Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus System Requirements, Weapons, Campaign, Gameplay, Release Date - Everything We know

Fans of the Wolfenstein Series will be pleased to hear that MachineGames and Bethesda Softworks are joining forces once again to bring us the sequel to their 2014 hit, Wolfenstein: The New Order (or, for more seasoned fans, the eleventh chapter in the franchise).

For those that may have missed out on The New Order, let’s bring you up to speed. History takes a dark turn in this game, tossing players into an alternate reality where Germany manages to win the Second World War. This first-person shooter places you in the shoes of American hero, William J. ('B.J') Blazkowicz, who completes a number of missions in an attempt to destabilise Nazi control. The game finishes up with an explosive end, where we see the end of the evil Nazi General, Wilhelm ‘Deathshead’ Strasse. However, B.J is also badly injured. The New Colossus follows straight on from here, with B.J. waking up and realising that he cannot use his legs properly anymore. The Nazi grip on the U.S.A is still as strong as ever and once again, it’s up to B.J to do something about it.

Naturally, we can expect to see returning characters in The New Colossus, including Anya Oliwa, B.J’s love interest and nurse that cared for him in the previous game while he was in a fourteen-year coma. Anya is now B.J’s wife and pregnant mother of their twin children. While it’s nice to see the return of a friendly face, we’ll also encounter a few enemies from The New Order, too. Former SS Commander, Frau Irene Engel has now been promoted to a Lieutenant General and is dead set on catching up with B.J. Serving as one of the main antagonists in The New Colossus, we expect to see a lot more of this ruthless character this time around.

Gameplay

If you played Wolfenstein: The New Order, you’ll know exactly what to expect with The New Colossus. From what we’ve seen so far, gameplay appears to be largely the same in the next instalment, although dual wielding will now be possible using two different weapons. As a result, blasting through enemies feels even more satisfying and fast-paced. Other than this, players should expect an experience that is much easier on the eyes, thanks to id Tech 6. This makes such a massive difference to the game overall – which now looks stunning, by the way! Think of the New Colossus as a more refined version of The New Order where everything is considerably more polished.

One minor change that will make a noticeable difference in the long-term is the way players now interact with crates. In The New Order, crates containing weapons and health packs would only partially break causing you to crouch and look through the remains. Now when players break open crates, they fall apart allowing you take everything you need without stopping for too long. If you are the type of player to rush through the game at a breakneck pace, you will absolutely love this as the crates now facilitate faster game play.

Weapons

While playing the preview build, we spotted a number of weapons that players will be able to wield in The New Colossus. Unlike The New Order, which exclusively used Perks to upgrade weapons, Upgrade Kits will be available. Don’t worry! Perks are still in the game and are still very important, but they work slightly differently now.

Pistole

A standard-issue side-arm frequently used by Nazi commanders. Useful when engaging light armoured enemies at close range.

Known attachments: Magnum, Extended Magazine, Suppressor.

Sturmgewehr

High calibre automatic rifle used by Nazi elite soldiers. Useful when taking on enemies at medium to long range.

Known attachments: Marksman Scope, Armour Piercing, Jungle Magazine.

Maschinenpistole

A standard-issue sub-machine gun used by the regular Nazi soldier. Its high fire-rate makes it useful for taking on multiple enemies at close range.

Dieselkraftwerk

Ignites the diesel immediately upon leaving the barrel.

Known attachments: Ignition Muzzle, Supercharge, Extended Tank.

Handgranate

High explosive grenade.

Campaign

It is important to note that from this point onwards there will be spoilers for The New Colossus, so keep that in mind before reading on!

Last week, we played two sections from The New Colossus. The first section was available to play at E3 and takes place in the opening moments of the game. Here, we were briefly able to play as B.J. while he rolls around in a wheelchair and fights his way out. We soon got our hands on a weapon and after gunning down a number of Nazi soldiers, reconvened with B.J’s allies. The ship was teeming with enemies but was also kitted out with a number of traps that players will be able to use to take them out. There are lots of electrical traps that send a charge through anyone that walks through them essentially turning them into mush. Traversing the level in a wheelchair also proved to have its downsides. While we were able to speed along various conveyor belts, at one point we were thrown out of the wheelchair and had to shoot at the enemies while lying on our back. During this demo, it was very clear that MachineGames want players to feel weak and disadvantaged as B.J is still injured. B.J refuses to stay in that chair though, and it doesn’t take him long to find a way around his new disability. The demo ended with a chilling encounter with Engel and surprisingly, her daughter (Sigrun), who thankfully doesn’t share her mother’s evil nature. We were then left on a cliff-hanger where Engel tries to force her daughter to decapitate Caroline Becker; a character that you may remember from previous Wolfenstein games. It’s here that we catch another glimpse of the Da’at Yichud Power Suit, which will inevitably help B.J later on in the game.

The second mission in the preview took place in a military compound known as Area 52. The exact location of this place was (as you probably guessed) Roswell, New Mexico. Area 52 under Nazi rule has become so important that the whole upper echelon of Nazi leadership left Berlin and established the Oberkommando there. B.J’s group have speculated that Area 52 may hold alien technology capable of creating plasma guns, mind control devices and even anti-gravity engines.

The mission was simple: take a miniature nuclear bomb (disguised as a fire extinguisher) and destroy the Nazis’ top-secret underground base. By successfully performing this mission, B.J and his group would let the American people know that the fight against the Nazis is underway.

System Requirements

The system requirements for The New Colossus have yet to be revealed, however, we do know the game is running on id Tech 6. While there may be some improvements to the engine since the last title to use this engine (DOOM back in 2016), we can safely assume the system requirements should be similar.

We’ve listed the DOOM specs below to give you an idea on what you should expect. We will update these specs when the information becomes available:

DOOM (id Tech 6) Minimum System Requirements:

OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)

Processor: Intel Core i5-2400/AMD FX-8320 or better

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 670 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or better

Storage: 55 GB available space

DOOM (id Tech 6) Recommended System Requirements:

OS: Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit versions)

Processor: Intel Core i7-3770/AMD FX-8350 or better

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970 4GB/AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB or better