2014 was remarkable in how thin it was in terms of game quality. Prominent games such as Destiny and Assassin’s Creed: Unity proved that massive budgets could not save repetitive and broken game design, the newly released Xbox One and Playstation 4 were flooded with remasters and indie titles that took little advantage of the bump in processing power, and most game of the year awards went to either the uninspired Dragon Age: Inquisition or the repetitive Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. But even in such a mediocre year there proved to be some gems in the rough, and in my mind no gem shone brighter than MachineGames’s outstanding shooter, Wolfenstein: The New Order.
Before our current collective fascination with Doom, Wolfenstein: The New Order proved that old-school shooter design can still be relevant to modern audiences. But while the former game demonstrated this with slavish devotion to its predecessors, the latter game embraced the evolution of the genre it started. Wolfenstein includes such modern gameplay conventions as pseudo-regenerating health, stealth segments, and reloading weapons, but balances them with health and armor pickups, explorable levels, and dual wielding to make the experience feel enough like a throwback. But outside of the moment-to-moment action, the game’s walking of the old versus new tightrope is best demonstrated by its fantastic narrative.
We’ve come a long way since it was the norm to have shooter protagonists be nothing more than a scornful face, but for the most part storylines in the genre have been middling to bad. In that light it’s quite incredible how good the story of Wolfenstein turned out. This is even more surprising when you consider previous games in the franchise, which amounted to an alternate history take on World War II where the Nazi war machine augmented itself through study of the occult. This results in series protagonist William “BJ” Blazkowicz infiltrating the eponymous castle and killing Adolf Hitler. It’s an insane premise that could only work in a 90s video game, and it’s even more insane that the latest game uses it as a starting point. The New Order begins in 1946, after the events of the previous games, and at first the series seems as ridiculous as ever. In the wake of the Fuhrer’s demise, Germany has been led by Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse, who has shifted Nazi research from esoteric magic and demons to concrete science and technology. This has resulted in a distinct technological superiority of the so-called Fourth Reich over the Allied Nations, with monstrosities such as mecha hounds turning the tide of war in Germany’s favor. In a desperate bid to end the war, Blazkowicz takes part in an assault on a stronghold containing Strasse and the rest of the Nazi braintrust. What begins as a fairly ho-hum first mission quickly becomes far more interesting, as BJ and his squad are captured by the Nazis for use in Strasse’s experiments. It’s here that the game brings out its first surprise, as the player is forced to choose which of their comrades they would prefer for Strasse to dissect. Once the choice is made, BJ is forced to helplessly watch as the selected person is methodically taken apart, and the trauma experienced by our hero is plainly evident on his face. After some quick thinking, the remaining person and BJ are able to make a daring escape, although in the process an explosion imbeds shrapnel into BJ’s head, turning him into a vegetable for 14 years.
What’s fascinating about the story is despite the crazy premise, the characters really commit to it. Credit must be given to BJ’s voice actor, Brian Bloom, who turns in one of the best performances ever seen in a video game. He plays the protagonist as a man who is deeply scarred by his experiences in war, but one who can’t help but revel in violence. Blazkowicz is very much the quintessential shooter hero who solves every problem with a gun, but he remains incredibly thoughtful and empathetic throughout. When he finally emerges from his vegetative state in 1960, galvanized by the Nazi slaughter of the Polish asylum he has spent the intervening years in, it makes sense. The player proceeds to kill every Nazi until they locate the asylum’s nurse and only survivor, Anya. The two the make their escape as fugitives to her grandparents’ farmhouse where the game’s central conceit is finally brought to light.
It turns out that after the Allies’ failed attack in 1946, the Nazis stood unopposed. In short order, the free nations of the world bowed down to Nazi hegemony, including an American surrender brought about by the use of an atomic bomb on Manhattan island. This Nazi victory is not mere set dressing, as MachineGames truly confronts the reality of what this all means. Keeping with Nazi ideology which held the superiority of the Aryan race as a central tenet, undesirable groups such as Jews, gypsies, and the mentally and physically handicapped have all been exterminated or put to work in brutal labor camps. The technological prowess of the Fourth Reich is also well thought out, with the Nazis creating massive metropolises out of super concrete, nuclear armed submarines, and even a research base on the moon. The utter defeat of his cause is crushing to BJ, who first reacts to the news with disbelief, but he quickly accepts the situation and moves forward to set things right.
