2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order was a fresh take on the series that created the first-person shooter genre. It took players to a world where the Nazis took over the world and series protagonist, B.J. Blazkowicz, awoke from a coma ready to destroy the Third Reich.
Aside from the stand-alone expansion, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, not much has been heard about a potential sequel to the hit game. But with E3 now in full swing, Bethesda has decided to pull back the curtain on what's in store for B.J. and his comrades.
A New American Revolution
Like the marketing for The New Order, the debut trailer for The New Colossus starts with a warped look at the world under the Third Reich. This includes ads and TV shows reminiscent of Leave It to Beaver and the Super Friends, but with a decidedly Nazi touch. It's something that's both humorous and disturbing because of how familiar it all feels.
It then cuts to in-game footage and immediately affirms B.J.'s survival at the end of The New Order. He awakens from a coma a little worse for wear and is joined by Anya, his lover from New Order, who is pregnant with twins. The resistance base from the first game is under attack by Nazis led by Frau Engel, also returning from New Order. The survivors set out to find more resistance cells to plan a new revolution to free America from the Nazis.
The cutscenes are inter-cut with looks of what life is like in the United States under the Nazis. One striking scene shows Klansman walking openly with Nazi officers in the middle of a small town festival. This might be the most striking example of MachineGames's warped vision of the world under Nazi rule and, as mentioned, feels disturbingly familiar.
Armed To The Teeth
The back half of the trailer kicks it into full gear, showing off the action and gunplay MachineGames delivered in The New Order. That said, everything looks decidedly ramped up this time around. There are the traditional weapons, like assault rifles and SMGs, but it looks like MachineGames is also ramping up the retro-sci-fi part of this universe.
While the weapons and vehicles look like they're pulled from the 60s, everything is also more advanced than even today's tech. A perfect example is the massive attack "hounds" employed by the Nazis. These are hulking, quad-pedal robots resembling dogs that are bigger than a car and now sport flamethrowers. Then there are laser cutters and tesla guns that can, in some cases, also be dual-wielded.
But it looks like the Nazis won't be skimping out on the weapons either. While there are plenty of foot-soldiers and robots from The New Order returning, it looks like they're going to have some reinforcements. Some of these new enemies even look zombified, providing basic brain functions to hulking machines with one simple order: kill.
It's hard to guess how far the Nazi grip on the world is, but when Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus releases on Oct. 27, B.J. will try to set things right.
