dismantle fascists from the safety of your home ✊🏽

November 7, 2024 6:58 AM

Angry At The World Right Now? Play Wolfenstein. [Kotaku] “Hey, everything sucks right now. There’s no getting around it, and we’re going to have to live with the consequences of this shit for the rest of our lives. So, if you’re feeling angry about things, like say, the rise of fascism in America, why not grab the Wolfenstein games and kill some Nazis? I need a break from all of this. I need to entertain the notion that I have some power. I need to remember that fascism is a loser ideology and that it can be dismantled, and I will gain all of this by replaying Bethesda and MachineGames’ Wolfenstein games and literally tearing men-turned-monsters to pieces.”
posted by Fizz (29 comments total)

(Obligatory)

I was on Twitter last night and someone pointed out that the Wolfenstein series had gone from predictably boring to radically political over 20 years by maintaining that shooting Nazis was good and unobjectionable.

posted by Mayor West at 7:15 AM on November 7 [31 favorites]

Also, for anyone concerned about jumping into the 2nd game without having played the 1st, don't stress about it too much. It's pretty easy to catch up to the larger story-line around BJ Blazkowicz and his fight against fascists. Both games hold up very well, but I find the story in the sequel game to be more interesting and it's fun killing Nazis with big guns and knives. Cannot recommend these games enough.
posted by Fizz at 7:16 AM on November 7 [4 favorites]

I think my favorite of all the MachineGames Wolfenstein games might actually be The Old Blood. I also don't think Youngblood is terrible, but the tacked on RPG elements do make it much more of a slog.
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 8:05 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

This was a very appealing idea till I found out they want £28 (+£5 delivery) for a ten year old PS4 game.
posted by biffa at 8:07 AM on November 7 [2 favorites]

I played Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II+ in the 1980s, the one with the "leibfraumlich" typo. I also played Wolfenstein III in the 1990s, the only FPS I ever really adored and was so proud of myself when I killed Hitler on the boss level.

I'm down with shooting Nazis, then and now.
posted by chavenet at 8:07 AM on November 7 [4 favorites]

This was a very appealing idea till I found out they want £28 (+£5 delivery) for a ten year old PS4 game.

Wishlist and wait for a sale. These games go on massive sales (frequently) and can be picked up for less than $15 if you wait for the right time.
posted by Fizz at 8:11 AM on November 7 [6 favorites]

I have this dim memory of getting to the end and being congratulated by the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
posted by gimonca at 8:26 AM on November 7 [3 favorites]

I played Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II+ in the 1980s

Ha! Reading the post, I firmly assumed it was about 1992's Wolfenstein 3D, which I played so much of in college. Didn't realize the Nazi-killing fun went back further than that.

Now I wonder if all the games were based on something even older, like some kind of historical event.
posted by gurple at 8:47 AM on November 7 [12 favorites]

I spent many, many hours of my youth playing Wolf3d whilst listening to Gwar's 'America Must Be Destroyed' on cassette.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 8:52 AM on November 7 [2 favorites]

If you're willing to play on PC, Fanatical has all of the titles on deep discount.
posted by naju at 8:54 AM on November 7 [3 favorites]

I spent a lot of quality time with Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and, even though you don't get to kill Hitler in it (in order to comply with German laws, they had to have antagonists who were easy to get rid of Nazi imagery for the German version), it was still quite satisfying.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:02 AM on November 7 [2 favorites]

I've been playing Horizon Forbidden West lately and being Aloy, Mass Murderer with a Heart of Gold, is quite viscerally satisfying.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:09 AM on November 7 [4 favorites]

My very favorite of these is Return to Castle Wolfenstein, though my best playthrough was on a copy modded for the Mac that decided to quit just as I got to the final boss fight. Still, I love it, lots of great Nazi killing fun.
Currently I'm playing the Sniper Elite and Zombie Army games which also have a lot of Nazi killing fun. Unfortunately, these folks are apolitical and seem to want to have it both ways. They've added the ability to play as a Nazi (in 4, I think) and they've renamed the zombie games from the Original Nazi Zombie Army, so I don't blame anyone for saying fuck them. Though, I've heard it's possible to find pirate copies on some of the torrent sites. Of course I would never suggest that as it's illegal.
posted by evilDoug at 9:13 AM on November 7

Since we're sharing games that let you punch up and punch at the right types of villains/fascists/mosnters, I cannot recommend Disco Elysium enough. It has been discussed on this site in previous posts. It will definitely make you think about the choices you make.
posted by Fizz at 9:23 AM on November 7 [5 favorites]

