Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has a rather snarky death quote for an unlikely death.
Reddit user u/JustSomeDude049 (opens in new tab) points out that if you manage to get crushed by a shelf during the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Hunting Party mission, you don’t get the usual screen featuring a grim quote from a deceased world leader. During the mission, soldiers will push a rather large shelf out of the way in order to move into the next area. If you stand where they’re pushing the shelf, it’ll crush you to death, and instead of a Martin Luther King Jr. quote attempting to motivate you to not die on your next go, Modern Warfare simply tells you how to avoid getting crushed.
In Modern Warfare (2019) During the mission Hunting Party if you stand next to the shelf while the soldier are moving it, you get presented a unique death quote. from r/GamingDetails
The suggestion to use your joysticks to “dodge” the shelf is a funny little Easter egg buried in Modern Warfare – a game that takes itself rather seriously. It’s a nice reprieve from the bevy of quotes that often frustrate you further after an especially difficult sequence. Clearly, death by shelf doesn’t warrant a quote, but rather a gentle suggestion to pay attention to your surroundings.
With a new Call of Duty coming late 2021, perhaps there will be another opportunity for a death screen to not-so-subtly shade you. Rumors suggest the next Call of Duty title is set in alt-history 1950s where WW2 never ended, so there’s certainly a chance for Sledgehammer Games to insert some funny – and potentially fake – quotes into the death screens. We’ll have to wait and see if there’s any more snarky screens when the game drops later this year.
Until then, get into some Call of Duty: Warzone to scratch that shooter itch.