Call of Duty: WW2 released back in 2017, but its collectible system still pulls players back in years later. Mementos are hidden throughout the campaign, multiplayer maps, and Zombies mode, and tracking down every single one is its own endgame for dedicated collectors. Whether you’re chasing completion achievements or just want to experience every corner of the game’s WW2 setting, understanding what mementos are and where to find them is essential. This guide walks you through the entire collection system, breaking down regional locations, hunting strategies, and the rewards that make the grind worthwhile.
Key Takeaways
- Call of Duty WW2 mementos are collectible artifacts scattered across the campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies mode that reward exploration and deepen narrative understanding beyond combat-focused gameplay.
- Finding mementos requires systematic exploration—checking side rooms, destroying environmental objects, using crouch movement, and replaying missions on easier difficulties to focus on discovery rather than survival.
- Call of Duty WW2 mementos are strategically placed in locations that make narrative sense, such as destroyed buildings, bunkers, and command centers, with regional variations across Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific theater.
- Completing the memento collection takes 30-50 hours with guides or 80+ hours blind, but unlocks exclusive achievements, cosmetic rewards, and community recognition that signal dedication within the Call of Duty community.
- Community resources like Reddit, YouTube walkthroughs, and gaming guides provide detailed location maps for mementos, making the hunt more efficient after you’ve attempted blind exploration.
What Are Mementos In Call Of Duty WW2?
Mementos are collectible items scattered throughout Call of Duty: WW2’s campaign that serve as historical artifacts tied to the game’s narrative. They’re essentially small photographs, documents, or symbolic objects that provide context to the war effort across different theaters. Each memento is tied to a specific mission or location, and collecting them all unlocks achievements and deepens your understanding of the game’s storytelling approach.
Unlike typical weapon blueprints or cosmetic rewards, mementos carry narrative weight. They’re not just loot drops, they’re intentional design elements that reward curious players who explore beyond the linear mission path. The game tracks your collection progress per campaign mission, making it possible to replay specific chapters and hunt for stragglers.
Mementos come in different categories depending on the campaign region. Some are tucked in obvious safe rooms, while others require destroying environmental objects, finding secret passages, or completing optional objectives. The game doesn’t hand-hold you to them, which is part of their appeal: finding a memento feels like genuine discovery rather than following a quest marker.
How Mementos Enhance Your Gaming Experience
Collecting mementos transforms how you engage with Call of Duty: WW2’s campaign. Instead of rushing through missions on autopilot, you’re incentivized to slow down, explore every corner, and engage with the environmental storytelling. This shifts the pacing from pure combat to something closer to an adventure game where discovery matters.
The narrative depth is real. Each memento ties to a specific soldier, objective, or historical moment. When you collect them, you’re piecing together a fuller picture of the 1st Infantry Division’s journey across WW2. The game presents these artifacts as captain’s logs, letters home, or personal effects, items that humanize the war beyond the explosions and gunfire.
Beyond storytelling, there’s the collector’s satisfaction. Hunting for every memento gives you a concrete goal beyond beat-the-campaign. Players aiming for 100% completion will spend dozens of extra hours replaying missions, studying map layouts, and comparing notes with the community. The sense of accomplishment when you finally snag that last memento in a tricky location hits different than just finishing the final boss.
Completion also unlocks achievements and cosmetic rewards tied to your profile. Some players track completion percentage publicly, making the memento hunt a visible flex in gaming circles.
Campaign Mementos: A Region-By-Region Breakdown
The WW2 campaign spans multiple theaters, and mementos are distributed across campaigns from North Africa to the Pacific. Understanding the regional structure helps you navigate the hunt methodically.
Western Europe Mementos
The Western Europe campaign covers the invasion of France and the push through Belgium and Germany. This region contains some of the most iconic missions and, accordingly, some well-hidden mementos.
Operation Cobra features a memento in the first objective area after breaching the hedgerow, it’s hidden in a destroyed farmhouse’s cellar. Look for basement stairs that branch off from the main courtyard.