Currently I'm playing the Sniper Elite and Zombie Army games

The most recent Sniper Elite games have been set in some really interesting places that are not as typical as most games set in this WWII era, SE5 is set in France and SE4 was set in Italy and both are amazing sandboxes with a very Hitman style approach to gameplay. They also fit the bill when it comes to having fun with killing Nazis.
posted by Fizz at 9:26 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

The Zombie Army games are a lot of fun!
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 9:31 AM on November 7 [2 favorites]

I remember seeing the 80s games in catalogs but never played a copy. Wolfenstein3D was a college staple, better than Commander Keen. To me, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, beautiful as it was, was a disappointment due to the extreme on-rails level designs. Having grown up with the more expansive feel of the id games, this didn't feel like you could explore or make choices, you just had to figure out what the game wanted you to do, and do that well enough to move to the next part. That's kind of when I stopped playing video games, because it wasn't my kind of fun anymore (to be fair, that style of play is as old as Pac-Man or older, but it was never my jam then, either).
posted by rikschell at 10:22 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

why not gamify protest and action

Because blowing up actual Nazis comes with legal consequences!
posted by mittens at 10:25 AM on November 7 [2 favorites]

yeah, only cops are allowed to kill people without repercussion and they're the nazis so the difficulty level is right up there
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:26 AM on November 7 [10 favorites]

I love the modern Wolfenstein games, but always feel bad about killing the cyborg doggos. They didn’t choose to become monsters, after all- they just want to be good dogs. :(
posted by Mr. Excellent at 11:10 AM on November 7 [1 favorite]

I freaking love the MachineGames’ Wolfenstein games and I've been playing all three for months.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:36 AM on November 7

I'd rather play the home game. ;>
posted by DorsetNaga at 2:29 PM on November 7 [2 favorites]

Spoilsport better?
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 1:52 AM on November 8 [1 favorite]

Can we go bowling instead? Roller skating? The drugs work better when I am not gaming,

Also, there are more friends around
posted by eustatic at 2:39 AM on November 8

"Gamifying' protest does remind me of 2004. When my pals were arrested for making out in the street

I mean that s cheaper than Airsoft, even
posted by eustatic at 2:41 AM on November 8

A bit of "I don't even own a TV" energy in here.
posted by pattern juggler at 3:38 AM on November 8

I play a good number of FPS games and Wolfenstein: The New Order is one of the best ones I've ever played.

Mechanically it's fun -- the game keeps mixing things up with new abilities like the Laserkraftwerk (which lets you laser holes in walls).

Story-wise, it absolutely did not have to go as hard as it does. But the narrative is probably the best I've seen in a linear FPS outside of the Bioshock series.

They've added the ability to play as a Nazi (in 4, I think) and they've renamed the zombie games from the Original Nazi Zombie Army, so I don't blame anyone for saying fuck them.

I interpreted the name change from "Nazi Zombie Army" to "Zombie Army" as a marketing move. They can't say "Nazi" in Germany, and even outside of Germany many people are (understandably) uncomfortable with the word.

Ditto with the de-Nazification in the games themselves -- no swastikas. Interestingly, in Sniper Elite 4 at least, when a symbol for the Nazis is needed, they use the "XX" parody design from The Great Dictator.

The Sniper Elite games are also very satisfying Nazi-shooter games, if a bit ghoulish with the slow-motion x-ray killcam. They're not going to win any awards for narrative though. (You are awesome Allied sniper dude. The Nazis are up to no good over here. Go there and kill everyone, ideally from at least a hundred yards away.)
posted by neckro23 at 6:35 AM on November 8

Mod note: Derail deleted. This is actually a post about Wolfenstein; if you don't like Wolfenstein, don't like video games, don't understand why anyone would like video games, it's just not a post for you! There are many other posts that might be more up your alley — please check them out instead! Thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 9:19 PM on November 9 [3 favorites]

Thanks for this: just discovered that all the 'modern console' games are on Gamepass right now, so I know how I can start the next four years (in addition to actually constructive things).

Also, logged in specifically to join praise for Disco Elysium. So simultaneously infuriating in its dodgy play mechanics and delightful in the plot/dialogue/design/worldbuilding. Also made clear to me what a milquetoast moderate leftist I am: not a very good Mazovian.
posted by Capybara at 5:28 AM on November 10