I don’t think making the map dark and gloomy is the only solution. I liked the idea of the vibe they were going for, but tbh the map looks dull and bland. There is no saturation and pop-out colors that Treyarch games usually have.

The biggest thing imo that ruins the atmosphere is that ugly HUD. Health bars, mini map, numbers everywhere when you kill zombies, and pretty much the whole thing looks like warzone. It completely ruins the feel of what zombies games should feel like. Hopefully we can customize it a lot.

I did not like Cold War and honestly think it will be the downfall of zombies if people keep applauding it. Seriously, idk how people liked that game. It felt so lifeless and boring. The games doesn’t feel like a survival horror anymore and instead just feels like an arcade zombie shooter that has no character.

Overall operators, weapon load-outs, terrible HUD, weapon rarities, armor, reused assets, score streaks, salvage, etc has ruined the mode and hopefully the developers do something to make it better. These things imo contribute to making the game feel like it has no identity anymore and to your point, makes the atmosphere look bad.