Wolfenstein

In the 2010s, it became really cool to punch Nazis again, which happens when you have people boldly claiming Nazism and adopting fascist rhetoric for the first time in decades. At around the same time, Machinegames developed and released multiple installments in a rebooted Wolfenstein series that is, at the very least, interesting. The series’ longtime protagonist is more explicitly played as a once-disabled, Jewish and Polish-American soldier in the war against the Nazis than in earlier games. After losing the war and winding up in vegetative state in a hospital for several years, BJ finally stirs just in time to do something about the Nazis’ hold on the world.

B.J is immensely layered in these games, and the series not only touches on his own interiority and various identities, but those of his allies, including his wife Anya,a guy who might just be Jimi Hendrix, and eventually B.J’s own parents. Machinegames titles also boast top-notch cutscene direction and performances from everyone involved, lending a filmic quality and level of prestige to the game in between its gnarly gunfights. The New Order keeps things relatively simple and punchy, but eventually the sequels begin to include supersuits and advanced tools and weaponry that complicate matters and simultaneously turn B.J into Billy The Butcher. They’re a fun and occasionally heady time, and you can pick up Wolfenstein: The New Order and The Old Blood in Wolfenstein: The Two Pack for $6, as well as The New Colossus for another $6.