Origins

"Every story has a beginning...and an end."

- "Origins" trailer

"Unleashed after the Germans unearthed the mysterious Element 115, this next chapter in the Zombies legacy will explore the saga’s origins as players reunite with an unlikely band of soldiers that come together to defeat the greatest evil the world has ever seen, using a period-specific arsenal that includes Wonder Weapons that harness supernatural powers, a diesel-drone and Mark IV tank, as well a new perk machine and power-ups – and that’s just the start. Players will need all the help they can get to succeed in defeating the undead, as well as evading an unprecedented 1,000-foot tall robot abomination."

- Origins release article

Origins is a Zombies map included in the upcoming Apocalypse downloadable content for Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It is the seventeenth (chronologically the first) Zombies level.

Overview
The "original characters" (Takeo, Nikolai, Richtofen and Dempsey) return as the four playable characters. The zombies have yellow eyes in this map. The map features Wonder Weapons that harness supernatural powers, a Panzer Soldat and Mark IV tank, as well a new Perk-a-Cola machine and Power-Ups. Revealed in the cinematic intro of Origins, a zombie in typical crusader attire is be scheduled to appear. Unlike typical zombies, the crusader zombies have light purple eyes, possibly because they may be the original zombies not controlled by any announcer and are exclusively affected by element 115.

According to the released achievements for this map, you are able to "share weapons you dug up" and incorporate zombie blood into reviving other players. Samantha will be able to be "released", possibly in a similar way to Moon. You are also adept to revive players in four different ways, this is the first map to do so.The release trailer features one of 3 Giant Mechs and either German/Allied airships. It is unknown at this time if these airships are significant or are placed for cosmetic reasons.

The Demonic Announcer for this map is unknown.

Features
Weapons

Opening Scene Transcript
The words Northern France, 1918 appear on the screen before shifting to scenes of various locations across a snowswept battlefield as a childlike voice narrates.

Voice: It began long ago, on the battlefields of .

A map of France appears on screen as two pictures of Dr. Ludvig Maxis and Edward Richtofen shortly overlay.

Voice: Two German scientists sought to harness dark and mysterious forces. Buried for centuries. They believed their discoveries would assure Germany's ultimate victory. But they could never have imagined just what else their research would unearth.

''Scenes of German excavations are shown, as well as a meteorite of a strange element. In one chamber, three German soldiers wearing gas masks break through a wall. Through the hole, an unseen assailant emerges and surprises them. The figure is revealed to be a Zombie clad in old Crusader regalia. The zombies overwhelm the garrison of German soldiers before emerging from the ruins and onto the battlefield and killing all remaining German forces.''

Voice: As an ancient evil ravaged the front lines, the hopes of the allies rested on three soldiers set to stop it.

''The scene then changes to a crawling zombie being crushed under a tank. Atop the vehicle is Tank Dempsey, kicking a zombie off before jumping off himself and engaging the zombies with an MG 08, soon switching to a knife and a Remington New Model Army revolver.''

''Elsewhere, Nikolai Belinski is seen engaging zombies with a Hatchet and a Mauser pistol. He breaks a zombie in half with the Hatchet before throwing it at another and taking out an Olympia.''

''Closeby, Takeo Masaki is also cutting through zombies with a Katana and a Mauser. He makes his way into a room where he encounters Dempsey and Nikolai.''

''The three draw their guns on each other, before they all point them towards another figure in the room. Dr. Edward Richtofen, is seen with a bonesaw above a dead zombie on an operating table with its head cut open. He briefly examines hs bloody hands, seemingly confused, before the four notice more zombies approaching them through a hole in the wall.''

''Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo aim their guns at the zombies. However, a bright yellow light surrounds them as all four look up to see a Giant Robot looking down upon them. It raises its foot as the four dive out of the way, before the Robot stomps down upon the ground, the scene going black. The voice, now revealed to be that of Samantha closes the intro.''

Samantha: My name is Samantha. I'm going to tell you how all this really began.

Trivia

 * This is the third time in Zombies history that a new starting weapon (the Mauser) is featured (the first being Dead Ops Arcade with the M60, and the second being the Black Ops DS maps with the Makarov PM).
 * This is the first time the original group has made a physical appearance in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
 * This is also the first time the original group is featured in an animated cutscene.
 * Origins marks the first ever Call of Duty feature to take place during the First World War.
 * This also makes the level the earliest-set feature in Call of Duty, with the previous earliest-set feature taking place in the 1930s.
 * This is the first time Tank, Nikolai, and Takeo are playable in Black Ops II, but also the first time Takeo is seen or referenced directly at all in Black Ops II.
 * Avenged Sevenfold's song "Shepherd of Fire" (from their  album) is featured in the opening cutscene.
 * The Origins Intro Cinematic was first uploaded to Call of Duty's YouTube Channel on August 19th, but at roughly 1:49 Nikolai Belinski's name was misspelled as "Belinksi". It was taken down, then reuploaded to Treyarch's channel the following day, with the mistake rectified.
 * A poster of Origins was released. It was created by Alex Ross.
 * A new version of the opening cinematic for Origins was released on 22nd August, on COD TV in the zombies section, with a younger Samantha as the voiceover with some extra dialouge.
 * This is the first zombies map to feature more than two ways of being able to revive other players (previous maps had standard revives and instant revives from the Pack-a-Punched Ballistic Knife).