History of Wolfenstein (1981 - 2019)

welcome back everybody my name is Nick 930 and to celebrate the upcoming release of both Wolfenstein Youngblood and the VR exclusive Wolfenstein cyber pilot I want to share with you the complete history of Wolfenstein [Music] [Music] Wolfenstein is best known as a first-person shooter franchise often credited with the creation of the genre as we know it most games in the series focus around a lone American soldier during world war ii sneaking behind enemy lines stealing documents and killing nazi soldiers but as the series matured and began venturing into the emerging 3d space the gameplay began to evolve into a heavier focus on fast paced shooter action and over-the-top violence Wolfenstein today it's an impressive culmination of several decades worth of innovation and creativity and to truly appreciate how much the series has grown it's important to understand exactly how this franchise has managed to get to this point so let's start by taking it way back to the original title in the early 1980s in 1978 a small computer game development studio called muse software released two titles for the Apple 2 computer titled maze game and escape these titles were incredibly unique in that they featured a first-person perspective as opposed to the more common top-down or sides forward design of video games at the time Sylas Warner the developer responsible for these games was then inspired by a multi-directional top-down shooter game he played in an arcade called berserk where players need to navigate a little green stick figure through maze like rooms filled with hostile robots using this same gameplay design and additional inspiration from the film the Guns of Navarone Warner created the 1981 classic Castle Wolfenstein Castle Wolfenstein story is pretty straightforward where's take control of an american pows world war ii who breaks out of their cell and sneaks are on a nazi fortification fighting enemy soldiers and stealing valuable documents before ultimately escaping just like berserk Castle Wolfenstein employs a top-down maze design with players capable of moving up down left or right in very basic environments often populated with patrolling Nazi soldiers fires can either shoot these soldiers using their stolen Mauser pistol or even slip past the enemies using disguises bears also need to carefully manage their ammunition as extra rounds are often difficult to find to find more ammo players need to search crates and enemy soldiers either after killing them and looting their corpse or while holding them at gunpoint furs also need to find health which comes in the form of German food grenades which can be used to destroy walls and even alcoholic beverages that result in the player's bolts shooting in unintended directions Castle Wolfenstein is often credited with being the earliest example of stealth action in video gaming however this isn't exactly true as there's a few other examples of stealth in video games as early as 1979 including the computer game titled shoplifting boy still Castle Wolfenstein stealth was much less restricted and the multiple options for competing objectives made it stand out substantially visually the original Castle Wolfenstein isn't all that impressive to look at the overall design of the experience is based heavily on berserk yet utilizes more complex sprites for the lead characters and the enemies the environments are made up of staircases and simple bricks fights to create walls all imposed over a plain black background however Castle Wolfenstein is one of the earliest examples of digital voices featured in a video game with Nazis soldiers yelling out halt and come and see to signal to the player that they've been spotted this was a huge deal as it was one of the very first home console games to feature enemies with audible voices when Castle Wolfenstein released in 1981 it was met with lukewarm reception while some reviewers appreciated the thrill of escaping capture the stealth action elements were criticized for being slow when compared to other games released around the same time others complained about the slow loading times and lackluster visual design especially on the Atari but despite these criticisms Castle Wolfenstein was hugely influential especially in how it helped to popularize the stealth action genre an element that can be found in practically every game today after the popularity of new software's Castle Wolfenstein production on the sequel soon followed with Silas Warner returning as lead designer and error case and Frank's of abode at the third signing on to assist the sequel features slightly improved visuals a different story and reworked gameplay logic in beyond Castle Wolfenstein an unknown soldier is tasked with assassinating Adolf Hitler by retrieving a suitcase bomb and triggering it during one of his meetings the story is based loosely on the true events of the July 20th plot where German conspirators attempted to assassinate Hitler with a suitcase bomb in his solare headquarters in 1944 the gameplay and beyond castle wolfenstein remains mostly the same as the original title only instead of grenades players are given a silent knife to dispatch enemies undetected the game's alarm and detection systems were also reworked with players now need to acquire proper paperwork to bypass certain guards beyond castle wolfenstein also introduced the ability to drag enemy corpses adding an extra bit of depth to the stealth action