Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 features 16 campaign missions, with dialogue or action prompts appearing in four. Most only alter a spoken line, but some can kill your character, cause mission failure, or affect a civilian. Full story spoilers follow.
Quick answer: Pick “Execute” in Following Orders, “Shoot” in Hired Gun, and “I separated us. I never should have left him.” in Stranded. Nothing you choose in Mayhem has consequences.
Modern Warfare 4 correct choices by mission
Only the decisions below change what happens. Every other prompt in the campaign changes dialogue and nothing else.
| Mission | Decision | Pick | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3: Following Orders | Contraband question | Ask about South Korean medicine | Defector’s location revealed |
| 3: Following Orders | Woman in the cellar | “Open the hatch, or else.” or “No. We’re going outside.” | She leaves the hiding spot |
| 3: Following Orders | Hanging the defector | Execute | Your soldier survives |
| 4: Hired Gun | Phillip Graves | Shoot | Price kills Graves |
| 10: Stranded | How Ri’s brother died | “I separated us. I never should have left him.” | Ko survives |
| 10: Stranded | Search status | “Patrols are combing the area.” | Moves to the Tac Map |
Choices that can fail a mission: Hired Gun and Stranded
Two missions punish a wrong answer with a reload. In both, there is only one way through.
Hired Gun (Mission 4): Shoot or Don’t shoot Phillip Graves
Hired Gun presents a single prompt. Choose Shoot, and Captain John Price shoots Phillip Graves in the head. Choosing Don’t shoot lets Graves kill Price, causing the mission to fail at once.
Stranded (Mission 10): Ko Jin-Hyuk’s interrogation by Ri
In Stranded, you play Ko Jin-Hyuk, whom Supreme Leader Ri Ju-Young summons after her brother dies. She asks Ko to explain his death. Of the three responses, two result in Ko being shot in the head; afterward, the game returns you to the checkpoint just before the question.
| Answer | Outcome |
|---|---|
| “You killed him, Supreme Leader.” | Ri executes Ko immediately |
| “I didn’t leave his side. He was shot before I could react.” | Ri calls it a lie and executes Ko |
| “I separated us. I never should have left him.” | Ko survives |
Taking responsibility keeps Ko alive. Ri says he let her brother down, but offers him a chance to redeem himself by succeeding on his next mission. She gives him two more prompts before allowing him to leave.
Success is signaled when Ri sends Ko away with two days to locate the intruders or take their place. Ko then radios Park that the armored vehicles are on their way to the jamming station. Park responds, “Good call.”
Following Orders (Mission 3): Choices that decide your soldier’s fate
Following Orders offers the campaign’s largest number of decisions. You take the role of a North Korean soldier tracking a defector through a village, accompanied by Ko Jin-Hyuk and serving under Ri Ju-Young. The mission has four decision points. None can cause mission failure, but two determine whether your soldier survives to the end.
To survive, you need both of these:
- Get the woman out of her hiding spot in the final house.
- Choose Execute when Ri orders the hanging.
Questioning the husband and wife
A couple lives in the first house, and the wife attempts to flee. Your response to her determines whether she survives.
| Line | Outcome |
|---|---|
| “Comply, or I can hurt you.” / “Please join your husband.” | Opens a follow-up exchange |
| “Then why did you run?” / “If you are loyal, you are safe.” / “I will not ask again.” | The wife returns to the living room to be with her husband |
| “Run while you can.” | Wife flees into the garden and is shot dead |
Every interrogation method ends with you learning where the defector is. What changes is whether you earn the mission’s achievements. Threatening the couple by aiming at them, or bringing the wife from the kitchen into the living room and threatening her there, still counts as harmless. Shooting either civilian in a non-vital spot also gets you the answer, but it costs you No Harm Done, which requires finding the defector without injuring a civilian.
Contraband locations and the husband’s answers
Each piece of contraband you find unlocks a question for the husband. The couple won’t cooperate until you’re holding at least two items. The lockbox in the first room on the right opens with code 214, which is written on a note inside the left cupboard in the kitchen.
| Contraband | Location | Husband’s answer |
|---|---|---|
| MP3 player | Bathroom cabinet | It only plays state-sanctioned music |
| Western novel | Kitchen closet | It was his son’s, and he’ll burn it |
| South Korean medicine | Toolbox | He has a heart condition; reveals the defector’s location |
Only the medicine question advances the mission, because it’s the one that prompts the husband to reveal the defector’s whereabouts. Finding all the contraband and all the notes also counts toward No Stone Unturned.
The woman in the cellar
In the final house, a woman hides behind a hatch leading to a concealed room in the bathroom. You may persuade her to come out, force her out with a threat, or grab her. Alternatively, leave her inside by talking to her or shutting the hatch yourself.
| Choice | Outcome | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| “Please open the hatch.” | She refuses | Wrong |
| “Open the hatch, or else.” / “Open up. You’re trapped.” | She opens it and is forced outside | Correct |
| “No. We’re going outside.” / “The defector was found. It’s safe to come out.” | She walks out with the other civilians | Correct |
| “Okay. Stay hidden.” | She’s discovered during the hanging | Wrong |
“Please open the hatch.” isn’t a dead end. After she refuses, follow up with “Open the hatch, or else.” and she’ll open it. Once she’s out, climb into her hiding place to pick up the last note in the level, which you need for No Stone Unturned.
Hiding her doesn’t save her. The other soldiers find her during the hanging, and your soldier is hanged alongside the defector.
Hanging the defector: Execute or Refuse
At the mission’s end, Ri Ju-Young orders you to execute the defector. Choose Execute and your soldier performs the hanging; he also survives if you brought the woman outside. Choose Refuse and Ri kills your soldier, while the defector is hanged regardless. Either outcome allows the mission to continue, and neither grants an achievement, so refusing only costs your character his life.
Mayhem (Mission 1): Dunn dialogue choices with no consequences
The opening mission’s prompts take place in the Goh Mart convenience store, where Pvt. Park Hyun-Jun helps Dunn shop. Every option here is flavor. The story plays out identically whatever you pick, and in the second conversation Dunn ends up grabbing the stomach medicine every time.
| Prompt | Choice | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Help Dunn with the food | Fish that smells like piss. | Dunn saves it for Pvt. Ju Kwon |
| Help Dunn with the food | [Lie] Yes, Sushi. | Park calls it hwe; Dunn takes it |
| Help Dunn with the food | No Response. | Dunn shrugs it off and buys it himself |
| Remind Dunn what to buy | Cream for your infection. | Infection’s cleared; he remembers stomach medicine |
| Remind Dunn what to buy | Stomach Medicine. | Dunn praises Park’s memory |
| Remind Dunn what to buy | Skin care. | Dunn jokes the face soap made him too beautiful |
If you let the food prompt time out, Dunn’s reply is a sarcastic “Nothing? Alright, good chat, Park.” Pick the sushi lie and Park laughs and calls him an idiot in Korean once Dunn walks off with it.
Replaying missions to see other outcomes
Every finished mission stays available in the mission select menu, so no choice is permanent. You can replay Following Orders to see the woman hidden or the order refused, or go back to Mayhem for Dunn’s other reactions, without touching the rest of your campaign. In Hired Gun and Stranded, a wrong pick simply sends you back to try again.
