Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the eleventh main game in the first-person shooter series. The single-player campaign is set in the future, around 2054, when Atlas, a private military corporation led by Jonathan Irons, has become the most powerful military organization on the planet. The player controls Jack Mitchell who starts as a soldier for the Marine Corps. He is stationed in Seoul, South Korea, with Will Irons. In a successful, but deadly mission against North Korea, 6.000 marines are killed including Will and Jack loses his left arm. At the funeral he is approached by Jack's father Jonathan who offers him a job at Atlas and where he receives a high-tech prosthetic arm. The story covers several years and locations as Atlas' intentions are slowly revealed. Next to Irons prominent characters are Gideon, Joker, Ilona, and his old sergeant Cormack. Countries and locations visited in the game include U.S.A., Greece, Bulgaria, Nigeria, South Korea, Thailand, Antarctica, and Iraq.

As the game is set in the future, Mitchell has access to high-tech exosuits that drastically enhance the soldier's abilities. Each mission provides a different type of suit with specific powers, such as the ability to double jump, use a grappling hook, hover through boosts, become invisible through cloak, launch grenades, provide a shield or additional health, and climb metallic surfaces. Compared to other Call of Duty games, there are more moments with slower action, the opportunity for stealth and a number of environments that are more open so different approaches can be considered. Mitchell can be upgraded by earning points through completing challenges, allowing him to reload faster or to take more damage. Various missions provide vehicles, such as a hoverbike, a speedboat with the ability to plunge underwater, heavy mech suits, a tank, and a fighter jet. The game does not use a regular HUD, but all information is projected on the weapon through a hologram. Next to regular weapons and grenades there are weapons that rely on lasers or energy.

For multiplayer game modes include Capture the Flag and Hardpoint (returning from Call of Duty: Black Ops II), the flag based Momentum (based on the War game mode from Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War), Domination, Kill Confirmed and others. Entirely new is the objective based Uplink mode based on carrying satellites with two teams of four to six players. The loadout is called the Pick 13 system, a variation of the Black Ops II Pick-10 Create-A-Class system. Players have room for thirteen items or abilities, such as a primary weapon with different attachments, different perks, scorestreak rewards etc. Scorestreaks can be customized, a first for the series, but it makes the reward more expensive. There are also regular supply drops that provide items in three categories: enlist (common), professional (uncommon), and elite (rare). These include custom weapons and customization items called reinforcements. All collected items are stored in an armory, but they can also be exchanged for additional experience instead. Just like in single-player the exosuit abilities can be used, and some of them such as boost and the grappling hook alter the movement significantly.

Like many of the previous games there is another, separate game mode, now called Exo Survival, very similar to the ones from Call of Duty: MW3 and Call of Duty: Ghosts. One to four players work together to survive multiple rounds, fighting off waves of enemies. There are four tiers to unlock and eleven rounds in total.