Gaming

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Review — Propulsive pulp classic

Published

November 15, 2017

Joseph Berida

With fascist figures influencing the world, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is as timely as a first-person shooter video game about fighting Nazis can be. How effective is its message conveyed through story and gameplay?

There is an important legacy to the Wolfenstein name. Wolfenstein 3D basically started the 3D first-person shooter genre in 1992. That name, however, had become irrelevant since then, as its World War II setting and white-bread protagonist BJ Blazkowicz were used as a template for a lot of FPS games for years. It wasn’t until Wolfenstein: The New Order came out in 2014 and surprised gamers that Wolfenstein mattered again.

It wasn’t because of innovative gameplay, although The New Order was certainly solid in that department. What wowed fans was its nuanced narrative.

As a direct sequel to The New Order, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was then burdened with the challenge of being as good or even better than its sleeper hit predecessor. Its marketing that capitalized on the political climate in the US only served to raise the stakes.

The New Colossus wields its storytelling and gunplay like dual shotguns to blow away those expectations and then some.

Horrifying alternate history

The New Colossus picks up right where The New Order left off. There’s a short video recap for the events of the previous game for players who missed it. It’s 1961 and the Nazis are at the height of their power. They won World War II and have taken over the United States of America after dropping a nuke on Manhattan, forcing the US government to surrender. Protagonist BJ Blazkowicz is with his ragtag resistance group from Europe. On board a captured high-tech German U-boat, they’re sailing to American soil to start a revolution and liberate the nation from Nazi rule.

Sounds like a hopeful premise to start with, no?

The New Colossus hacks that hope with a hatchet in the most shocking intro to a video game I’ve ever seen. In the first half hour alone, it features extreme graphic violence, domestic abuse, animal cruelty, racial and homophobic slurs, aggressive sexually suggestive behavior, and body shaming.

It’s understandable that some might find all this immediately off-putting and done for cheap shock value. However, considering the atrocities that the Nazi party, the Ku Klux Klan, and other racial supremacist factions committed throughout history, it’s critical for a game that has those groups in power to depict them for what they truly are: evil people who hold beliefs that cannot be reasoned with yet are rooted in very real human frailty.

Brutal combat for brutal difficulty

The game establishes its villains in the beginning so effectively that you can’t help but want to bring them down. Fortunately, you build up a small arsenal to do so in supremely bloody fashion. You get throwable axes, machine guns, explosives, and lasers to maim and murder Nazis. There are upgrade systems to improve your weapons as well as your character’s base abilities like movement speed and health regeneration.

You’ll need to take full advantage of these mechanics to beat these virtual fascists. The New Colossus is unforgiving in its difficulty. Most levels begin with you in stealth, but sneaking around is tough because of how most levels are structured. You’re either going through narrow hallways with just a couple of paths or wide open arenas with very little cover.

Like in The New Order, there are commanders that you’ll have to eliminate to keep them from calling in reinforcements. Unlike in its predecessor, these commanders are almost always hidden away at the very end of the sections you’re traversing. So what usually happens is you get spotted after taking out a couple of guards, the commanders sound the alarm, and waves of heavily armored soldiers swarm in for a gunfight.

Seconds of sustained gunfire will kill you. Making matters worse is there’s little feedback to indicate you’re taking damage. It’s very easy to get gunned down without you expecting it. Recovering health is finicky, too. While you can walk over health packs on the ground to restore your life, most of these items blend in the background and are up on shelves and desks. You have to manually look at these pickups and press a button to use them, and the seconds you take to do so can be enough to eat bullets from all sides.

The answer is to never stop moving and always pull out two firearms. Only through relentless mobility and ferocity can you reliably overcome these encounters. It helps that sprinting and shooting in The New Colossus looks and feels good. You can blitz across rooms while carrying an automatic shotgun in one hand and a grenade launcher in the other. Every blast from your guns explodes in a rhythmic song of righteous fury.

