Wolfenstein

What’s worse than a regular old Nazi? Nazis and necromancy. When the Reich starts monkeying with the occult, you never know what ghastly creations or swastika’d hellspawn might emerge. Back to put a stop to this menace is the Allies’ ultimate ass-kicker — B.J. Blazkowicz.

When we last saw the hero of PC classic Wolfenstein 3D (1992) and Xbox hit Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War (2003), he’d just demolished the Axis’ Ubersoldaten program and defeated reincarnated ruler Heinrich I. The series’ newest entry, simply dubbed Wolfenstein, picks up from the end of that second game. It’s 1943 — the height of World War II — and “while [you’ve dealt] the Nazi occult war machine a crippling blow…it wasn’t stopped dead in its tracks,” says Eric Biessman, the game’s creative director. “The Nazis are moving forward in their quest for world domination, and they’re experimenting and exploring new ideas.” As part of their evil research, they’ve uncovered an inter-dimensional energy source called Black Sun, and needless to say, you’re sent in to stop their nefarious plans.

So where to? Unlike Return, which dropped you everywhere from an Egyptian tomb to a base in the Baltics, Wolfenstein is centered in and around one main location: Isenstadt, a fictional German city that’s Nazi-occupied. From sewers to rooftops, it’ll be freely explorable, and it’ll be full of scattered safehouses belonging to the Kreisau Circle, a group of friendly resistance fighters. At these hideouts you’ll restock your weapons/ ammo or upgrade them by cashing in gold and relics hidden throughout the city. More importantly, you’ll receive missions where you’ll partner with the Kreisau to battle the Reich.

This being Wolfenstein, expect more than standard shootouts with conventional weapons (machineguns, grenades, flamethrowers). Raven isn’t saying if the Tesla Gun or Venom Gun will return, but one weapon they have revealed is the Particle Cannon, which vaporizes its targets with a glowing stream of Black Sun energy. It’s one example of the deadly power of Black Sun, but an even bigger one is the Veil. Sort of a side dimension that overlaps our own, it’s a place you can enter in the game, and in so doing, you’re “essentially lifting the veil on what is hidden in the shadowy underside of the Wolfenstein universe,” explains Biessman. When you step into the Veil, the environment around you turns a different color and you have access to various supernatural abilities, like slowing down an enemy’s movement and spotting routes you can’t see in your normal surroundings. You’ll also encounter creatures in this realm…and they won’t always be happy to see you.

Your use of the Veil and its supernatural abilities will be a prominent part of gameplay, but the team’s also focusing heavily on the plot, says Biessman. In developing Wolfenstein, Raven has formed an internal cinematics group “dedicated to creating powerful sequences [in which] B.J. interacts with new characters… and you get a better feel for his personality.” More generally, the team wants to “highlight exciting storytelling as an important part of the game.” Surely some of that story will involve the mysterious denizens of the Veil; perhaps the effect its “magic” ultimately has on you will play a role as well?

And multiplayer? Right now, Raven isn’t discussing it, except to confirm that, as in Return, it’ll be class-based, team-based gameplay where you fight for control points — only you’ll have access to some of the single-player game’s Black Sun –powered weapons and supernatural abilities, which should be interesting. They did note, however, the omission of co-op play, a decision due largely to the fact that “we want B.J. to be the central character,” Biessman tells us. (That rationale sounds a bit sketchy to us, too.)

Multiplayer aside, we’re eager to learn more about B.J.’s ruthless adversaries. We’ve seen the Heavy Trooper, a heavily armored Nazi who wields the Particle Cannon, but who else will you face? And will old baddies like Zombies, Lopers, and Ubersoldats return? Hopefully, Raven will lift the veil and reveal more details soon.