Our protagonist’s response to the current state of affairs is quite telling as to the type of person he is. Already marked as an enemy of the state and on the side of a losing cause, the logical choice would have been to flee underground with Anya and begin a new life. But even with the seemingly impossible odds, Blazkowicz chooses to fight on by liberating his old friends from Nazi captivity to jumpstart a resistance movement. This decision doesn’t appear to be motivated by a sense of heroism, or honor, or duty. Instead, BJ chooses to go down this path because it’s the only one he sees. This man, molded by his many years fighting Nazis, knows only violence and cannot be shaken from that path. There’s no doubt that he finds the Nazi philosophy abhorrent, but he now clings to the goal of defeating them precisely because he has nothing else to cling to. His single-mindedness to put an end to Nazi hegemony finds an unexpected kindred spirit in Anya, and their relationship over the course of the story becomes the game’s most compelling aspect.
With few options available to them, BJ and Anya take a train to Berlin where they hope to infiltrate a prison and liberate resistance members. It is on that train where they consummate their feelings for one another. Anya, having lost her family in the Nazi attack on the asylum, and BJ, having lost his sense of belonging in the world, are brought together by their shared trauma. Their first tryst is framed as two people wanting to feel something good in their lives amidst the fear and paranoia that bears down on them. But from there blossoms a relationship, one that gives both of them something to keep fighting for.
Unlike the common trope in video games of female love interests being the prize for the hero, Anya is written as her own character who has agency. We get glimpses of this in her journal entries which documents her years-long campaign to sabotage and murder Nazis. She shares BJ’s rebellious spirit in the face of evil, and in that she proves herself his equal despite never wielding a gun. Even in the main story, she becomes a central figure in the resistance, and she coordinates some of BJ’s most daring and effective missions. While not necessarily a groundbreaking depiction of women in games, Anya still shows the thought and care that went into writing each character in Wolfenstein.
The layered characterization extends to the game’s supporting cast. Upon liberating the prison, BJ and Anya discover that the resistance is in fact alive and well. This ragtag group that operates under the Nazi stronghold of Berlin is stocked with familiar faces as well as new ones. There’s Caroline, an old war buddy of BJ’s who sustained injuries that left her crippled, but still leads the resistance. There’s Klaus, a former Nazi soldier who switched sides when the regime killed his son because he was born with a clubbed foot. There’s Klaus’s adopted son Max Hass, a mentally disabled young man who would have surely been euthanized by the Nazis. And then there’s the companion that BJ did not choose to be sacrificed in the game’s first mission, either the young American Wyatt or the grizzled Scot Fergus. The interactions between either character and BJ are quite interesting, with both men mourning the passing of the other and working through their trauma in different ways. In addition to determining which of these two characters remain in the story, the decision also can have BJ interacting with one of two other characters. If BJ saves Fergus, then he brings along the ultra-analytical Tekla, who seeks to understand the world through mathematics. If BJ saves Wyatt, then he gets to meet J, a young African-American guitarist who actively questions whether he would be better off under the boot of the Nazi regime or an America still grappling with extreme racial inequality. Both characters bring forth unique and valuable viewpoints, and it shows the confidence that MachineGames had in its vision to block off such good writing for players not willing to play the game twice. In either timeline, BJ and company base their operations in the same hideout, where BJ can explore and interact with others in between missions. This hideout is chock full of little details that help to give the setting depth, not least of which are the numerous newspaper clippings available to read. These clippings act as a conduit to the outside world, providing the resistance with updates on the world at large, and also documenting the resistance’s exploits through a heavily filtered Nazi lens.
With the resistance established, BJ’s campaign against the Nazis can truly begin. After conducting an operation to steal advanced aircraft, the resistance determines that the reason for Germany’s technological advantage is due to an order of Jewish scientists called Da’at Yichud. Through much of recorded history, the Da’at Yichud developed advanced technology as a form of worship, and satisfied by the act of creation, stored their advanced equipment in hidden vaults, though not hidden well enough such that the Nazis don’t find one and alter history. This was the one plot point that didn’t work as well for me, mainly due to the fact that it reduces the horror and senselessness of Jewish persecution during that time. Still, having that act as the single point that diverges this game’s timeline from our own is smart writing and I give it a pass because of it. It also provides a clear path for the resistance to strike back.