gameplay in terms of the presentation beyond Castle Wolfenstein made a few minor improvements including more color variety to the character models allowing their skin to be a separate shade from the uniform and less blocky sprites overall beyond also improved on the sound quality with digitized voices being more clear and the new alarm system adding an extra mechanic to the gameplay however these few changes weren't enough to appease reviewers with many claiming that the game failed to truly innovate and that it's updated Apple 2 visual design failed to keep up with the design of other games around the same time several years later Muse software closed their doors and the trademark for Wolfenstein was left sitting in limbo providing the perfect opportunity for another team of developers to make it their own in the fall of 1990 a programmer named John Carmack who had been working for a subscription-based software company called soft disk under the team named gamers edge had begun working on an unapproved prototype for a PC port of Super Mario Brothers 3 with his coworker Tom hall at the time only consoles had the hardware capabilities required to properly reach all components on the screen like in Super Mario but karmak developed a technique that allowed for tiles to refresh more efficiently on an IBM pc-compatible computer align for a near identical experience to that of Nintendo's entertainment system impressed by this breakthrough John Romero suggested that they contact Nintendo directly and offered to create a PC port of the title but Nintendo determined to preserve their exclusivity to their own personal consoles refused the offer and the prototype was transformed into Commander Keen aware that her talents were being wasted at the software distributor soft disk Romero and several other members of the gamers edge team decided that their new Commander Keen project would need to be distributed by Apogee software under a unique shareware distribution method due to financial limitations the developers couldn't completely abandon soft discs they instead worked full-time with them during the day and then spent their nights working on their new platformer title for Apogee after months of hard work Commander Keen was finally completed and the first episode is made available for free with additional episodes being made available with a paid mail-in offer soon after being paid by Apogee for the game the rebel programmers from gamers edge who are now referring to themselves as ideas from the deep which was later established into its software decided to finally step away from soft disk but we're contractually obligated to complete a few more games before breaking ties completely the team created several more titles including more Commander Keen games and a few experimental games like catacombs 3d all of which provided interesting new concepts and ideas that would later be used as the foundation from what would become their breakaway hit the team eventually agreed to go in a more mature brew and also decide to incorporate Carmex unique raycasting 3d technology as the foundation for the experience a technique that shares a lot in common with the 3d game design of titles created by Silas Warner due to their love for Warner's original Castle Wolfenstein games they decided that the best course of action would be to develop a three-dimensional remake of the classic Nazi killing stealth action adventure and after realizing that nobody owned the copyright to the Wolfenstein franchise anymore they adopted the name for themselves and began expanding on the concept finally in 1992 its software released Wolfenstein 3d arguably one of the most influential video games of all time in Wolfenstein 3d players assume the role of an American spy named William BJ blaskowitz who is tasked with disrupting Nazi operations in fictional fortifications during an alternate timeline version of world war ii where the Nazis have adopted advanced sci-fi technology and strange paranormal abilities the game is broken up into three episodes with the first episode largely resembling the classic Castle Wolfenstein each episode requires players to explore a maze of hallways while fighting different variations of Nazi soldiers with an arsenal of basic weapons unlike the original game Wolfenstein 3d is played entirely in first-person with players capable freely moving about blocky environments and defeating enemies but unlike the more modern FPS games of today this game's aim is locked in tight to the x-axis with no ability to look up or down or target specific body parts instead players need to rely completely on quick strafing and smart positioning to produce exposure to enemy gunfire fire start each episode with a handgun and a knife but can find additional weapons throughout the levels including a machine gun and a chain gun the rocket launcher and flame Thor were also part of the arsenal but were exclusive to the Mac Atari and Super Nintendo ports in addition to managing an arsenal players also need to be wary of their health status which is displayed as a percentage of the bottom toolbar along with a picture of the protagonist face that will progressively get more and more damaged based on the damage and curve players can also walk over food and first-aid items to restore their health boxes of ammunition and collectible gold treasures which add to the players score and can grant extra lives after reaching specific point milestones visually Wolfenstein 