It's been six months since Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus launched for PC, Xbox One and PS4. This sequel to 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order appeared during a tense time in US politics, promoted and released while racism and white nationalism were at the forefront of Americans' minds. Here's how things have gone six months later.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus' trio of DLC, The Freedom Chronicles, came to a close yesterday. The third episode's generic title, "The Deeds of Captain Wilkins", is apt. This short DLC is forgettable and uninteresting.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus featured stealth sequences that didn't always work out. The game's latest piece of downloadable content, The Diaries of Agent Silent Death, provides the sort of sneaky backstabbing that the main game was missing.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is about injury. From crippled heroes to resistance leaders grappling with PTSD, the game's cast of heroes bears deep wounds that recall the all-too-real injuries of war veterans, victims, and those who would ignore them.
The warm sun beats down on a main street in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, just in time for the Victory Day parade. Uniformed SS march down swastika-filled streets to thunderous applause. By the old diner, two members of the Ku Klux Klan practice their German. Everyone is white and happy. And it is so fucked up.
The newest game in the Nazi-slaying series is pretty short, at least if you're a speedrunner.
There are a ton of things to pick up in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, ranging from postcards and vinyl albums to newspaper clippings. Most of them are simply there to build out the game's Nazi-ruled America, but one in particular makes fun of the magazine Mother Jones for a profile of Richard Spencer it ran exactly a year ago.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus opens with a nightmare. This deep descent into BJ Blazkowicz' personal hell highlights the personal costs of violence in the home and shows how oppression and hate repeat themselves.