Through analysis of Nazi buildings, Anya is able to determine that there is an active saboteur in a labor camp who is tampering with the concrete being made there. This saboteur is discovered to be Set Roth, a Da’at Yichud scientist who may be able to lead the resistance to another cache of useful technology. Faced with no other option to make contact, BJ submits himself as a prisoner in the camp. In what is easily one of the more harrowing sequences in the game, the player is confronted with the horrors of slave labor that serve as a foundation for the Nazi regime. The developers shy away from making the camp on the scale of the all-too-real Auschwitz, and justify this in-fiction by implying that the so-called Final Solution has been completed. Nevertheless, being trapped in the camp remains chilling all the same. Amidst this horror, BJ makes contact with Set Roth, who strikes a deal that he will aid the resistance if BJ first helps liberate the camp by taking over one of the mecha guarding the prisoners. In order to do so, BJ infiltrates the camp’s officers building where unspeakable human experimentation and torture are administered by a senior Nazi officer. From here the level plays out as a revenge fantasy, with BJ exacting lethal justice on the oppressors aboard the mecha that previously stood in the way of his freedom. It is here that Wolfenstein is most true to its core. Killing Nazis is incredibly satisfying, and to do so in their own invention after spending the level’s first half witnessing the reality of their disgusting philosophy is practically a manifesto about what the series is about. Cathartic, intense, and altogether fun, this level is easily the high point of an already stellar campaign.
Once BJ and Set escape the camp and return to headquarters, it is revealed that there is a Da’at Yichud cache located at the bottom of the ocean that will require a submarine to reach. After a relatively brief mission where BJ is stowed aboard a nuclear armed submarine and takes it over for the resistance, they travel to retrieve the contents of the cache. Now armed with advanced technology, the resistance now seeks to cut off the Nazi head by killing Strasse and his leadership located in a stronghold in Berlin. However, one final thing is required; the launch codes to the nuclear missiles located on the submarine.
It turns out the codes are located on the Nazi lunar base, and so BJ impersonates a research scientist to gain access. The level itself is a pretty average run through corridors filled with Nazis with occasional bits of traversing the moon for variety’s sake. Still, it comes at a good time to change up the game’s pacing and style. What was previously a terrestrial shooter with conventional weaponry becomes a sci-fi space adventure with laser guns. It’s a tad silly given the rest of the story, but ends up being a great respite before the final missions go back to being deadly serious.
Upon stealing the codes and returning to Earth, BJ discovers that the resistance’s headquarters has been found by the Nazis. He scrambles back to defend the base, and tries to fight his way back to Anya and the others. This level succeeds in upping the stakes, having the Nazis violate the one safe space that BJ has. Unsurprisingly, despite his best efforts BJ is not able to save most of his friends, who end up in Nazi captivity in the Berlin stronghold. Faced with little choice, BJ takes the submarine to liberate the resistance and end Strasse’s reign.
The game’s finale has BJ infiltrating the Nazi compound to liberate the resistance before launching a nuclear attack. After fighting through the compound and freeing his comrades, BJ then seeks to enact revenge on Strasse for all the he has done. But it is Strasse who has the upper hand, and he activates a mecha powered by the extracted brain of the person who was sacrificed at the game’s beginning. This final insult, the horror of knowing that BJ’s friend has spent the past 14 years conscious but helpless, and now with no free will, is an incredibly affecting sight to behold. The ensuing boss battle against the robot is especially sickening, with either Fergus or Wyatt screaming out in horror while their new body seeks to kill BJ. After a fairly tough battle, BJ is able to finally put his friend to rest, and the final showdown with Strasse can begin.
Admittedly, the battle against Strasse is a bit underwhelming after the previous fight. The Nazi leader pilots a mecha with an impenetrable shield that is taken down by destroying the zeppelins that power it. After that, it’s a fairly simple matter of attacking Strasse will all manner of weapons until he eventually goes down. What follows the boss fight ends up being far more interesting. BJ, blinded by his years of hatred for his nemesis, chooses to end Strasse’s life slowly and painfully. Strasse, using this opportunity to inflict his final wound, detonates a grenade that kills him and maims BJ. It is here that our protagonist sees the logical endpoint of his actions. By not turning away from his path of revenge, by choosing to go beyond his mission of simply liberating his friends, he sacrificed any hope of a future with Anya. BJ, understanding that there are no happy endings for people like him, accepts his fate and orders the firing of the nuclear missile.
What I adore about the game’s finale is how incomplete it is. Sure, the resistance dealt a major blow to the Nazis by blowing up their stronghold and killing their leader, but that alone cannot undo the fact that the Fourth Reich still controls most of the world. BJ, the indomitable hero who seemed to be able to escape any situation, is presumably dead, and it is up to Anya and the others to complete what he has started. Wolfenstein: The New Order, despite being the macho proto-first person shooter that it is, never chooses to take the easy way out. The game’s setting, while ridiculous at first glance, feels as inconclusive as our own. The horrors visited upon the world in those 14 years will never be undone despite the player’s heroics, and similarly the toll it takes on the game’s characters will leave lasting marks. Wolfenstein could have easily been a fun romp through an alternate history with a barebones story, and it probably would still be good based on its solid gameplay. But by really committing to its narrative and supporting it with fantastic writing and great performances, MachineGames has hit on something special. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
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