3d was a revolution in 3d graphical design well it wasn't technically the original first-person shooter it's often credited for it anyway mainly because of how influential its design was most first-person titles prior were flight simulators were friendly maze games but Wolfenstein 3d took the 3d perspective and used it for an up-close-and-personal combat experience unlike anything ever seen before its software's first foray into the Wolfenstein franchise resulted in massive success for the young team of developers with sales nearly doubling their expectations and reviewers everywhere praising the creative game design and concepts in 1992 its software released a follow-up episode called spear of destiny which added a few more levels and retain the same general premise the resulting success convinced the team at its software to continue to invest in the emerging first-person shooter style game design but they also decide to move away from Wolfenstein to make a completely original experience that better aligned with their more dark and mature ideas after Wolfenstein 3d and its subsequent additional episode releases the Wolfenstein IP was left alone for nearly a decade its software instead pushed forward with their new doom franchise which not only added more verticality to the shooter formula but introduced more original concepts and ideas rather than borrowing elements from Warner's creation as doom continued to define most of the early 90s other game developers began to embrace the idea of the first-person shooter and began creating games using a similar ray casting technique resulting in a plethora of what we're coming to be referred to as Doom clones looking to push the envelope further John Carmack along with Michael Abrash started working on a revolutionary next step in the first-person shooter with a game engine that rendered virtual worlds in real time 3d rather than basically faking it like in Doom the resulting engine called ed tech 2 or more commonly referred to as the quake engine not only allowed its software to introduce the iconic quake game franchise but was also made available to design with under a GNU general public license as the engine developed throughout the course of the 90s new game franchises began to crop up from different developers all built using some variation of the same code including half-life heretic Medal of Honor allied assault and of course a reboot of the Wolfenstein franchise but with its software focusing on the quake and doom series now they decided that they would take on more of an executive producer role as newcomers gray matter interactive took the lead on the project gray matter interactive originally known as a Trix Entertainment had previously worked with its software to develop a quake 2 level expansion and after entering a publishing deal with Activision decided to create a reboot to classic Nazi killing franchise the resulting soft reboot was 2001 's Return to Castle Wolfenstein an entry that not only successfully brought the dormant series back to life but is also a key component of what eventually became the Call of Duty series in Return to Castle Wolfenstein players assume the role of US Army Ranger BJ blaskowitz who is tasked by a fictional office of Secret Actions committee to investigate a disturbing report that the Nazis are researching paranormal elements at a dig site in Egypt after witnessing this firsthand blaskowitz and his partner and imprisoned in castle wolfenstein it's here where the game begins employers are tasked with escaping the prison cells and continuing their investigation into the Nazis evil occult activity Return to Castle Wolfenstein that shares a lot in common with its predecessor with players need to shoot Nazis with weapons found in the environment while also collecting ammunition and discovering secrets but thanks to it tech 3 the environments throughout the castle are much more diverse and meaningful with large halls dining rooms and corridors combined with outdoor courtyards and airfields the players Arsenal is greatly expanded with players still capable of wielding a simple knife pistol and mp40 machine gun but also need to learn how to properly make use of sniper rifles and experimental Tesla guns some stealth action elements also make a return in this title as FAR's can Crouch now and approach enemies unnoticed killing them silently with their knife to avoid setting off alarms much like the later episodes in Wolfenstein 3d Return to Castle Wolfenstein features several paranormal enemies including undead grunts and experimental monsters these enemies who are typically more melee centric helps to mix up the gameplay loops significantly and require familiarity with all the available weapons in order to succeed gray manners take on the Wolfenstein franchise with the next logical step for the series with the excellent verticality of quake being perfectly incorporated into a somewhat more realistic setting first now need to reload their weapons for example and the ability to freely aim greatly increases the skill gap with players now responsible for targeting specific body parts to deal damage on top of the single par component players can also boot up into the included online multiplayer this multiplayer is surprisingly very innovative in that it reworks the class-based gameplay of the Team Fortress mod from 1996 and turns it into a world war 2 competitive shooter game this multiplayer mode was incredibly popular back in the day and