Summary
In 2013, Bethesda announced that one of its recently acquired studios was working on yet anotherWolfensteinreboot. One of gaming’s most influential franchises, this next attempt was to be the fourthWolfensteinreboot since the franchise began in 1981. Helmed by MachineGames—a newly founded studio with no games under its belt—it was unprecedented how successful and influentialWolfenstein: The New Orderwould go on to be.
Announced on June 13, 2025,Wolfenstein: The New Order’strailercertainly made its mark: Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower,” alternate history Nazi robots, a world subjugated by the fascist menace, and one gravelly voiced all-American hero promising to stand against it all. MachineGames' spine-tingling trailer promised a David and Goliath story for the ages, and gamers were hyped. AGrindhouse-inspired title splash sealed the deal and the rest is history.
The Wolfenstein Series Changed The Gaming Landscape
TheWolfensteinfranchisehas a history of trendsetting. Released way back in 1981, Muse Software’s originalCastle Wolfensteinwas one of gaming’s earliest experiments with stealth. Featuring an alarm system, disguises, and the first example of digitized speech in video games,Castle Wolfensteinwould predate the originalMetal Gear, spawning the entire stealth-action genre.
Castle Wolfenstein’s sequel,Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, was released in 1984 and expanded on the first game, introducing NPC interactions and allowing players to move corpses to hide them. Then, in 1991, Id Software took control of the franchise;Wolfenstein 3Dchanged the gaming landscape once again, establishing the modern first-person shooter and paving the way forDoomand the entire FPS genre.
Subsequent games, while highly regarded, were less influential.2001’sReturn to Castle Wolfensteinis now considered one of the finest first-person shooters of the 2000s. Raven Software’sWolfenstein(2009) received middling reviews at launch but has since become a cult classic.
Wolfenstein: The New Order Revitalised the FPS Genre
Upon its release in 2014,Wolfenstein: The New Orderwas a breath of fresh air. Its fast-paced run-and-gun gameplay was an escalation ofFar Cry 3’s vicious, chaotic gameplaycoinedthe year before with light stealth elements allowing the player to quietly pick off a handful of enemies and even the odds before starting a firefight.
Also likeFar Cry 3, the game’s vibrant, unique setting made it stand out, providing a direct visual contrast to the ‘realistic’ brown and grey tones of the modern military shooters popular on seventh-generation consoles.
Wolfenstein: The New Orderalso bucked early-2010s AAA shooter trends by taking as much influence fromPC arena shootersas it did from linear single-player console FPS games. While many seventh-generation single-player shooters took a more shooting gallery approach to level design, presenting players with a series of linear corridors punctuated by cutscenes,Wolfenstein: The New Order’s levels tended to be more open-ended, allowing the player to discover new routes, strategies, and secrets while killing Nazis.
Wolfenstein: The New Order Helped Usher In the Boomer Shooter Revival
In much the same way thatWolfenstein 3Dpaved the way for the originalDoom,Wolfenstein: The New Orderpaved the way for 2016’sDoomreboot—a game which, in turn, was the spark that lit the ‘boomer shooter’ inferno that saw breakout indie hits likeDusk,Amid Evil, andWrath: Aeon of Furytake the gaming world by storm. While its gameplay no longer seems remarkable in 2024, in 2014,Wolfenstein: The New Orderwas a crucial part of a much-needed movement away from FPS realism.
Releasing alongside theShadow Warriorreboot andTitanfall,Wolfenstein: The New Orderhelped bring movement, chaos, and fantasy back into a genre that had become dour and militaristic.
Harkening back to games of yore, the success and quality of MachineGames’Wolfensteinreboot inspired a wave of game developers to look back at MachineGames' inspirations and craft their own modern updates of classic shooter gameplay. While MachineGames would double down on narrative with its impressive follow-up—2017’sWolfenstein: The New Colossus—Id’s 2016Doomreboot would serve as a more direct spiritual successor toThe New Order, continuing what MachineGames started by going all-in on B-movie ultraviolence, in-your-face action, and black, sardonic humor.
Wolfenstein: The New Order Holds Up as a Modern Classic
10 years later,Wolfenstein: The New Orderstill feels fresh. Its open-ended approach to level design, combined with the MachineGames’ commitment to bombast, such as allowing the player to dual-wield heavy machine guns, helped sell the idea that the player wasn’t just a hero but a Nazi-hunting predator, walking into every room like a human war-machine and exterminating Nazis in a series of believable alt-history settings. The game’s plot remains engaging and the script is still witty.
While many ofThe New Order’s FPS contemporariesremain playable to this day, few shooters from 2014 have aged as gracefully as MachineGames' game-changing debut. Bucking early-2010s game design trends and forging its own path,Wolfenstein: The New Orderstill feels timeless a decade later.
Wolfenstein: The New Order
WHERE TO PLAY
Europe, 1960. The tide of World War II has been turned using a new kind of mysterious, advanced technology. Using unrelenting force and intimidation, a ruthless world power has brought even the most powerful of nations to their knees. The regime now dominates the globe with an iron fist. You are the only man capable of rewriting history.In Wolfenstein: The New Order, assume the role of super soldier B.J. Blazkowicz as he uses elite combat tactics and an arsenal of uber advanced weaponry to take down the most powerful empire the world has ever known.Join forces with a band of dedicated resistance fighters and launch an offensive battle that spans the globe and beyond, as you seek to uncover the truth behind how this regime conquered the world so quickly. Take on massive mechs, super soldiers, and an army of seemingly unstoppable might as you fight to free the planet from a nightmare of unimaginable tyranny.
