After years of light teases, multiple reports have corroborated each other and said Wolfenstein 3 is indeed happening. MachineGames’ stint working on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle turned out well, but it’s seemingly time for the skilled studio to return to the beloved first-person shooter series. But it has been almost a decade since the last mainline entry and a lot has changed in the gaming space and the world at large. A new Wolfenstein would have a lot to comment on and also plenty to cover.
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While MachineGames has proved itself over the years, it’s still worth bringing up possible ideas that could help make the next Wolfenstein stand out even more. Here are five things Wolfenstein 3 needs.
5) A Horde Mode
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus’ combat loop is the best in the whole series. Being able to dual-wield weapons and carve through Nazi scum with ease is thrilling thanks to its solid controls and varied array of beefy guns. But there wasn’t a convenient way to experience that loop over and over again, which was a shame.
A horde mode would address this shortcoming and fellow Bethesda Softworks game DOOM Eternal has provided a solid blueprint. Eternal’s horde mode slowly doled out various weapons and power-ups, yielding a slightly different experience each time, while also having enough score-based challenges, difficulty settings, and cosmetic rewards to satisfy those who want to truly dig in. Wolfenstein 3’s campaign will likely be entertaining, but there should also be a mode where players can focus purely on the joys of disintegrating Nazis.
4) An Actual Ending
This current string of Wolfenstein games kicked off in earnest in 2014 with Wolfenstein: The New Order. And that saga hasn’t concluded almost 12 years later. That’s a long time to stretch out a trilogy and a Wolfenstein 3 that refuses to tie the main narrative up with a tidy bow will likely feel somewhat underwhelming. While the length of time between entries isn’t the same, Shenmue 3’s inability to wrap things up after two decades was frustrating and demonstrates how endlessly dragging out a narrative can suck the energy out of it.
Unlike Shenmue, though, Wolfenstein at least seems to have a future, so MachineGames shouldn’t squander that opportunity. MachineGames expressed how it always saw this story as a trilogy, so it seems like the team at least understands that this universe doesn’t need to stretch on forever. It’s unlikely every Nazi will be vaporized, but B.J. Blazkowicz and his crew deserve a conclusion that isn’t cynically positioned to churn out endless sequels.
3) A Grand Mecha-Hitler Fight…
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus expertly subverted expectations with its portrayal of Adolf Hitler. Instead of stomping out in a chain gun-wielding mech suit, he hobbles out in a robe wheezing before shrieking at bystanders and sloppily pissing on and around a nearby ice bucket. Instead of portraying himself as a virile strongman, he was a feeble mess of paranoia being slowly killed by age, a punishment far more kind than he ever deserved.
Being able to finally take revenge on him would be cathartic and it would seem like he’d need a robotic suit to make this battle as climactic as it should be. But there are some roadblocks here. B.J. canonically killed Hitler in between The New Colossus and Youngblood in a scene players never get to see. However, that doesn’t mean a Mecha-Hitler fight is impossible. It’s plausible that Hitler’s nasty, meth-addled brain was preserved in some way. Youngblood also brings up the multiverse, a hanging thread that could easily bring in a healthier Hitler to fight in a trilogy-ending sequel.
2) …Or Not?
As shown with Hitler’s portrayal, MachineGames’ Wolfenstein games are at their best when subverting or flipping expectations. So while most people expect a Mecha-Hitler fight in some way, it might be more rewarding to swerve and not have one. MachineGames might be trying to play with the theme that ideas this heinous cannot solely be pinned on one man but are a byproduct of a nefarious system with multiple cogs. Evil ideas can live long after an evil man dies, after all, and the absence of a Mecha-Hitler fight would make that ever so clear.
1) A Story With Teeth
Youngblood’s story was one of its many failings. Not only was it padded out through wider levels and superfluous missions, it also lacked the teeth of its forebears. Gone were the deeper examinations of how fascism’s blackened tendrils fit cleanly into the United States’ bloody history. The Nazis could have been swapped out with aliens or malevolent robotic bandicoots and the story wouldn’t have had to change much.
Wolfenstein 3 cannot be this cowardly. Authoritarian governments and movements have seized more and more power over the nine years since The New Colossus’ launch. Although possibly not on purpose, The New Colossus felt like it was commenting on the creeping fascism around the time of its release, especially as the United States was backpedaling and more brazenly embracing bigotry. And now that the United States has declined even more, it would be odd for a new title to pull back in the way that Youngblood did. Fascist movements have only more pointed, so Wolfenstein has to be more pointed to match, too.
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