14 DAY TRIAL // Bethesda talked a bit about Wolfenstein: The New Order, its upcoming first-person shooter, and emphasized that it would add a variety of new elements to the core first-person shooter recipe, largely because of the diverse experience of developer MachineGames.
The Wolfenstein series is one of the most emblematic first-person shooter franchises out there, leaving a big mark on the industry as a whole and the genre in particular.
After spending quite some time at various developers, including its founder, id Software, but also third-party ones like Raven Software, Bethesda has decided to offer it to MachineGames, a Swedish company formed by veterans from other studios like Starbreeze.
The next project is Wolfenstein: The New Order, which reimagines the whole series by setting it in an alternate reality where the Nazis won the Second World War and prompted research into robots and mechanized beasts, while retaining their cruel grasp on Europe.
According to Bethesda's Pete Hines, who talked with CVG, the Wolfenstein series has a great legacy and The New Order will breathe fresh life by adding plenty of new mechanics on top of the core first-person shooter one.
"Shooting Nazis never gets old. I think what MachineGames has tried to do with The New Order is to take some of the core ideas of Wolfenstein and then reimagine them in the vein of the kinds of games that they like to make. They've taken elements of character and storytelling, different types of gameplay, exploration, player choice, some RPG stuff, and layered all that into the kind of games they've made."
Hines also revealed that Wolfenstein: The New Order certainly has the blessing of developer id Software, as the game is regularly sent to that team so that it can be evaluated and MachineGames can get feedback from them.
"They've definitely been involved and seen it, and they like the new direction and how MachineGames has evolved it. We do a lot of playtesting internally, not just among guys like myself or testers, but we also send builds out to all of our different studios to have them provide feedback."
"Folks at id have been involved in playtesting Wolfenstein and providing comments and thoughts from a gameplay standpoint, in addition to being aware of what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it from the very beginning."
Wolfenstein: The New Order will be released in May across the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms. Those who pre-order it will also receive access into the beta stage of the next Doom title from id Software.