"Call of Duty Vanguard," the next main line entry in the wildly popular Call of Duty franchise, will feature a totally new squad-based multiplayer mode, a campaign that will include major battles across the four main theaters of World War II, and environments that will react and change in response to bullets and explosions. Set to release Nov. 5, it is also the first major title launch for video game publisher Activision Blizzard since the state of California filed a bombshell sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the company July 20.

Sledgehammer Games, the Activision-owned game development studio that created "Vanguard," was not named in the suit. However, Sledgehammer studio head Aaron Halon addressed the lawsuit at the outset of a recent media preview for the game, calling news of its allegations "devastating."

From there, the "Vanguard" briefing reverted to a more usual script, as developers described details from the latest game and the features it believes will appeal to gamers.

The highlights from the preview revolved more around some of the game's details rather than its unsurprising WW2-inspired plot premise. (The good guys fight Nazis.) The standout moment from the preview came when the developers showed gameplay footage illustrating how objects and set pieces of "Vanguard's" maps would react when the shooting started. In one scene, gunfire from behind a bookcase knocked volumes from shelves and shredded their pages, creating a new, clear sightline and leaving the books scattered on the floor, riddled with bullet holes.

With windows shattering under a hail of bullets and explosions blasting holes through walls, "Vanguard" will introduce a dynamic war simulation fans have really only found in EA's "Battlefield" series, where walls or buildings crumble under fire from tanks or rocket-propelled grenades. The game will feature a newer version of the game engine first introduced with 2019′s "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare." Players will again be able to mount their weapons on objects — for example, a table or box — and now will be able to slide them along flat surfaces as well, while maintaining cover.

Also new to "Vanguard" will be a multiplayer mode called Champion Hill, pitting eight teams against one another in a round-robin-style tournament. The mode can be played with solos, duos and trios, and will take place in "an arena consisting of four maps." The developers, who promised additional details on the mode, described it as a blend between battle royale and the 2v2 Gunfight mode introduced with 2019′s "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare." Gunfight will also be included as a mode for "Vanguard," as will the franchise's popular Zombies mode, which will be managed by Treyarch and build off the lore found in last year's game, "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War."

Players will be able to customize their loadouts using the game's Gunsmith feature, which will introduce "custom ballistics" for weapons.

Sledgehammer touted a total of 20 maps (including four 2v2 maps) playable at the game's launch.