even features one of the earliest examples of the Normandy d-day invasion in an online shooter game visually returned to Castle Wolfenstein was a massive leap forward for the series thanks to the power of ed tech 3 Castle Wolfenstein was now more properly realized in a 3d space with actual verticality to the rooms and structures along with advanced lighting effects and shadows this new lighting design resulted in a completely different artistic tone with a much more mature and our atmosphere more in line with games like quake and doom characters were no longer represented as 2d sprites but instead reworked as Bowie 3d models with each type featuring unique animations and abilities Return to Castle Wolfenstein was met with mostly positive reception with many praising the well rounded single-player campaign and extraordinary visual direction but a good chunk of the price for this game was directed towards the fully fleshed out multiplayer component this multiplayer was hugely influential and paved the way for the creation of Call of Duty's iconic multiplayer design in fact Activision even acquired gray matter studios only a year after this Wolfenstein game released and then grey matter was eventually absorbed into Treyarch only a few years later with grey matter moving on to work on the Call of Duty franchise Activision decided that they would need to find someone to support the thriving Wolfenstein online player base and enlisted the aid of another development studio called Splash Damage to work on a massive expansion pack for grey matters game however this project proved to be far too ambitious and the plans Singapore component and plans to release the content as part of an expansion pack were eventually cancelled but rather than scrapping the work entirely Splash Damage released a free open-source multiplayer spin-off titled Wolfenstein enemy territory delivering an even more robust multiplayer experience to fans of the previous game this free-to-play game doesn't necessarily share anything in common with the plot of the main Wolfenstein series and is instead a very basic team-based multiplayer world war 2 title first can choose to play on either the allied or access team and need to utilize each team's respective weapons based on the class they choose to play as much like Team Fortress each class is given unique capabilities like the ability to heal or revive down soldiers as a medic or set explosive to complete team objectives many of the weapons from Return to Castle Wolfenstein return including SMGs machine guns and rifles but the gameplay has also slowed down considerably adding a more realistic feel to the movement in combat because this game released as a free open-source tool the online player community created hundreds of modifications for the game including custom maps and modes and believe it or not it still maintains a healthy player base today Wolfenstein enemy territory was meant exceedingly high critical praise with several reviewers applauding the well-designed multi-part gameplay and the simple yet addictive design after Return to Castle Wolfenstein and its additional multiplayer spin-off the franchise once again entered an exceedingly long period of silence with the one exception being a mobile RPG spin-off title for Wolfenstein in 2008 activision had begun investing heavily in their massively successful Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series in the early 2000s along with several television and movie tie-in games but as the industry began to transition into the seventh generation of console hardware Infinity Ward's called duty franchise began to build a major name for itself in 2007 Infinity Ward struck gold with her massively successful call of duty 4 modern warfare which resulted in several imitations across the industry practically every shooter game post 2007 began incorporating aim down sight mechanics health regen online multiplayer progression grenade notifications and unique player perk abilities in one way or another excited to incorporate this into other shooter properties Activision took the Wolfenstein series back off the shelf and tasked the development studio Raven Software to create a soft reboot to the iconic franchise in 2009 in this sequel to return to Castle Wolfenstein players once again played as BJ blaskowitz as he investigates more supernatural disturbances in nazi-occupied territory during world war 2 only this time blaskowitz recovers a powerful ancient amulet that's capable of harnessing the power of a mysterious alternate dimension called the veil after bringing this artifact in for analysis it's revealed that the Nazis are attempting to unlock its full potential by uncovering a series of powerful crystals hidden throughout the city of Eisenstein most of the game takes place in and around the city as far as travel back and forth across the streets to locate the crystals before the Nazi stale wares will need to interact with a German resistance movement and complete jobs across the city while fighting off Nazi soldiers and their experimental weaponry as the story progresses the supernatural threats begin to take hold of the city slowly transforming it into a living nightmare this title completely embraces the strange occult aspects of the Wolfenstein franchise putting extra emphasis on alternate dimensions portals and undead nazi zombies likely trying to differentiate itself from shooters at time wolfenstein 2009 plays very differently from other