I've got some good news for you, Stephen!

Even though I was salty about the game not being on the game card, I still ordered this since I heard the motion assisted aiming is really good, and I have a serious addiction to buying Switch games... won't be here until Sunday, so please tell me you all love the motion assisted aiming in the meantime.

You should really consider getting Doom as well! It's great. You should also check the control options menu.

But yeah, I'm playing this! Played the first couple of levels last night. I like what they're doing plot/storytelling-wise so far, and I like how practically every area has several different ways to be dealt with. I heard some people complain about that not being the case when the game came out, but I'm not seeing it so far. There have been different routes allowing for varying amounts of stealth, potential for environmental kills and general carnage in pretty much every section as far as I can see. Tons of collectibles too, which is nice.

Will replay the first two missions in handheld mode today, just to see how it runs there. Also because I had a surprisingly good time rolling around in a wheelchair.

Btw, I am in love with the sound the lasergewehr makes! It's so good! It's scary to hear it when you're not holding the gun, but man, it's so...nasty, somehow!

EDIT: @Hinph
I'm a bit miffed about having to download a large chunk of the game, given my stance on digital only distribution, but I'll let it slide this time since Bethesda/Panic Button treats my beloved Switch so well in general.

And yeah, the gyro aiming is great. No worries there.

@Hinph & @r_hjort

DUUUUDES! Thank you for saying something!

I turned it on and it was glorious! It's like I myself exited my own wheelchair!
I turned it on right at the moment when my very next opponent was someone holding a Lasergewehr. I would have continued to suffer playing this game with traditional controls.

Does DOOM have motion controls like this? If so, I just might be up for it.

@DrFinkelstein
It does! It didn't have at launch, but now it does!

I tried Wolfenstein in handheld just now, and it runs so well! Maybe even better than Doom so far. Of course, the parts where Doom struggles are far, far more intense than anything in Wolfenstein so far, but still. It's very impressive.

It's too bad that Wolfenstein only has one single video option to tweak, 'cause I'd like to be able to turn off the motion blur and stuff, but hey, it's not bothering me too much while playing.

Double post because wow.

I'm playing the (first?) New York level right now, and everything runs so well, and is so much fun! Despite huge areas with tons of detail, lots of minor enemies, a couple of bigger ones and me shooting and running all over the place I haven't noticed any framerate drops yet. Well, there were a few a while back. During a cutscene. The gameplay's been really fluid! From a tech perspective I think this effort impresses me even more than Doom at this point.

Also, it's very nice going back to an FPS where going in all guns blazing isn't necessarily the best option. Having to skulk around in the shadows and the debris makes for a nice change of pace.

EDIT: Adding a couple of screenshots because why not. Didn't manage to snap any of the cooler action scenes, but there's a day tomorrow.

This game sure has gallons of blood, tons of viscera and gore, and I obviously knew all that going in, but what I never knew was just how much heart it has. For a simple FPS, this game has some top notch writing, acting and directing, and it has some pretty sweet gameplay to go with it.

The last couple of hours have been so impressive to me. I've cleaned out huge areas by carefully scoping them out, stalking guards and officers and taking them down with my trusty hatchet; I've been in epic firefights with enormous robots, hiding behind desks while rockets and laser beams have rained down upon me and I've had my heartstrings tugged at while delving deeper into the past of certain characters.

And now I'm back to some absolute top-tier, Hollywood style special effects, sci-fi, nazi slaying shenanigans. I should have gone to bed three hours ago, but the game wouldn't let me. Halp.

@r_hjort

That New York stage was pretty awesome. I didn't even really realize what I was seeing until later when I put it together. Maybe they explained the fate of the area ahead of it but I just read a letter at the stage I'm in now and it makes more sense. Or stage I was just in, whatever. Lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Made for a really fun time. That big bad you encounter near the end had me confused and concerned. I ran out of ammo! But I managed to find more (and other Nazis) which I dispatched nicely.