Momentum-driven human drama

This philosophy of constant, confident movement rings resoundingly in the cinematics. The New Colossus rarely lets up on dropping atomic plot bombs. The entire cast crackles with character in every cutscene. The dialogue and delivery pop and snap like a Quentin Tarantino flick, with motion capture rivaling the Uncharted games for expressiveness. The industrial metal soundtrack, courtesy of DOOM (2016) composer Mick Gordon, rips and tears to hype you the hell up.

It’s not just bluster, either. You take commands from the leader of a militant African-American organization and partner with a socialist armed rebel group. Both parties holler at the social injustices that are deeply ingrained in America’s racist and hyper-capitalist culture, long before the Nazis came along. In fact, The New Colossus reveals just how poised pockets of American society are to fully embrace white supremacist authority, which apparently isn’t so different from reality.

What is most impressive though is the game’s deep dive into protagonist BJ Blazkowicz’s psyche and personal history. He cuts the perfect Aryan figure; a white, blonde, blue-eyed, square-jawed, deep-voiced, musclebound manly man. But The New Colossus takes the time to explore his emotional vulnerabilities, his sources of inner strength, and how his core values differentiate him from the insecure, paranoid, and destructive narcissism of Nazi oppressors.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is a double threat of ultraviolent action and ballistic fiction. It swings from hilarity to horror with rockstar swagger while maintaining pitch-perfect solemnity in its soliloquies. 25 years since the series debut, Wolfenstein proves that it’s always relevant to resist.

[irp posts=”23802″ name=”Doki Doki Literature Club: It’s all fun and games until it’s not”]

Gaming

CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- REUNION physical edition now available for Switch 2

Zack Fair’s story comes to Switch 2.

Published

September 24, 2026

GadgetMatch

Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia and SQUARE ENIX have released the physical edition of CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- REUNION for Nintendo Switch 2 in Southeast Asia.

Players can also purchase the game digitally on the platform. Availability may vary by region and retailer.

Zack Fair’s story returns

Set in the mako-powered metropolis of Midgar, CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- REUNION follows Zack Fair, a young operative in Shinra’s elite SOLDIER unit.

Zack investigates the mysterious disappearance of SOLDIER operatives alongside his mentor, Angeal, and the legendary Sephiroth. His journey reveals the events that shaped the world of FINAL FANTASY VII and his connection to Cloud Strife.

The game revisits Zack’s story with an HD graphical overhaul of its character models, user interface, and environments. It also features fully voiced dialogue in English and Japanese, alongside an updated action-combat system.

Players can trigger Limit Breaks and Summons as they battle their way through the story. The game also supports handheld and docked play on Nintendo Switch 2.

A look back at Zack’s legacy

Originally released as a remaster of the PSP classic, CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- REUNION offers a refreshed take on one of the franchise’s most significant prequel stories.

In our GadgetMatch review, we explored how the remaster brings Zack Fair’s journey to modern platforms while preserving the emotional core of his story.

The release also gives players another way to experience the events leading into FINAL FANTASY VII, ahead of the upcoming FINAL FANTASY VII REVELATION, the third and final entry in the FINAL FANTASY VII Remake series.

For more information about CRISIS CORE -FINAL FANTASY VII- REUNION and other Bandai Namco Entertainment Asia titles, visit the official website.

Gaming

Dune: Awakening makes it way to the PS5 and Xbox Series X

Surviving the harsh land of Arrakis one sandstorm and bloodlust at a time

Published

September 22, 2026

Gab Orlina

Back in June of 2025, Funcom released its multi-nominated open world survival game, Dune: Awakening. Inspired by the renowned movie franchise, the game takes place within the deserts of Arrakis as players survive and thrive through intense combat and strategic decision making. Now, in the big 2026, Funcom is finally bringing that experience to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players as Dune: Awakening officially launches on console!

