The Dr Squatch Call of Duty soap proves even the sweatiest gamer can smell good

Daily Mirror

16-05-2025

The reputation of companies trying to get gamers to actually take a shower might be poor, but in a huge swing, Dr Squatch might have nailed the answer to the question that nobody is asking – what does Call of Duty smell like?
Dr Squatch has delivered a fresh soap collaboration that would be easy to sniff at if it wasn't so incredibly well-considered.
What exactly gives a person the edge in-game? If the wider gaming industry is offering you the answer, they'll tell you you need a modded controller and the exact right desk setup. If it's game developers, they'll tell you that you need nothing but your mettle and focus – and if it's soap-peddlers and male-focussed toiletry company Dr. Squatch, they'll tell you it's with soap. Go figure.
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The latest batch of smellies from the company is tied to the modern era of Call of Duty, and it's a curious collaboration to say the least, especially as Dr Squatch has collaborated with only the biggest pop culture properties like Harry Potter and Star Wars in the past on the company's UK site, with Godzilla, Kong and Liquid Death all getting a look-in overseas.
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To come for shooter fans, though, might be the greatest stroke of genius that we've seen the company deploy yet. Not because players want to smell like Soap McTavish, but because they don't know that they want to smell like Soap McTavish.
Scrub up
When the Dr Squatch Call of Duty collection landed on my doorstep, frankly, it was hard to know what to expect. It's easy to presume that a product like this falls into the same category as a cartoon-inspired gift set Eau De Toilette, but what shocked me about the bundle was its attention to detail. The scents of both soaps and deodorants – Ghost Grit and Sarge Soap – are incredibly well-informed about the Modern Warfare series.
The scents of Ghost Plant Extract and Field Balm Extract respectively are incredibly earthy, like damp European soil – something you'd probably be likely to find in many missions of the series. It's hard to put into words just how much a soap can smell like the Ghillie'd Up mission from Call of Duty 4, but silly though it may sound, this is genuinely what the collection is reminiscent of.
When it comes to the application of the Dr Squatch collection, don't expect it to totally change your world or give you otherworldly abilities in-game. It certainly didn't for me – Underpass or any of the series' grassier maps weren't magically transformed into a playground of one-sided violence simply because I was smelling a little more as though I'd rolled around in a field.
It's not exactly a pay-to-win experience that will give you a leg up (especially as the current Call of Duty title is Black Ops 6. Maybe it'd have worked better a year sooner), but shockingly, it might make you feel a little closer to the action. It's a very simple touch, but the products smell so much like real, natural earth that they could help to immerse you in the boots-on-the-ground action of the Modern Warfare campaigns. Getting spawn-camped in multiplayer, not so much.
There's something surprisingly clever about the way that the Dr Squatch and Call of Duty collaboration has come together, forgoing the simple chance to phone it in, in favour of something a little more dedicated and thoughtful. It's a genuine surprise that the soaps and deodorants work as well, smell as good and last as long as they do, but Dr Squatch has managed to make not only the idea of a Call of Duty shower sound illustrious, but make the experience itself pretty nice too.
But, frankly, the best part of the collaboration isn't that it's a part of any wider Call of Duty marketing push – it just makes you smell nice. Suck it up and take a shower. If you've been particularly immersed in Black Ops 6 Season 3, there's a non-zero chance it'd do you some good.