As with most battle royale maps, they are often based on real life locations yet reach a step above realism and that seems to be just the case with Warzone’s Verdansk map.
Any dedicated Modern Warfare fan will know the fictional country of Kastovia where parts of the games storyline takes place. The country is located between Georgia and Russia, the city of Verdansk can also be found here too.
The country of Kastovia is a mix of several European countries and gives the game that much needed background for battles featured in the game, although it is very realistic it is not actually a real location.
The fan-favourite city of Verdansk is also a fictional location, although it has been heavily influenced the real city of Donetsk located in Ukraine. It is easy to make the connection between the two cites as Verdansk features multiple famous landmarks from the city of Donetsk, if that wasn’t enough evidence the code for the map has been found in the games files as ‘mp_donetsk’.
The given code name also suggests that during the games development it could have been the case that Infinity Ward were going to try and replicate the exact city instead of creating a fictional alternative. However, it seems that at some stage they decided against it and began to create the much loved city of Verdansk.
The landmarks that are featured in the map have been recognised as locations from the actual city such as the bank which is based on a real bank building in Donetsk, however in the Verdansk version the branding of the building has been changed slightly.
The airport is also very similar along with Donetsk’s Donbass Arena. Although inspiration has been taken largely from Donetsk there has also been a number of other locations in Ukraine used for inspiration also.
Inspiration was drawn from Ukraine’s parliament building alongside the Gora Dam which was a slightly changed version of the real life Dnieper Hydroelectric Station. The name ‘Verdansk’ is also a bit of a play on names, it seems it is a mix of Verdun and Donetsk.
So, it seems that multiple historical events in the area have made their way into the game, although you probably haven’t noticed if you mainly play Warzone.
