April 1st is the worst day to be an esports journalist. You just mindlessly scroll X, looking at a bunch of clearly fake trades, acquisitions, firings, and game updates. However, a few esports titles will actually do things. Even though they’re silly, it’s at least something tangible, not just a social media manager clicking “post.”
One such April Fools update was Call of Duty: Black Ops 7‘s new map. Called “GRWM,” it’s the smallest map in Call of Duty history, taking place inside a closet. Treyarch tweeted: “Let’s get ready to start the day!”
In GRWM, eight players are dropped into a free-for-all lobby where they must fight to survive inside a walk-in closet.
You spawn in and basically see everyone immediately. You can either choose to goof and gaff with everyone or just start shooting. It’s a pretty violent April Fool’s joke, creating a blood bath inside the luxurious walk-in. If anything, it helps improve your reflexes.
It’s clearly a joke, but at least it’s an experience. An entertaining one. You can level up fast by racking up kills, which could help you unlock weapons and attachments. Better than seeing the fifth tweet joking about firing some pro player.
Said one player: “One map better than the entirety of MW2019’s map design.”
And another: “I just played this. This is the craziest thing I ever seen.”
Overwatch is another esports title with an actual update. Underwatch is a limited-time mode with very poorly balanced changes to heroes, such as D.Va’s missiles being slowed down, Doomfist being able to hold his charge indefinitely, Cassidy firing a bullet that causes opponents to bleed out whenever he says “hello,” and Mercy resurrecting enemies, ending in an explosion.
Again, it’s not real, sure. But it took effort and can be enjoyed. I’m just glad April Fool’s Day is almost over so we can see some real news again.