Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s new extraction mode, DMZ, became available a few days early for players who digitally pre-ordered the military shooter. Dog lovers should know that its opening mission is confronting.
DMZ is a full extraction-shooter experience built into the latest Call of Duty. Players enter a large open-world map populated by enemy NPCs and other players, complete missions, collect loot and attempt to escape alive. If they fail to extract, they lose what they gathered.
That familiar format gets a heavily scripted introduction. The opening follows a soldier entering the DMZ alongside his dog, Rex. The pair head towards a crashed drone to recover its black box and data after the player has a chance to pet the animal. Their mission quickly turns disastrous when two North Korean soldiers ambush them.
Rex kills both attackers, but is shot during the fight. He cries out in pain, leaving the player to check on him before dragging his injured body to a hiding place. The plan is to return and extract Rex later. That rescue never comes: the soldier is captured minutes afterwards and executed with a shot to the head.
The sequence establishes a bleak tone for DMZ, but its treatment of Rex also feels unusually harsh. The dog appears to be abandoned beneath a bush, left bleeding while waiting for an owner who will never return.
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At first, the scene seems like a tutorial for managing a canine companion. However, players have not yet reported unlocking their own dog or encountering another player with one. Since DMZ has only just launched, further play may be required before the feature becomes available. That uncertainty makes Rex’s role in the introduction feel even more puzzling.
Some online are already hoping we get a mission to go save Rex. A rescue mission would at least give the opening sequence a purpose.
Players who would rather avoid watching Rex get shot can begin the introduction and quit as soon as they control the soldier. Players report that doing so skips the scene, and there is no loot reward for completing the opening section.
The sequence may be useful as a warning about DMZ’s tone, but it is a particularly grim way to introduce an online multiplayer mode. Good luck, Rex.
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