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MachineGames Opens Up About The Big Scene In Wolfenstein II Featuring You Know Who
There's a lot of zany, memorable stuff that happens in Wolfenstein II. However, one scene probably towers above the rest of them in dramatic effect as well as absurdity. If you haven't played the campaign and you don't want to be spoiled on what happens, now is the time to leave.
A little more than halfway through the game, B.J. finds himself on the planet Venus, trying out in disguise for the starring role in a propaganda film to play...himself. The producer of the film shows up and it's none other than Adolf Hitler. The scene is grossly comical and uncomfortable, with a mentally declining Hitler ranting as well as urinating and puking all over the place (when he isn't shooting actors). You can watch the whole NSFW shebang right here if you want.
We talked with Creative Director Jens Matthies earlier today and he broke down how MachineGames approached crafting the scene as well as their characterization of the Führer himself:
We always try to find some sort of trait that can be at the core of the character, so we were thinking about Hitler and of course, there's a number of appearances throughout the years in fiction of him. We were thinking about our angle on him and we thought about making him the opposite of spiritual. That's where a lot of those physical gags come from – just the fact that he's all about that side of humanity. But at the same time, we always like to layer in humanity in every character regardless of where they are in relation to you, the player, so there's a sinister edge to him as well and there's all this historical information about him doing all sort of drugs (amphetamines, that sort of thing) which extrapolated over time. Seeing as in The New Colossus he's 15 years older than when he died in reality, you can sort of imagine that having taken a toll on him.
We were really happy with how it came together in terms of the script but once we found this amazing actor and we started recording it...the performances just pushed it to a whole another level. It was a very fun scene to write, to rehearse, to record, and seeing it come together as intended was really amazing.
For more, be sure to check out next month's issue for the full interview. You can also read our full review of the game here and a recent Virtual Life on the game's storytelling.
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