entries in the series first just like most games around this time period the field that gun play is based heavily around the design of the popular Call of Duty series first can now aim down the sights of the weapons the traditional health bar was replaced with the health regen system incoming grenade show HUD indicators and can be cooked and thrown back and practically all the controls are the same since this entry was the first mainline title to be designed happily for console gamers a lot of the features fans loved about the 2001 game are lost environments offer less verdict County to make aiming with the controller's more manageable the environments themselves also feel significantly smaller with more narrow arenas to fight in and a much heavier emphasis on making use of cover to avoid enemy fire to help differentiate itself from its Call of Duty cousin Wolfenstein incorporates unique magical amulet powers into its gunplay throughout the course of the game players will gain additional powers for their amulet including the ability to highlight enemy targets slow down time protect themselves with a bullet deflecting shield and even power up their weapons with increased accuracy and damage to balance this powerful set of abilities each power consumes veil energy which can only be recharged by finding pools of energy in the environment Wolfenstein 2009 also introduced a new character progression system into the single player that allows players to purchase weapon attachments in the ammunition from NPC vendors and upgrade their powers for increased effectiveness in order to purchase these upgrades players will need to collect gold by completing both primary and optional objectives and by finding hidden gold stashes throughout the environment to account for these new RPG elements the level environments were constructed very differently with a large central hub area being connected by several blocked pathways that branch off to the sides and an objective compass being displayed at the top of the screen to easily guide the player to the next goal these RPG elements were becoming increasingly popular around this time the successful titles like Bioshock Far Cry 2 and fallout 3 quickly establishing what would become an industry norm meanwhile the multiplayer mode failed to deliver the same volume of complexity that fans fell in love with with enemy territory due to the limitations of consoles at the time Wolfenstein chess and nines multiplayer was scaled back to what essentially amounted to a west polished called duty death magics first can make use of several of the same weapons from the single player and still need to choose between various social classes based on their playstyle Wolfenstein 2009 was met with average critical reception due to its uninspired gunplay and its forgettable level designs like many other shooter games in the late 2000s Wolfenstein hadn't lost its identity and developers like Raven Software failed to find a way to properly innovate on the series that helped to establish the first-person shooter genre after the lackluster reception and disappointing sales Activision let go several employees at Raven Software and canceled a planned follow-up sequel meanwhile a major purchase acquisition for many of activations properties had begun resulting in several eid software titles like doom and Wolfenstein being turned over to ZeniMax media best known for the contributions to the fallout and elder scrolls series with this new publisher wolf aside would once again undergo a substantial transformation only this time the series would finally reestablish its own unique identity with the Wolfenstein franchise now firmly in the hands of ZeniMax media the rookie development studio machinegames requested that they be put in charge of creating the next main line entry said a Mexican and work began on another soft reboot in fall of 2010 when approaching this classic franchise machinegames tried to isolate the core aspects that set welcome sign apart from other shooters they concluded that the over-the-top intense combat and Nazi enemies were paramount to the experience understanding this they decided to push both of these elements to the extreme with combat being reworked be incredibly smooth and satisfying and the Nazis being more prominent than ever before the result was 2014's incredibly successful reboot Wolfenstein the new order the new order takes place a few years after the events of the 2009 game with the Nazi forces overwhelming the Allies thanks to their new advanced technology to slow the creation of these powerful new weapons the Allied forces launch a desperate attack on a facility owned and operated by the evil general death's-head the player once again assumes the role of BJ blaskowitz who is now fully voiced throughout the experience and provides much more personality than ever before this is important because the new order takes a significantly more cinematic approach to its storytelling with some intensely dramatic moments setting up the main conflict of the story after narrowly escaping death heads fortress in the opening sequence Vijay is put into a coma and wakes up any polish psychiatric ward at several years later here he meets Anya the facilities had nurse who spends extended time caring for him in his debilitated state after nearly being murdered by a Nazi death squad BJ and Anya escape and it's revealed that the Nazis managed to achieve victory over the Allied forces in world war ii