Shamelog #018 - They Did Nazi That Comin’

The world is a better place without Nazi’s in it y’all.

The New Order’s alternate history world sure is a fascinating one. Having never played a Wolfenstein before, the introduction of this steampunk inspired weaponry and enemy variation was enough to set this shooter apart from your regular FPS.

I am particularly picky when it comes to shooting games. Destiny was totally my jam, yet Halo left me wanting. Titanfall 2’s campaign was utterly brilliant, but Doom (2016) was met with a resounding “eh”. For a long time I figured shooters were no longer for me, even though I loved the shooters back on the N64. Wolfenstein ended up being another that didn’t really click with me on the gameplay front - I ended up just dropping it to the easiest difficulty.

The thing that did pull me through was simply the wonderful characters surrounding playable meatbag BJ Blazkowicz. Not merely a vehicle for destruction, BJ was a multidimensional murder machine, capable of actual love and believable motivation - not something you can say about regular FPS protagonists. The band of freedom fighters around you were also exceptional - Anya, Klaus, J and Caroline were standouts.

The strong story beats surrounding the auxiliary characters made me wish the game leaned more into a Fallout template, allowing for more exploration and a chance to bond more with this wonderful group. At the very least, it would’ve been much nicer if the DLC focused more on these characters - say, vignette style missions focusing on smaller missions focused around each member of the resistance - rather than focus on the shooty shooty bang bang of Nazi’s, but hey.

If you’re a little less like me and actually enjoy shooters, Wolfenstein: The New Order is definitely not one to miss.

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Games left to play: 115
Current game: Far Cry Primal