Gameplay Is Still Very Linear
For anyone who is new to the Wolfenstein series, you should know that the game isn’t some massively expansive open world game that gives you the freedom to explore the nooks and crannies of a Nazi-run America at your leisure. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is a very linear experience that essentially has you making your way through a series of intricately detailed corridors with very few opportunities to stray off the path that has been pre-determined for you. If you’re worried that might have some sort of negative impact on the game’s ability to build a meaningful and captivating world, however, you should immediately tuck those concerns away into the darkest part of your brain.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is actually a stunning reminder of just how fantastic a linear gaming experience can be. While you may not be able to stray very often, the game provides the type of gunplay and narrative that makes you detest the idea of getting distracted anyway.
Player Choice Will Make a Difference
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus picks up where its predecessor left off. During the game’s prologue players will even be asked to make an important decision that will be familiar to anyone who played Wolfenstein: The New Order. While you may want to just haphazardly make a decision just for the sake of hopping into the main part of the game, you really don’t want to get too antsy here. Your decision does actually make a difference and this will follow you throughout the game. Just how much of an impact this has on gameplay and how the story unfolds is yet to be seen but just know that this decision does matter to a certain extent.
Tons of Cutscenes
If you have ever thought to yourself, “Hey, Wolfenstein would make a great movie,” you’ll love the amount of cutscenes in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. From beginning to end, you’ll go through more than three hours of cutscenes but you’ll likely still find yourself wanting more. Wolfenstein 2 somehow found a way to even further improve on the already stellar storytelling of the series’ past. Perhaps it’s because the glue of the story comes in the form of a colorful cast of characters that are as dynamic as they come. The idea that Nazis are bad people isn’t really a complicated idea to grasp or dive into. How a group of rebellious freedom fighters might react to America being overrun by such a hateful group, however, is a far more complicated idea and MachineGames put a lot of thought into every single layer.
You’ll find that while all the characters have the same end goal in mind, they have very different motivations and reasoning behind their actions. These motivations and the characters themselves are carefully explored in these cutscenes and pull you in so deep that three hours worth of it just doesn’t feel like enough.
More Firepower But Stealth is Still Important
One thing that has always stood out in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus gameplay trailers is the fact that B.J. seemed to be wielding some larger and more powerful weapons than he has in the past. If you have always wanted more heavy artillery in Wolfenstein, The New Colossus really comes through for you. Just don’t let access to these large, heavy weapons fool you. Stealth will still be a recurring key element throughout Wolfenstein 2. Deciding to rush around a corner with guns blazing when you really should have carefully peeked around the corner could make your experience far more difficult than it needs to be. Take advantage of Wolfenstein 2’s improved melee system to make sure you’re the silent killer you need to be when the moment calls for it.
Enemies Are More Challenging
Don’t rush into Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus expecting the same level of difficulty you saw in previous games. This time around B.J.’s enemies hit harder than ever and come with some nasty tricks up their sleeves. Wolfenstein 2 gives you more firepower than ever but it’s not just because the developers like you so much. You need all the firepower that B.J. can handle and you shouldn’t feel ashamed to take the difficulty down a notch if you’re struggling to make it through the game.
There’s No Hiding From Dark Themes
This should be a given but it’s important just to drive this point home for anyone who isn’t familiar with Wolfenstein or feels uncomfortable facing some of America’s own history of racism. From painfully relevant conversations between KKK members and Nazi leaders to seeing American landscapes littered with racist propaganda, there is no way to simply look past what Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is really trying to say.
If you’re uncomfortable diving into darker themes like racism and sexism and seeing them unfold in a way that underscores the fact that these themes aren’t excluded from American soil, you won’t make it past the first cutscene. Unfortunately, you’ll also be cheating yourself out of a narrative that bravely, successfully and, at times, hilariously deals with these dark themes in a way that is both touching and entertaining.