and the world is now completely under Nazi control this creates an interesting twist to the narrative as BJ is now faced with seemingly impossible odds as he attempts to dismantle the already established Nazi regime in any way you can along the way the player is introduced to several new characters all with unique personalities that help to make the experience feel more in line with a feature-length film other characters like the villainous deaths head and resistance leader Caroline Becker are even carried over somewhat from the 2009 game the new orders new direction and storytelling excellent character design and high-quality cutscenes helped to establish an entirely new quota for the Wolfenstein franchise and feature games in the series would follow a very similar model but the gameplay was also greatly improved upon after the initial hype for the Call of Duty franchise began to die down game developers everywhere began looking at ways to distance themselves and properly establish their own unique style to first-person combat considering Wolfenstein never necessarily had anything unique about his first person shooting gameplay the team and machine games were faced with a real challenge what could Wolfenstein do that was different the devs eventually landed on several different intuitive designs all of which provided players with more freedom to fight the Nazis in their own way first the stealth system from the original game was brought back to the forefront and if the player chooses can be the primary form of engagement throughout the entire game players can sneak up behind enemy soldiers and perform brutal melee takedowns and even throw knives to take down enemies from a distance many areas also feature Nazi officers who if alerted will trigger an area-wide alarm that will call in more enemies but if players prefer going in guns blazing Wolfenstein the new order provides plenty of tools to do so one of the most key features of this game's combat is the ability to dual wield any of the weapons in the game while not as accurate as wielding a single weapon and aiming down the sights dual wielding weapons like shotguns and assault rifles allows players to take down tougher targets significantly faster and it also makes for some insanely satisfying multi killed runs players can also locate special weapon modifications throughout the campaign that can add all turning to fire most of things like the shotgun or the assault rifle all of which can be seamlessly swap between with the click of a button building off the progression design of the 2009 game players can complete various challenges to unlock other improvements to that Arsenal and character abilities including extra ammunition capacity and faster reload the level environments are once again much smaller in scope than the environments from the fan-favorite Return to Castle Wolfenstein and because of this a lot of the combat is focused around taking cover to minimize damage but unlike the 2009 title the new order sees the return of the classic health bar system if players need to acquire both armor and health items to stay alive to help make cover based combat more fun the new order utilizes a handy leaning system that could be used to freely peek around corners by holding a button and pushing the movement keys in any direction this freeform peek system allows for some truly creative approaches to enemy encounters it makes the cover based combat much more enjoyable the New Order's weapon arsenal has also seen a complete overhaul where scan destroyed their Nazi enemies using several fictional firearms based on the new dystopian Nazi ruled alternative future setting including burst fire pistols large for automatic rifles revolving shotguns and even a crazy space laser the enemies themselves have also been reworked to be even more challenging and imposing the soldiers now being equipped with heavy armor plating and lumbering Nazi war machine sticking center stage and many of the larger battles this new sci-fi approach fits in perfectly with the concepts originally introduced by id Software back in Wolfenstein 3d a clear inspiration for many of machine games ideas made even more evident by their inclusion of a secret Wolfenstein 3d Easter Egg that blends the two games together the new order was built using EdTech 5 which has the added benefit of being able to render shadows more softly and realistically in addition to a more efficient form of texture streaming this allowed machine games to build the massive worlds of the new order and help to promptly convey the desperate tone of the experience Wolfenstein the new order was a resounding success and was met with mostly positive critical perception many praised the game for its well-written story engaging characterization for blaskowitz and the highly addictive combat design however a few reviewers knocked the game for its requirement to manually hit a button to pick up additional em off the ground some texture streaming issues and characters that failed to make a true impression in the gameplay despite this the new order became one of the best-selling games in 2014 and restored faith in the classic first-person shooter franchise machinegames managed to accomplish what no other developer in charge of the series had done before and created a unique identity for this first person shooter icon only a year later a standalone prequel expansion called Wolfenstein the old blood was announced initially planned as DLC for the