifying new level of terror, whereas Krampus’ textures simply haven’t loaded for many, leaving them exposed to his powers of invisibility.

Vanguard itself appears to be having its own problems, namely, its Zombies mode. The lone Der Anfang map has drawn criticism from long-time fans for being devoid of content. But now it’s developed a new problem that it seems could randomly happen to unfortunate players.

neo seeing the matrix code
Same thing, right?

One player’s first experience with Treyarch’s latest Zombies effort didn’t go too well after the game descended into a glitch-fest. u/curiousmind011 was trying to complete the new Purge objective when their game decided to malfunction.

The area they were in became a sea of brightly-colored pixels and flashing lights. The map resembled one of the final scenes of the original 1999 Matrix film when Neo can suddenly see everything and can see The Matrix itself. When in fact, this was Vanguard being very buggy and broken.

One amusing comment remarked: “This The Matrix? Haven’t seen this map before,” whereas the majority of players advised the player to make this their one and only time they played Vanguard Zombies.

The Season 1 content update hasn’t been wholly received, and bugs like this will do nothing to appease disgruntled Zombies fans. More is due midseason, and it remains to be seen if this glitch is fixed by then, and what new content is added to flesh out Zombies a bit more.

About The Author

Andrew Highton is a former Games Writer for Dexerto. He has a Creative Writing degree from Liverpool John Moores University and has previously written for games websites such as Twinfinite and Keengamer. With 13,000+ PlayStation Trophies to his name, Andrew is a fan of a huge variety of video games, his favourites being God of War and Metal Gear Solid. Contact him at andrew.highton@dexerto.com, on Twitter @AndyHighton8 or at www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-highton.