@r_hjort

I'm really enjoying the story here. The story plot-line is very good and frankly it is what drew me to this in the first place. I have not played much in the ways of FPSes since the Timesplitters days and I have been hesitant to play some games, like DOOM, due to the gore and the story I was uncertain of. I also was skeptical about not having motion controls but the storyline here got me past all those concerns. Then, of course, you and Hinph clarified that there were motion assisting here which is great! I don't even use it a ton, certainly not like I do in Splatoon 2, but perhaps that's due to my current settings or something, but it's still super helpful. Back to the story, the heart and emotional strength of these characters out-powers the same for their physical hearts and strengths. It's truly wonderful to experience. I'm enjoying the gameplay and shooting and all that, but I'm doing it in large part to be rewarded with the next portion of the story and seeing it play out.

I've never been good at pure stalking my prey, though when I was working through one of the later areas in the Roswell stage I managed two successful from-afar headshots and I felt proud. One of those was a commander so hell yeah! Then I also just missed all my hatchet throws by being on the stairs above someone. Oof!

Keep having fun man! I'm going to table this for the night and actually I'll have to do so for tomorrow too since I have plans after work. I haven't played this in hand-held but I don't think I'd want to. I want this thing full TV sized and with my pro controller. Enjoying it so much that way despite the resolution dips I might occasionally notice, but could give two shits about.

Just made it to the Farmhouse stage and I'm going to save here while I have a moment to actually breathe. In the previous stage, that final big ol' beastly robot thing... I just ended up running past it and all the other baddies flooding the area to survive. Adrenaline properly used up for the night.

@DrFinkelstein
Haha, we are at pretty much the same place in the game right now! My successful stealthy snoop was in Roswell, around the train there, and the huge robot thing was the same you encountered! Except I ran the wrong way and had to barricade myself in the office/control center you pass through on your way down to the main area. It was awesome! It was the exact type of scenario I dreamed of playing back when I was a teen, playing the N64 shooters.

Savour that Farmhouse stage. It's beautiful.

Btw, which timeline are you playing? Who did you end up sacrificing at the beginning of the game? Apparently that affects certain stuff in the game that I didn't realize before.

I think there was a diary entry or e-mail or letter or something that explained what happened to New York before you go there, or maybe I'm confusing it with some file you find in town.

Handheld mode works really well, I have to say. I prefer playing it on a big screen as well, but it's more than playable on the small screen, and it actually looks really good. I find myself relying on the motion assist more while playing it handheld as well for some reason.

@r_hjort

I had no context as to what those meant. Which is kind of a shame. Nor did I look it up before hand. I ended up just choosing Fergus.

I like Wyatt so far. Who did you choose?

@DrFinkelstein
I had no idea either, and I don't think you're supposed to know what they mean. I think that's just to show off one of these impossible choices BJ ends up having to make during his life, but I don't know.

I ended up letting Fergus live, and he's been an enjoyable character. He's had some interesting interactions with other key characters in the game, and now I wonder if Wyatt would be the same, or if I'd have gotten entirely different situations with him.

There's apparently also a gameplay difference between the two characters that I didn't know of. I got it spoiled for me in the comment section of a YouTube video when I was looking up music from the OST. It seems that depending on who you choose to save you get different weapon(s) in the game. It's probably just one variation, but I'm not sure, and I'm scared to look into it to have too much spoiled for me.

EDIT: Miriam cracks me up. She's so damn Swedish it's painful.

EDIT 2:

After playing Doom for so long I'm not used to bodies not automatically disappearing. Was having an intense shootout down a corridor with what I thought was a couple of guys, and when things finally quieted down and I approached the doorway I was met by this:

I think there were around ten people there, all ragdolling around as bodies shifted and settled. Macabre, but amusing.


So cathartic.


The variable resolution and obligatory motion blur makes it hard to take good pics of the action (especially compared to Doom's frame-by-frame, 360 degree, max res photo mode), but I still think it's a damn good looking game in motion. Not to mention fun. I've spent twenty-something hours playing the game, and still have tons of content to deal with. This package is well worth the full retail price, IMO.

So I just experienced the story up through where you eventually are offered a Contraption after being captured. Holy moly. Just a wild yet believable story point considering the nature of the story. Fun! I chose the Constrictor one just because I figured I'd try to still be stealthy.

@DrFinkelstein
I chose the battle walker since the description mentioned reaching new places and I love exploring. So far this system's been pretty cool, but a couple of locations I've been to seem to make for reaching the same place in different ways rather than allowing you to reach different places entirely, which is a tad disappointing. Which is not to say I haven't reached new places with them, though! The constrictor is pretty sweet too! It really allows you to get into places I didn't expect! I accidentally crawled into a tiny drain pipe with it and almost had a fit of real life claustrophobia.