new order the old blood featured a return of many of the series classic themes and concepts including paranormal nazi experimentation and more medieval inspired environments the entire experience was designed as a love letter to fans of Return to Castle Wolfenstein with several references to the classic title through Wow the old blood takes place prior to the events of the new order with the Allied forces in world war ii still desperately trying to halt the progression of the Nazi war machine under the direction of the OSA agent BJ blaskowitz infiltrates Castle Wolfenstein in an attempt to obtain information pertaining to the secret location of death heads compound the very same compound that serves as the setting for the intro and finale of the new order but after being captured BJ is forced to escape from a prison cell and the castle itself this initial plot shares a lot in common with the original Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein 3d only with a more cinematic b-movie style approach to its storytelling after escaping from the castle and defeating the imposing lieutenant Yeager the story then shifts into something more along the lines of Return to Castle Wolfenstein well a much shorter story than the main line entries the old blood provides a substantial amount of fanservice it provides the opportunity to make use of the advanced storytelling capabilities and smooth combat controls of the new order in the more traditional setting of the original Wolfenstein games for the most part old Bloods gameplay plays practically the same as the new order only with some slight variations to the firearms to match the older time period but one of the biggest additions to the gameplay is the steel pipe which not only can be used to defeat enemies but also allows players to complete various tasks like climbing specific walls or breaking through locked doors visually very little has changed from the new order well many of the assets were reworked slightly the old blood is still limited by the it'd Tech 5 engine and suffers from the same texture streaming limitations that resulted in bad popping in the last game but due to increased familiarity with the game strengths and weaknesses machinegames was able to create much larger more interesting environments but despite this the old blood receives slightly less positive reception than its predecessor while the game was praised for its excellent combat and level design a few journalists know that the experience failed to of up to expectations and delivered a slightly weaker overall experience the combat was still visceral and fun but the game's story failed to capture audience's attention and ultimately would have been better received as an add-on for the previous title rather than its own standalone release after this title machine gains went quiet likely developing concepts for their inevitable follow-up title in its year off its offer returned with their 2016 reboot doom which made use of the 6th generation of the famous ed tech engine this engine benefited from being able to more easily render dynamic lighting while also maintaining solid performance at the desired HD standard resolution after dooms overwhelming success it was soon revealed that a sequel to Wolfenstein the new order was in the works and that was being built using the same engine as doom the sequel titled Wolfenstein 2 the new Colossus released in fall of 2017 and continued to expand on the story and polished combat mechanics while also bringing with it a fair amount of controversy the new Colossus takes place immediately after the events of the new order with BJ at the brink of death prior to the destruction of death heads fortress refusing to let their hero die blast wits his friends from the resistance quickly rescue him and stabilize his condition the player again takes on the role of blaskowitz and experiences various flashbacks of his childhood not only providing some interesting backstory but also painting a picture of what American society was like prior to Nazi rule and why the American people would have surrendered the way they did in an alternate future eventually blaskowitz gets back on his feet and after witnessing a tragedy like the one at the start of the new order returns to unapologetically slaughtering Nazis across the region only this time the story follows BJ raising a resistance movement throughout the forming United States bringing him to Nazi occupied New York New Orleans and Texas the new Colossus again embraces the b-movie style of storytelling that made the previous games such a hit among fans and borders on the ridiculous at times but because of the increased focus on trying to paint a backstory for BJ and an effort to greatly expand on the camaraderie between BJ and his fellow resistance fighters the gameplay feels slightly scaled back than its predecessor with less interesting environments to explore and less variety to the gunplay Wolfenstein 2 features most of the same weapons introduced in the new only with some cosmetic redesigns and the ability to equipped several helpful attachments thanks to the new modification system on top of this first can out dual wield any combination of weapons like for greater variety and encounters rather than fighting through the halls of medieval castles or the concrete jungles of the Nazi capitals in Europe players in the new Colossus are forced to trudge through the desolate ruins of Nazi controlled America with environments