You can now play Black Ops 7's unique co-op extraction mode for free

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 3 has begun, and with it comes the opportunity to try out its most inventive game mode, Endgame, even if you don't own a copy of Treyarch and Activision's latest. BO7 is a vast and unwieldy beast, with Jamie scoring it a 7/10, noting its balance between strong multiplayer and zombies offerings, and a disappointing campaign. The PvE Endgame mode is a highlight, however: it doesn't knock things completely out of the park, but it's certainly one of the most creative additions to the FPS game in years, and now you can play it for free for a limited time.

Black Ops 7 Endgame, which was originally trapped behind completion of its co-op campaign until Treyarch saw fit to untether it a week after launch, is more of a long-form PvE grind mode. It combines ideas from the old Warzone DMZ, MW3 Zombies, and even the likes of Destiny 2, tasking you with gearing up through a series of PvE activities across its Avalon map, which you'll be familiar with if you've dipped into the recently added Black Ops Royale mode. It's got slight Arc Raiders vibes, although there's no player-on-player violence.

With Black Ops 7 Season 3, Endgame is going free to play. You can access it from the Call of Duty launcher, which you can get your hands on as part of Warzone. If you don't own Black Ops 7, you'll start out with four operators: Mason, Anderson, 50/50, and Samuels. Given that it's a mode designed for co-op, the ability to jump in for free is a big benefit, as it's a lot easier to convince your friends to join you when there isn't a hefty price tag.

Endgame has also been overhauled for Season 3. There are now 'operations' that you can complete, following "a series of strict objectives designed to be cleared across multiple matches." Manage to work your way through them all and you'll gain access to the 'Link Forger Glitch Fracture,' where you can get your hands on a wide range of prizes that include new weapon blueprints, emblems, double-XP tokens, and restore tokens (more on those in a moment). The first of these is Operation Poison Pill.

Also being added to Endgame is the 'Warband' skill track, which offers you more of a summoner playstyle. Its plague skill infects enemies around you and turns them into allies. Your kills can spawn attack drones, and the damage and eliminations scored by your summoned allies will restore health. Its Aether Blade minor ability is a target-seeking throwing knife that can bounce to five foes, while its Thermal Spike major ability incinerates foes with a blast of cleansing fire, leaving flames in its wake.

Two new exotic weapons have been introduced: the 'Collateral' assault rifle with ricochet rounds, and the 'Continuum' bolt-action sniper rifle. Loadouts will now be individually assigned per operator, allowing you to expand your customization with unique builds for each character. If you want to start an operator from scratch, there's the ability to reset their combat rating to zero, and once you've fully progressed their combat rating there's also the option to reset a specific skill track.

Due to the increase in difficulty from glitches, guild strikes, and nightmare zones as you ramp up into the later parts of Endgame, loss penalties have been capped to a maximum of 15 combat rating per wipe. Note that you'll still lose nightmare skills and exotic skills, and have your loadout reset. However, the new restore token can be spent to save your bacon, restoring all lost progress after you fall. They're in limited supply, so use them wisely.

Black Ops 7 Endgame is free to play via Call of Duty Warzone now. The Black Ops 7 Season 3 free trial is also running from Thursday April 2 until Monday April 6, with access to all multiplayer and zombies maps. If you're looking for something to fill the long weekend, you can discover whether the latest Call of Duty is worth your time without spending a thing.