Battle of the Bulge has multiple mementos spread across its three chapters. One sits in a fuel depot objective area: another is in a small bunker complex accessible by flanking left from the main advance. Don’t rush through the village sections, side buildings often contain collectibles.
Unter requires careful exploration of the castle interior. One memento is in the war room where officers are planning, hidden on a desk. A second is in the barracks area after clearing enemy positions.
The Western Europe missions demand you break away from the golden path. The game doesn’t seal off side routes, so wandering into destroyed buildings and bunkers almost always pays off.
Eastern Europe And Soviet Union Mementos
The Eastern Europe campaign is brutal, dark, and filled with industrial settings perfect for hiding collectibles. These missions tend to have more mementos per chapter due to their length and complexity.
Ostfront opens with a village assault. One memento is in the church tower, climb the bell tower stairs carefully. Another is in the town commander’s house, accessible after clearing the main square.
Stalingrad is massive and spans multiple phases. The first memento is in the residential district during the early push: it’s in a second-floor apartment overlooking the street approach. The second is in the factory complex, search the administrative building’s office areas.
Kasserine Pass (technically North Africa, but grouped with Soviet content in some guides) features mementos in enemy fortifications. One is in a dug-in bunker system: another is in the captured armory area.
Eastern Europe missions feature tighter urban layouts and more interior spaces. Mementos here are often placed where players might expect strategic defensible positions.
North Africa And Pacific Theater Mementos
These regions are more spread out geographically, with mementos reflecting desert and jungle environments.
Gela (North Africa) has mementos in the coastal fortifications and supply depots. One is in the observation post overlooking the beach: another is in a warehouse complex inland from the main assault route.
Shuri Castle (Pacific) places mementos in the fortified positions and command structures. One is in the main castle keep: another is in the surrounding military encampment.
Iwo Jima features mementos in the volcanic terrain and bunker systems. These are harder to spot because the gray-on-gray environment is naturally camouflaged. Search elevated positions and cave entrances methodically.
Multiplayer And Zombies Mementos
Mementos aren’t exclusive to the campaign. Multiplayer maps and the Zombies mode feature their own collectibles, though they work differently than campaign versions.
Multiplayer mementos are typically found in specific spawning locations on each map. Unlike campaign mementos that stay in one place, multiplayer collectibles can shift based on match flow and player presence. The most reliable approach is to load a private match, disable enemy AI, and systematically search each map’s corners and back areas. Maps like Ardennes Forest and USS Texas have mementos in their historical locations, the forest has items near the bunker structures, while the USS Texas features collectibles in crew quarters and command deck areas.
Zombies mementos tie into the mode’s narrative. They’re often found in specific round locations or behind the mystery box. Some require unlocking specific areas of the map first. The Groesten Haus map, for example, has mementos in the upper floors and basement rooms. Players grinding Zombies for other reasons (like unlocking weapons or leveling up) will naturally stumble upon some, but dedicated hunters should run the map without trying to survive indefinitely, instead focusing on accessing all accessible areas.
Resources like GamesRadar+ gaming guides and GameSpot’s game guides section have detailed walkthroughs for multiplayer and Zombies collectibles if you get stuck on specific maps.
Collectible Locations And Hunting Strategies
Finding every memento requires method, patience, and knowing where to look. There’s no radar pinging collectibles, you’re relying on environmental awareness and systematic exploration.
Beginner Tips For Finding Mementos
Start by playing missions on a difficulty that lets you focus on exploration rather than survival. Recruit or Regular difficulty lets you wander without getting swarmed.
Check every room. When you enter a building or bunker, assume it might contain a memento. Don’t power through hallways: peek inside side rooms, offices, and storage areas. Mementos are placed in locations that make sense narratively, so they’re not randomly hidden behind obscure walls.
Look for interactive objects. Some mementos require destroying breakable items, moving crates, or interacting with environmental props. If you see a destroyed desk, burning documents, or a pile of supplies, investigate. The game usually makes these visually distinct from their surroundings.
Use crouch movement. Walking slowly through rooms lets you spot small collectibles before you rush past them. Crouching also lets you slip into tight spaces where mementos might be tucked.
