Parents' Guide to

Wolfenstein: The New Order

By Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Bloody but unexpectedly thoughtful shooter revisits WWII.

Wolfenstein: The New Order Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

age 15+

Based on 12 parent reviews

age 18+

Profoundly Gory but Unexpectedly Dramatically Powerful

This game has some of the messiest gore design in modern shooters. Entrails are stunningly detailed in and outside of bodies. Limbs tear and blow off. Untold Gallons of blood are spilled and splattered. Wonds are grisly and remain on bodies and expand on clothing. Flesh burns realistically, enemies can be gibbed into flesh and organ chunks. An explicit lobotomy is forced on a conscious character who is being held hostage. In the same room/lab many disected and mutilated nude bodies are seen (only rears are visible). A massacre at an asylum early in the game is gory is and horrifying. A concentration camp incinerator room has bodies that have thier eyes gouged and blood coats the floor of the room. A person is struck in the face with a metal fist and her disfigured face is gruseomly disfigured and shown in close up as she struggles to say something and blood pours and spurts from her mouth. Throats are slit and decapitations occur frequently. 2 tastefully handled sex scenes with light nudity (partial female butt and breasts briefly). F words and a C--t word. Game is great. Masters its dark tone and oppresed world. The opening mission does an exelent job in putting us in the thematic and physical struggles of our protagonist and we feel a geniune arc form for him throught the game's acts. Well written chaarcters and impassioned voice performances. Immersion is detailed and effective (manuevering thru your sewer base as Nazis patrol just feet above you is Nerve racking!). Lots of level variety, legnthy campaign. Satisfying weaponry and inspired enemy forces. Jaw Dropping set pieces that are excellently paced. More exploration than many current shooters that goes beyond just looking into the vorner of every room for an intel laptop.

This title has:

Too much violence
1 person found this helpful.
age 18+

A great game!

Now, to be clear, in Wolfenstein you fight Nazis. Because of this, several scenes involve innocents being shot, gad chambers, incineration chambers and brain and eye removal. In the game you can kill Nazis in ways like: putting a knife through their head, slit their throats and stab their' stomachs, gun them down with blood staining the environments, but bodies fade, you can blow off all limbs, and blow holes in their torsos, which results in blood, exposed ribcages and screaming. People in cutscenes die in revolting ways. A man gets all of his limbs blown off, and bleeds everywhere, a hospital is full of blood and dead people. (Parents should note that this is disturbing, gory and graphic) Nazis can get blown into chunks of gore. There are two sex scenes. In the first, you can see the side of a woman's breast, and later her nipple (not plural.) however it it very graphic and would be enough cause by itself for an M rating. The second is not as graphic, but is still very sexual. The game has lots of swearing. If a player chooses to save Wyatt, the swearing is minimal. If the other option is chosen the F-word is used over 90 times, and other profanities (s**t, d**n and hell) are used without mercy.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
1 person found this helpful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (12 ):
Kids say (26 ):

Wolfenstein: The New Order is a curious and unexpected mix of old-school shooter action and some surprisingly big philosophical ideas. Combat proudly and stubbornly embraces classic shooter ideals, with firefights generally eschewing sneakier tactics in favor of gory full-frontal assaults. There are occasional stealth sequences and infrequent nods to modern gaming in the form of weapon and ability perk systems, but make no mistake: This is a game intended for players who harbor a soft spot for mid-1990s first-person shooters.

And yet lurking within this obstinately retro game is a surprisingly progressive narrative unafraid of tackling some difficult concepts. From a scene in which a Jewish engineer digs into the differences between Nazi absolutism and religious faith to a lengthy metaphysical tirade in which a woman suggests all actions are determined and that our lives are composed of a series of segmented, disconnected consciousnesses, gamers may be surprised to find themselves still thinking about some of The New Order's concepts long after they've finished playing. It's not without its problems -- the story offers far more questions than answers, for starters -- but it certainly makes for an unusual and memorable stew of a game.

Game Details

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