Wolfenstein: The New Order

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks · Studio: MachineGames · Creator: Jens Matthies (creative director)

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Anecdote

Swedish studio MachineGames, founded by former members of Starbreeze, delivered in May 2014 a bold reinvention of the franchise initiated by id Software in 1981. The New Order presents a dark alternate history in which the Reich won the war in 1948 thanks to the work of fictional scientist Wilhelm "Totenkopf" Strasse and dominates the world in 1960. The player returns as William Joseph "B.J." Blazkowicz, the series' long-standing hero, who awakens after fourteen comatose years in a Polish sanatorium and joins the resistance against a triumphant dictatorship. Director Jens Matthies and writer Tommy Tordsson Björk sought to wed the raw action of their heritage with genuine dramatic depth, inspired by the alternate-history novels of Philip K. Dick and Robert Harris. The roughly twelve-hour campaign takes the player from Nazi Berlin to the lunar ruins of the Reich, via a concentration camp and a submarine repurposed as a rebel headquarters. The performance of actor Brian Bloom in the role of B.J., and that of actress Alicja Bachleda-Curuś as Polish resistance fighter Anya Oliwa, add an emotional dimension unprecedented in the franchise. The arsenal blends classic ballistic weapons with Nazi laser rifles, and the dual-wielding system encourages frenzied approaches. The sets designed by art director Axel Torvenius — a monumental fascist Berlin, an orbital station above Venus — amount to a masterpiece of dystopian design. The game was acclaimed for its ability to combine muscular entertainment with reflection on totalitarianism, the duty of remembrance, and the fragility of freedom. It relaunched a saga for which MachineGames has since delivered four additional installments.

Popularity & reception

Distinctions — Game Critics Awards – Best Action Game (E3 2014) · Golden Joystick – Best Storytelling nominated (2014) · BAFTA – Story nominated (2015)

🇩🇪 Germany🇵🇱 Poland🇬🇧 United Kingdom