For the newbies finally getting it on console, here’s all you need to know:

Take the lead or do it together

Dune: Awakening takes you into the desolate land of Arrakis, and gives you the option to do it on Single Player or Multiplayer upfront. Through your own bidding in strategy, combat, and resource management, your goals are simple: survive the terrain, make more allies than enemies, and conquer the land through your affiliation to the powers that be.

This version of the game is as exact and as one-to-one as it possibly could with the PC version released last year, down to the story arcs, quests, and PvE/PvP areas you take on. Since launch, Funcom has introduced new weapons, areas, and cosmetics through DLCs that will be available to console players, as well. Also, several key features in story and mission progression that have changed on the PC version will take into effect.

If you want to engage with multiplayer, it is still a viable option when you want to gather more resources and reinforce your bases against other players and the natural elements. However, you still won’t be able to host your own server on a console just yet, as it is more stable to do so on the PC version.

Become whoever and whatever to survive

Character customization became the game’s bread and butter through its extensively library of features and unique take on story progression. As you begin your journey, Lady Jessica welcomes you in and asks you on your origin story, mentorship, and initial skill set — all of which are to your choosing based on your play style. Honestly, none of these completely influence the difficulty in progressing the story too much but it will give you full control of the experience.

As you progress further into the game, you will unlock more skills and abilities to aid you in your quest for power and survival. These will help you earn XP, along with accomplishing tasks, gathering resources and researching newer technologies, plus engaging in combat both within the PvE and PvP areas. Ultimately, you and, potentially, other players must build enough rapport and influence to shape the world of Arrakis to your liking.

Consistent visual expectations

For most players on the PC version, graphical fidelity relied heavily on the hardware of choice. When transitioning the game into a console-friendly environment, Funcom worked out the details seamlessly by adding a Performance and Quality mode. In this fashion, you can opt for crystal-clear graphics at a decent 30 FPS or go for a constant 60 FPS to keep up with the action.

Left: Performance | Right: Quality

No matter which mode you choose, the overall visual identity of the game doesn’t change drastically. Environments look rich and vibrant, while the tiniest of details within character models are preserved. Although, given frame rate differences, rendering of background elements also reflects that but it won’t ruin the gaming experience.

Dune: Awakening will be available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on September 22. For Xbox Game Pass owners, this will also be a Day One release with Play Anywhere support and cross-play within Xbox and PC players upon launch.

Funcom has also planned an exciting map update later this year plus potential DLC tie-ins to the upcoming Dune: Part Three theatrical release in December.

Gaming

Valve unveils price of the Steam Frame

The VR headset starts at US$ 1,059.

Published

September 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

The trifecta is complete. Almost a year after announcing their new hardware, Valve has finally unveiled the price tag of the Steam Frame, complementing the Steam Machine and Steam Controller revealed a few months ago.

Whereas the Steam Machine is a console of its own, the Steam Frame is a traditional VR headset with a pair of controllers for both hands. Unfortunately, despite being in a different segment, the headset is not immune to the rising prices of technology. The Steam Frame will start at US$ 1,059 for a 256GB model and can go up to US$ 1,299 for the 1TB model. On the plus side, each box will come Half-Life: Alyx packaged along with the headset.

Here’s a more detailed rundown of what you’re getting. The Steam Frame will ship with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, paired with 16GB of RAM. Each eye comes with a 2160 x 2160 LCD screen, putting out images at up t0 a 144Hz experimental refresh rate. As mentioned above, the headset will start with 256GB of storage but can go up to 2TB. It will come packaged with SteamOS 3 and a rechargeable 21.6Wh battery.

This might be a hard buy for some. The industry currently has more affordable options, for one. Also, virtual reality isn’t the most thriving segment of gaming today.

If you’re still decided on buying one, however, Valve is using its lottery system. Interested customers can sign up from now until September 17. The company will then randomize the purchasing order. Those who draw the first ones in the lottery can get a purchase email as soon as September 18. Meanwhile, anyone who registers after September 17 will automatically be put at the back of the queue.