Most triple capital A games do not touch real life. They will not touch real problems, or current events, or major cultural touchstones and throbbing thematic issues with a ten foot poll. It’s like most of the writing is more historical epic than it is ‘ripped from the headlines’, due to the fact that shooters need a story wrapped around it to explain why you go from A to B shooting things. And if some games choose to tackle serious subject matter, or try to be relevant and in the moment, it’s always indies who do it way better. AAA games? It’s laughably shallow and too far and in-between. Sorry Battlefield Hardline, you do not count. Your toothless, lazy takes and shoehorned commentary is the prime example of why most adults do not take us seriously and would rather play Candy Crush without thinking they’re gamers, then consider which toy store they should go to for holiday gifts because that is the only real place games should be sold. Toy stores.
Wolfenstein II does not have the problems Battlefield Hardline has, and that might be a cheap shot because of the story that came out about Visceral being forced to work on the game instead of the now cancelled Star Wars project. The New Colossus is biting, sharp, memorable, shocking, and very keen to bring a wholly European perspective on the rise of white supremacy and racism in America. The main thesis of the game, and Machine Games located in Sweden, is thus: fuck Nazis, they should be murdered, no exceptions, and if you do not hold this view you are a white nationalist and also a Nazi. This is not only 100% factually correct, it’s a sentiment that got turned into the core of a great game, and a good marketing campaign, the likes of which the gaming industry does not have the balls to replicate. And I hope that they do, other studios, because I know people like Ken Levine and Neil Druckmann and others have the gumption and savvy and wit to pull something like this off. I really wish they get the chance to continue to push the boundaries like Wolfenstein is doing, whether that be politically, narratively, emotionally, or just filling a game full of crazy shit that needs to be seen to be believed. I refuse to even discuss anything relating to this game because there is a magic in discovering it all, but the character work and setting of the levels and conversations you overhear by NPCs is jaw dropping, and more than makes up for any specific mechanical complaints I have about the gameplay. Because I could do that for a while, but I am not going to, everyone pretty much agrees on the old school design being a detriment all over the place.
But no other game made me feel good being a Jew, and gave me real inspiration and catharsis. It’s one thing to know you are on the right side of things and are level headed, it’s another to get that silent hug from a video game featuring outlandish violence and absurdity far beyond cartoons, science and logic and physics be damned. This game is a blast, and is exactly what I needed in this god forsaken year that we are in, because it’s not getting better anytime soon.
