The Real-Life Inspirations Behind 'Call Of Duty: Warzone' Landmarks

Call Of Duty: Warzone continues to be the biggest thing since sliced bread. With well over 60 million players at last count, the massive Verdansk map has become a sort of second home to a lot of us. Granted, it's a second home filled with ruin and decay, but we take what we can get in lockdown.

The Warzone map is defined by a number of key landmarks that help to keep the gameplay feeling fresh and fun at every turn. From the tower-defence chaos that the Gulag brings to the tense shootouts across the bridge over the Dam, I'm sure we all have our favourite (and least favourite) places to hole up.

Of course like any Call Of Duty game, Warzone's landmarks take a lot of inspiration from real-world locations. I've compiled a number of discoveries from intrepid members of the Warzone community to give you an idea of what some of the game's key locations are actually based on. Let's get to it.

Airport & Tower - Donetsk Airport & Tower

Activision

In Warzone, the air-control tower is one of the most hotly-contested spots in the game. Its position on the map means getting to the top grants you incredible lines of sight all around, and trying to sneak up to take it from an enemy who's already claimed it is very tricky indeed.

In reality, Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev International Airport was a Ukranian airport that was ultimately destroyed in 2014 during the War in Donbass. As you can see, there are a lot of similarities between the two towers. It's clear that this is where Infinity Ward found its inspiration.

Swimming Pool - Chernobyl Dive Pool

You might remember the story from earlier this year, when an explorer, artist and Call Of Duty fan managed to track down what looks like the exact swimming pool from Warzone in Chernobyl.

Luke Mallinson had actually visited Chernobyl weeks before playing Warzone for the first time, so he was pretty shocked to discover one of the sites he'd visited while playing the battle royale.

Stadium - Donbass Arena

Activision

The stadium is probably one of the most hated areas in Warzone, most likely because despite its size, it's kind of useless. Still, the building itself is pretty impressive, right? As it turns out, this one is based on another Donetsk landmark - the Donbass Arena.

Sadly, the real-life stadium has been closed to the public since 2014 thanks to the War in Donbass.

Gora Dam - Dnieper Hydroelectric Station

Activision

The Gora Dam is one of the largest areas in Warzone, and actually where I got my first win. Not that this matters at all, but I like to point that out where I can. As you can see for yourself, the two aren't quite identical, but we can assume that Infinity Ward was inspired by the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station.

Aside from a few visual similarities, the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station is the largest dam in Ukraine. Given the size of the Gora Dam and the fact that a number of areas in Warzone are clearly based on Ukraine, this is a fairly safe assumption to make.

War Memorial

Now, these locations are really interesting. As you can see from the tweets above, a number of the war memorials found across the Verdansk map are actually based on real-life structures built to remember those who died in World War II.

While not exact replicas (presumably for reasons of taste and decency), you can see that Infinity Ward were inspired by the unique designs of these memorials.

Parliament Building - Verkhovna Rada Building

Activision

While once again not an exact recreation, there are enough details here to confirm that Infinity Ward based the Verdansk Parliament Building on the Verkhovna Rada building in Kiev. The central dome and pillars along the front of the building are a dead giveaway.

Fun fact: The glass dome of the Verkhovna Rada building was rebuilt to be one metre higher after it was originally destroyed in World War II. Okay, maybe not a "fun" fact... but knowledge is power, kids.

Atlas Superstore - Metro Supermarket Donetsk

Finally, we come to the infamous Atlas Superstore, which is based on another location in Donetsk: a Metro supermarket. In Warzone, the Atlas Superstore is a long-abandoned mess, with a number of places where sneakier players can get the jump on anyone attempting to explore the area for themselves.

In reality, it's based on what was the largest Metro supermarket in Donetsk. The supermarket was ultimately closed in 2014 in the interests of safety for both employees and customers, just like the Donbass Arena and Donetsk Airport. Not long after this, looters hit the store and utterly ransacked the place.

Topics: Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward, Warzone, Call of Duty, Battle Royale, Activision