How to get all endings in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War: good, bad and worst

In Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, there are several endings, but they all leave players with unanswered questions. Gamers can achieve good, bad, and worst endings. Let's figure out how to get them. We will also analyze each ending and explain what it means for the story of this game and the entire series as a whole.

Before we analyze each ending, here's how to unlock each one:

Decoding the floppy disk, identifying the three suspects, and completing the related missions will not affect the finale. However, their results are mentioned in the epilogue.

To get the good ending, players must reveal the truth in Identity Crisis by telling Adler that Perseus is at the Solovetsky Monastery. The team then attacks the facility and destroys the radio towers, preventing Perseus from launching the Project: Greenlight nuclear weapons. After completing the mission, Adler talks to Bell on a cliff overlooking the sea. Adler calls Bell a hero and asks for one last sacrifice before pulling out a gun. Anticipating betrayal, Bell also draws their weapon. The scene ends before we can see the outcome of these actions.

Since Bell and Adler are not seen in later Black Ops games, it can be assumed that either they kill each other, or Bell shoots Adler and disappears. However, Black Ops Cold War might be a soft reboot that serves as a turning point for future games. In that case, it is impossible to conclude what happens between Adler and Bell at the end of the good ending.

In a broader sense, the good ending means that the status quo was maintained. The nuclear weapons did not go off, and the Cold War continued. The Soviets deny any ties to Perseus, and the organization faces significant setbacks. The CIA continues to pursue Perseus, but he is now in hiding.

Lie to Adler in Identity Crisis and tell him that Perseus is at Duga — this is the path to the bad ending. However, to get this ending, gamers must first unlock the locked gates in the safehouse. If they did this, a countdown timer will start after Adler removes Bell's restraints. Players must reach the radio in the area behind the gates and contact the Soviet forces to inform them about the impending CIA operation at Duga.

When Bell and the team of CIA agents arrive at the radar installation, they find no traces of Perseus or Soviet troops. Nevertheless, players will get a dialogue option signaling a Soviet ambush. After this, Bell must kill their former teammates and finally storm the building to finish off Adler.

After the CIA agents are taken care of, Perseus reveals that there is no person by that name. Instead, Perseus is the name of a group of like-minded individuals. Perseus launches a project that engulfs Europe in nuclear fire. The United States takes the blame, and the free world distances itself from them. This changes the world dynamics from a division between two superpowers to the Soviet Union being the dominant political force on Earth. Perseus continues to watch from the shadows, ready to replace Soviet leaders if necessary.

This ending is terrible for the Western world, but Bell originally wanted just that. Presumably, after this ending, the Warsaw Pact takes over Europe under the guise of helping with reconstruction, and the United States is in political isolation.

Getting the worst ending requires almost the same actions as the bad ending. However, after lying to Adler and telling him that Perseus is at Duga, do not use the radio behind the gates in the safehouse. Instead, head to Duga, and Adler will fight Bell. Bell is helpless without the Soviet reinforcements that could support him, and Adler shoots him in anger.

Europe still burns as Perseus detonates the nuclear weapons. The only difference between the bad and worst endings is that Bell is not around to enjoy it, and the CIA team is still alive.