The Art of Wolfenstein: The New Order

by Dave Marshall, Machine Games (Editor)

Bound as a beautiful hardcover, Bethesda and Machine Games offer up the secrets behind Wolfenstein: The New Order, a richly detailed and compelling game set in a post-WWII world where the Nazis have won and only you can rewrite history. Featuring concept art, character designs, and astonishing settings, landscapes, and technology, The Art of Wolfenstein: The New Order provides a unique look at one of the gaming industry's most intriguing games.

Genres: Art, Video Games, Science Fiction, War

184 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2014

Reviews

[Michael Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little confused when I heard that they were making a new Wolfenstein. It felt like the franchise's time had passed. Wolfenstein is about a big muscly guy named BJ who kills Nazis. Like all the Nazis. It seemed to me that the medium had moved beyond games of that type.
Then I found out that the game was being developed by MachineGames. MachineGames is made up of ex-Starbreeze employees. Starbreeze is the developer that made some games I really enjoyed like The Darkness, Syndicate, and Riddick.
I was a little surprised when I found out just how good the game is. They actually took Wolfenstein and crafted an interesting story, with great characters and a fair bit of emotion. No one is going to mistake it for great literature, but it's so much more than it needed to be.
The book is on the level of other Dark Horse "Art of" books. Hardcover, well put together, and filled with great stuff. Lots of concept art and commentary from the developers. The artists did a great job of envisioning an alternate history where the Nazis won. The technology is amazing, but very unsettling. Great to see there inspirations for it.

[Mikael · Rating 4 out of 5]

To begin with, I don't often buy "The art of..." books, since they often are just a few pictures and seldom give very much worth of reading, but in this case I made an exception. Mostly out of nostalgia for playing RtCW several years ago but also due to some curiosity of the upcoming Wolfenstein game.

And for this once I think it was worth the buy, it's a really thick hardcover edition, with a lot of art from the game, and the creation of it. In fact maybe even a little too much, or at least in my mind labelling the chapters "Art of level XX" is a bit of a spoiler in that it shows too much of how the game will play out instead of just showing art which may or may not be in the final game.
But that's just a detail which won't matter after the game is released next week.

So all in all I think the book very nicely shows off the graphic content of the upcoming Wolfenstein game. Or in short: "Holy cow Batman!"

[John Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I quite frankly know nothing about
Wolfenstein the game.
But the book is beautiful.
Clearly tons of research
and thought went into designing
the visuals for this game.
It captures the esthetic of Nazi Germany
in the back ground artwork
and the character design.
A wonderfully epic piece of work.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any fan of the game will like this book. It show the detailed evolution of the game's art.

[Maciej · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Art of Wolfenstein: The New Order" autorstwa Dave’a Marshalla i MachineGames to imponujący album, który przenosi czytelnika w alternatywną rzeczywistość, gdzie II wojna światowa zakończyła się zwycięstwem nazistów. Ten pięknie wydany, twardo okładkowy tom jest prawdziwą gratką dla miłośników sztuki konceptualnej oraz fanów serii "Wolfenstein".

Album zawiera bogaty zbiór grafik koncepcyjnych, projektów postaci, a także niesamowitych scenerii, krajobrazów i technologii. Twórcy z MachineGames wykonali niezwykłą pracę, tworząc świat, który jest jednocześnie fantastyczny i niepokojąco realistyczny. Wizja nazistowskiej dominacji w latach 60. XX wieku została przedstawiona z dbałością o najdrobniejsze szczegóły.

Szczególne wrażenie robią projekty alternatywnej rzeczywistości: hitlerowskiej wersji Waszyngtonu (przemianowanego na "Germanię"), bazy na Księżycu, czy futurystycznych technologii, takich jak roboty bojowe i zaawansowane maszyny. Nie brakuje też bardziej przyziemnych elementów, które dodają autentyczności temu światu – od projektów banknotów, przez fikcyjne magazyny i plakaty propagandowe, po sprzęty codziennego użytku, takie jak ekspresy do kawy czy telefony.

Komentarze twórców towarzyszące ilustracjom pozwalają lepiej zrozumieć proces kreacji tego niezwykłego świata. Dowiadujemy się o inspiracjach, wyzwaniach i decyzjach artystycznych, które wpłynęły na ostateczny kształt gry. To nie tylko zbiór obrazów, ale także wgląd w kulisy powstawania jednej z najbardziej intrygujących produkcji w branży gier wideo.

Choć "The Art of Wolfenstein: The New Order" jest przede wszystkim skierowany do fanów gry, to jednak stanowi samodzielne dzieło, które może zainteresować każdego pasjonata sztuki konceptualnej i alternatywnej historii. Nawet jeśli nie jesteście graczami, bogactwo wyobraźni i kunszt artystyczny prezentowany na kartach tego albumu z pewnością zrobią na Was wrażenie.

Jest to wyjątkowa publikacja, która zasługuje na miejsce na półce każdego kolekcjonera. "The Art of Wolfenstein: The New Order" to nie tylko uzupełnienie dla gry, ale przede wszystkim hołd dla kreatywności i pasji twórców, którzy odważyli się przedstawić świat tak inny od naszego.

[Dmitrijs Prigodics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Обзавелся артбуком про Вульфенштайн: The New Order. Шикарные концепты с ретрофутуризмом 1960, как если бы нацисты 3ьего рейха правили миром к тому времени. Персонажи, архитектура, интерьер, реклама, даже дизайн журналов и музыкальных пластинок. Отличный артбук, жаль материалов из Wolfenstein: The Old Blood не завезли. Надеюсь, что-нибудь подобное можно будет увидеть и по Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus.

[Caleb Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing art book, gives you amazing insight on how they made the weapons and vehicles and how they made the levels.

[Trike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific tome. I haven't played the game, but I'm really more a fan of concept art than playing videogames at this stage of my life.

The design of this game is completely over-the-top but still manages to feel like it could be real. There are all the crazy-fun tropes here: Nazis underwater, Nazi moonbase, Nazi zombie cyborgs, Nazi robot dogs, electric guitars....

The story is that the Nazis won WWII and took over the world, and 14 years later the hero of the Wolfenstein universe, BJ Blazkowicz, wakes up in a sanitarium to find the world of 1960 is completely altered. The level of detail is amazing. From a Nazified Washington DC (now called "Germania") to outer space, they've put an incredible amount of thought into this world. What really sells it are the little details most people don't think about: the alternate history magazines, maps, money, musical acts (oh, the hilarious musical acts), coffee makers and telephones. Lots of great stuff. They've even designed logos for the various companies which make all of the above. yes, vehicles and weapons are also present, but it's the little touches which really impress.

They've included everything from schematics to architectural renderings to full-on paintings, plus rendered objects from the game itself. It's an excellent package.

This is an amazing piece of alt-history design. And who doesn't love Nazis in spaaace?

If you're interested, someone has put together all of the game's cutscenes and schematics into a 3-hour movie here. It's actually a pretty good story. Completely preposterous, of course, and BJ gets knocked out in creative ways at the end of each level, but a lot of fun nonetheless.

[Justin Nixon]

Great book

I love this book another great book. Know I enjoy this book forever on my new fire 8. I love this one.