After the execution and reconstruction of BJ things have seemed to become even more lighthearted than before, and that's a pity, I think. I think the game's handled the balance between tragedy and comic relief pretty well in general, but all of a sudden the tongue-in-cheek action romp seems to have taken over, and I'm not feeling the plot as much as I did in the beginning. Oh well, there should still be plenty of time for things to change back around again.

Well, I just picked this up, but seem to be having a weird issue. I’m completely unable to control menus at all, whether from the start screen or the pause menu. It’s both baffling and infuriating. I can press buttons for whatever is already selected, but cannot change any options at all. I don’t know if it’s a bug or if I just have a bad copy of the game or something. Bonkers.

@DrFinkelstein
@r_hjort

I chose the ram shackles, because I just want to be an unstoppable Nazi killing wrecking ball.

@Brandon

Hold down the power button on your Switch and restart it. It'll fix that. This happened with Doom sometimes as well.

In fact, restart any time Switch games are doing bizarre things. This seems to be a recurring thing on the system for whatever reason.

@Brandon
@Hinph
I think someone said that certain titles are more prone to suffering from memory leaks than others, and will cause more issues, but I'm not entirely sure how these things work. Either way I turn off my Switch completetely every night, so I never really experience any stuff like that.

Wolfenstein 2 has soft locked on me twice though, when picking up newspapers and files. I think it has to do with me clicking myself through too quickly (I tend to read the files in-between levels rather than during) and new areas loading/deloading in the background or something.

EDIT: I met Adolf Hitler in the game last night. I love how they're portraying them. You can tell they've made certain choices purely to piss off the modern day nazis, and I love it.

EDIT 2: Beat the main story. The game never truly stopped being a comedy once it started, even though it was fairly dramatic at the end. Kind of anticlimactic, which is a shame. But the gameplay was solid all the way! Gonna go back and beat all of the sidequests and optional stuff now. There's no such thing as too many dead nazis, after all.

That memory leak or whatever that freezes the game just happened to me for the third time this play through. It's always when I'm gathering a readable like a newspaper. Frustrating but the autosave is frequent enough to save my skin on this. Plus right now as I play through the Venus mission, I find myself saving after each section because it feels rough! Fun though! I love getting my hands on a Lasergewehr Heavy Weapon. Feels so gratifying to fight with.

With me being where I am physically, and after that wicked interesting Adolf Hilter cut scene prior to me staring the stage, I figure I must be nearing the end of the game. But I guess it should be just as easy for me to get out of here as it was to get in here from a story perspective. Seems also that there are still quite a bit of things on BJ's To-Do List.

@r_hjort

Agreed on the whole 'game is in reference to modern day Nazis' as well. There's a certain message going on warning America about being too weak-willed to fight back against the Nazi ideology. Fascinating metaphor of America's reproach.

@Hinph
@r_hjort

Thanks guys, worked like a charm! And that sounds like good advice going forward, since I never turn the stinking thing off, unless I accidentally let the battery drain completely. Now I can start the game proper. And I’m glad to have finally bought one of Bethesda’s offerings on the Switch. In my (mostly unsuccessful, especially recently) attempt to spend less money, I’m trying not buy anything on the Switch I already own, so with that in mind, this is my first chance to support Bethesda in their excellent support of the Switch.

@DrFinkelstein
Not only that but there are quite a few references to modern day America and the rise of Trump's fascism specifically in there. Some that (frighteningly enough) could be dismissed as references to old nazi tactics, like the concept of lügenpresse and so on, but also more specific stuff, like the newspaper talking about the electoral system, cult of personality and how the president represents the people where you can tell they are talking about Trump without ever mentioning his name. Did you notice the pinball machine in Evas Hammer, btw? The one beside Wolfstone 3D? At first it got a chuckle out of me, and then I just felt sad.

This game is kind of kicking my butt in the later levels. It's definitely harder than Doom 2016 with both games on their medium settings. I like how different the gameplay and design is though. It's nice to be enjoying FPS games again.

I have to go back and finish the other recent Wolfenstein games. I bought The New Order on PS4 and shamefully didn't play too far in. I'm bummed that motion aiming isn't a thing on other platforms though.