Wolfenstein 2 the new colossus improves near everything the new order established and dares to go further. For a great start B.J. Blazkowicz is given more character, I now felt like playing an actual human that possesses true emotions. The supportive cast is as strong as ever and the major antagonist Frau Engel is a major upgrade from Deathshead. I loved exploring the fictionalised grim future the new order set up. The new colossus seems to understand that it's world building is key to making immersion take place hence why the amount of exposure to it seems to have delightfully increased ! As an example, they went to the trouble of incorporating an alternate history version of Wolfenstein called Wolfstone. It is an entirely playable game in which instead of B.J. fighting against nazis you play as a nazi soldier fighting against resistance fighters. At it's core it is just a sprite change of the original game yet the fact they went trough the trouble of altering the game to make it logically fit in this altered history was an unexpected neat detail. The story as a whole grasped my attention as it dared to pull off a plot twist mid game that genuinely rendered me speechless. The continuity with the predecessing game is absolutely respected, a true sequel that beautifully wraps up the abrupt ending the first game initially offered to it's players. On a final note I would like to specify that the engine has been upgraded, alongside better graphics it also finally allows you to play inside the current rebooted Wolfenstein universe with as many FPS as you wish. In fact both Wolfenstein the New Colossus and The old blood were permanently locked at 60 FPS and there is gladly none of this here !
Wolfenstein the old blood is a great tribute to the original Wolfenstein games alone in the fact that half of it's playtime will be set in the iconic Wolfenstein Castle. Any attempt at creating an interesting world like in New Order has been essentially scrapped. The story is near non-existent and most of the findable collectible texts focus on trying to explain the supernatural aspects of the game. Most of the game does allow the player to approach any situation in the way he wants, there is also a new Challenge mode which basically is a quick way to replay key battle scenarios of the game under a score based foundation. While I do recognise that the locations and level design should appeal to fans of the original I honestly found them beyond boring to evolve in. A castle, catacombs, caves,... that is what most of what you will find yourself in 80 % of the time. The gameplay is as good as in the new order and some of the new weapons do help in making the experience more fun like a bolt-action sniper type rifle that feels great to wield. Others however are not as convincing like a lousy gimmicky pipe or the sawed of shotgun that appears near the end of the game and does not even feature a dedicated shortcut key. I must also state that just like it's predecessor the game has a cap at 60 FPS. Not the worst framerate to be limited to by any means yet still somewhat of an inconvenience. I did not encounter any technical issues playing this game on Windows 11 with an RTX 3080 and an I7 12700K.
I have enjoyed my playthrough of Wolfenstein the New Order, a decent selection of guns and perks you unlock based on how you play keep the progression fresh and entertaining up until the end. The grim fictionalised future the game sets out was very interesting to discover for me. Numerous collectibles expand on the propaganda filled fascist world and some are simply incredible like classic English songs being adapted to this alternate history and thus being sung in German. The story was also decent, nothing mind blowing but I think it provides some great setups. For example in the very first mission the protagonist, B. J. Blazkowicz, gets into a coma. He then spends 14 years under the care of a polish mental hospital before coming back to his senses. This simple decision allows the player to discover the cruel setting alongside B. J. and justifies some exposition dumps. Even if B. J. is probably the least interesting character in my opinion. Gameplay wise, it's a blast. Combat is filled with gore and destruction although the game being capped at 60 FPS heavily impacted my enjoyment. I am someone used to higher refresh rates (144 Hz) so my disappointment was high when I discovered that uncapping the frame rate in this game makes it run faster (as in the speed you move at and such gets modified). Now 60 FPS (unlike 30 FPS) is still a good standard hence why I didn't feel like tampering around potentially breaking sections of the game just to play more smoothly. Else, I had no performance issues at all, I am playing on Windows 11 with an Nvidia RTX 3080 and an I7 12700K.