Replay missions with a checklist. After your first playthrough, create a list of missions with missing mementos and tackle them methodically. Replaying the same mission twice is more efficient than replaying all campaigns randomly.
Use community maps. Once you’ve made a genuine attempt, checking community-created maps on Reddit (specifically r/blackops3 and similar subreddits that discuss WW2 content) or YouTube videos showing exact locations saves grinding time. There’s no shame in looking up the final few, some mementos are genuinely obscure.
Advanced Techniques For Completionists
For hunters aiming for 100% completion, optimization matters. Here’s how serious collectors approach it.
Map sectioning. Divide each mission into distinct zones, north side, south side, interior areas, etc. Hunt one zone completely before moving to the next. This prevents backtracking and keeps your mental map organized.
Save-scumming. Some players use quicksave-quickload mechanics to test if they’ve found all mementos in a section without replaying the entire mission. If using this approach, checkpoint before major combat encounters.
Video documentation. If you’re streaming or recording your hunt, having a secondary monitor or phone with a location guide prevents constant pausing. This workflow keeps momentum.
Discuss with the community. Call of Duty communities on Reddit and Discord often have players who’ve 100% completed the game. Asking about specific “stuck on this one memento in Stalingrad” questions usually nets quick answers from experienced hunters.
The Call Of Duty Archives at Questgiggle contains additional tips and tricks for campaign collectibles across the entire franchise. You can also reference Call of Duty Cold War PS4 guides for comparison on how other WW2-adjacent titles handle similar collectible systems.
Challenges And Rewards For Collecting All Mementos
Collecting every memento isn’t just about the hunt, there are concrete rewards and bragging rights tied to completion.
Challenges tied to collection. Some challenges require finding specific numbers of mementos before unlocking weapon blueprints or cosmetic rewards. The game tracks your progress per mission, so you can see exactly how many you’re missing. Hitting major milestones (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) often triggers notifications rewarding XP or cosmetics.
Achievement unlocks. Xbox and PlayStation both feature memento-related achievements. “Historian” or similar titles unlock once you’ve found all mementos in a campaign region, while “Archivist” or equivalents trigger at 100% completion across all regions. These show up on your profile, making them visible to friends.
Cosmetic rewards. Completing the entire memento collection can unlock exclusive weapon skins, operator cosmetics, or calling cards that are only available to collectors. These are purely cosmetic but signal dedication to other players.
Timeline investment. Realistically, finding every memento takes 30-50 hours depending on how much you use external guides. If you’re doing it blind, budget closer to 80+ hours. This is significant, but it’s also stretched across multiple playthroughs, so it doesn’t feel like one grinding session.
Community recognition. Players who complete rare challenges often share clips or screenshots on social media. Hitting 100% memento completion is recognized as a meaningful achievement within the Call of Duty community, even if it doesn’t directly impact gameplay performance.
The difficulty scales based on whether you’re hunting blind or using guides. Blind hunting is rewarding but takes significantly longer. Using community resources (like Twinfinite’s game guides) for the last 10-15% after you’ve made genuine attempts is a practical middle ground. You can also Call of Duty Twitch Drops for limited-time cosmetic opportunities that sometimes complement memento-based rewards.
Conclusion
Mementos in Call of Duty: WW2 represent a thoughtful approach to collectibles, they reward curiosity and exploration without forcing completion on anyone. Whether you’re a casual player picking up a few during your first campaign run or a completionist hunting every single one across all regions and modes, the system adds meaningful depth to the experience.
The journey from your first memento to the final one transforms how you see the game. You’ll discover hidden rooms, uncover story details, and develop a deeper appreciation for the level design. The hunting itself becomes the reward, even before you unlock that final achievement.
If you’re ready to jump into the hunt, start with campaign missions on an easier difficulty, explore every building, and don’t hesitate to check community guides when you hit dead ends. The WW2 setting’s historical authenticity means mementos are placed where they narratively make sense, so your real-world knowledge of where soldiers might store personal effects actually helps.
Good hunting, and enjoy uncovering every piece of WW2 history hidden throughout the game.