Vanguard players slam Sledgehammer’s “ridiculous” futuristic weapon skins

Liam Mackay
Vanguard player annoyed at mechanized as44 blueprint

With Call of Duty: Vanguard bringing the series back to its WW2 roots, players were expecting a grounded Second World War experience. However, futuristic weapon Blueprints keep arriving, and furious players believe they’re breaking the immersion.

For a few years now, Call of Duty has blurred the line between realism and fantasy. While the games themselves usually take place in a historical setting, the devs sprinkle in wacky character skins and weapons throughout the year. Snoop Dogg is arriving in Vanguard, a WW2 game, after all.

Pre-Season 1 Vanguard stuck close to its WW2 aesthetic, but since, we’ve seen anime weapon Blueprints, an Attack on Titan collab, and more. Players aren’t happy, and a futuristic AS44 Blueprint is the latest addition to rile them up.

mechanized as44 blueprint in vanguard

Reddit user VonBurglestein showed off the brand-new Mechanized Blueprint for the AS44, and sarcastically said that “they really nailed the WW2 aesthetic on this one.” The Mechanized Mastercraft Blueprint turns the AS44 into a futuristic color-changing rifle that’s ripped straight out of a sci-fi show.

Players have been desperate to see the Trophy System added to Vanguard to counter Grenade spam, and it’s often brought up when something that goes against the WW2 aesthetic pops up. “Glad we don’t have trophy systems, they would def ruin immersion,” quipped the OP.

“I can’t believe they keep adding these bullsh*t skins to the game,” said Tylus0. “And ray guns with freakin lasers. So much realism.”

“I knew right when the leaks said “world war 2 era” I collapsed and bursted out laughing,” said another. “The ridiculous skins and bundles that are in MW19 and [Cold War] ruined the era, and vanguard proves my point.”

three-sense said: “This and the Blitzkrieg’s fabled “naked megalith man” seen running in and out of fallen abbeys,” referring to the Armored Titan skin that players said looked like “naked men” running around.

However, not every player was annoyed to see these futuristic weapon skins hit the game. “Unpopular opinion, wacky cosmetics are fun,” said abbygriffiths. “It’s not a milsim stop pretending like it is.”


For more Vanguard, you can check out the average Ranked Play Skill Division and see how you stack up.

Image Credit: Activision

About The Author

Liam is CharlieIntel's Editor. After graduating in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University, Liam made use of his passion for FPS games, including Call of Duty, by writing for sites such as The Nerd Stash, Red Bull Gaming, and GAMINGbible before joining CharlieIntel in November 2020. You can contact Liam at [email protected].