being a culmination of destroyed buildings and streets the enemies in the new Colossus are also more vicious with more heavily armored soldiers to contend with in addition to more robotic enemies the new Colossus also introduces a significant bodykit upgrade partway through the game allowing players to perform advanced actions like being able to barrel through weak walls contort their body to slip through small entryways and even reach high places by means of manually extended stilts while interesting mechanics these aren't introduced until much later in the game and serve a much more practical purpose in the game's optional missions on top of the 11 or so main story missions players can also spend collected uber commander codes collected off of the officers in each mission to decode enigma puzzles which reveal the location of high value targets in various recycled environments across the u.s. these missions allow players to test their skills against more challenging configurations of enemies while simultaneously earning more valuable loot like missed upgrade parts and attachments hopeless time to marked a significant leap forward in graphical design thanks to the utilization of its software's latest EdTech 6 engine this engine as I mentioned before allowed for even more advanced lighting simulation on top of the texture streaming technique used in the previous iteration allowing the developers of machine games to create much more impressive scenes with better performance the new Colossus was met with mostly positive critical acclaim most reviewers praised the game's engaging story along with this addicting Nazi killing gunplay but a few felt that the experience wasn't quite as innovative as the new order in the following year but the Stikine out onto the e3 stage and announced the most recent entry to the series Wolfenstein Youngblood a direct sequel to Wolfenstein 2 but instead of continuing the story of BJ blaskowitz and his Nazi killing exploits Youngblood features series newcomers Jessica and Sophia Moskowitz's twin daughters who need to work together to locate their captured father in Paris unlike the past few entries Youngblood is being developed by both machine games and Arkane studios the same group responsible for the more open-ended stealth action gameplay of the popular Dishonored series the gameplay direction for Youngblood based on the footage shown so far appears to be relying heavily on more open-ended elements like the design up 2009's Wolfenstein however you DTN blood is the option to play the entire experience cooperatively with a friend this new cooperative formula should theoretically increase the chaos and insanity of the game's excellent combat design though we could also point to a potential reduction in the quality of storytelling as most co-op focused titles aim to downplay the more narrative experience in order to keep players entertained while playing but we'll just have to wait and see how Machine games in Arkane Studios decide to handle this title when the game releases July 26th on top of this machine games also plans on releasing a virtual reality spin-off title called Wolfenstein cyber pilot which features a unique virtual reality experience based around a French Resistance hacker that needs to take control various Nazi robots to wreak havoc again it's unclear how much of the well-received story will find its way into an experience that's geared heavily towards the unique gameplay but we just have to wait and see how it turns out and if you want to learn more about both of these titles be sure to keep it tuned here for detailed comparisons and reviews in the coming weeks the Wolfenstein franchise is probably one of the most influential video game franchises of all time not only did it help to jumpstart the first-person shooter genre but it also is one of the earliest examples of stealth action based gameplay in the industry the original creator of the series Silas Warner has since passed away but his legacy in relation to the Wolfenstein franchise lives on with the talented developers over at machine games still carrying on his vision of a stealth action Guns of Navarone style experience combined with the iconic first person shooting design that was perfected by id Software so many years ago like many of the game ventures I've covered the series had a slight stumble through the mid-2000s but has since returned bigger and better than ever before but what do you guys think do you like how the series is progressing or do you still prefer one of the older titles let me know in the comments section and if you want to see more documentaries like this one please consider becoming a member my patreon your support helps make these videos possible also be sure to stay tuned to this channel for a full direct comparison and review in the coming week and be sure to LIKE and subscribe for more content posted every week [Music]

Channel: Nick930

Views: 1,123,760

Keywords: Wolfenstein, B.J. Blazkowicz, Adolf Hitler, Deathshead, Anya, History, Retrospective, Bethesda, MachineGames, id Software, Development, America, Germany, Story, Gameplay, Features, Review, Impression, Summary, Full, Analysis, Fan, Favorite, Best, professional, High Quality, Wolfenstein Youngblood, Cyberpilot, VR, Remake, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Enemy Territory, First Person, Shooter, Youngblood, Detailed, ACG, IGN

Id: M-0zvMry1Hc

Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 22 2019