"Achtung!" "Schutztaffel!" "Mein Leben!" The most iconic sounds in Wolfenstein are the ones coming from Nazi soldiers and their brutal weaponry. And of course that catchy theme song, which is based on the Wehrmacht's marching anthem Horst-Wessel-Lied. Thinking about it, I should really stop whistling this in public spaces. But that's a whole different story.

The grandfather of first-person shooters always centered around pure action. And although later parts introduced stealth mechanics and focused more on the story, at its cory it still remained an action packed slugfest.

2014's The New Order however gave us a first glimpse of a more nuanced Wolfenstein. In Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus this new vision comes into full fruition. So let's talk about B.J. Blazkowicz newest adventure and how it gracefully combines slaughtering Nazis with a deeply human story.

Watch out for mild spoilers of Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus!

At the end of The New Order our sturdy action hero B.J. Blazkowicz sacrifices himself for the bigger cause. He's bleeding out and is paralysed by grenade shrapnel, but still manages to call in a devastating nuke. Credits.

The New Colossus opens with this same scene, but shows how B.J.'s team manages to rescue him in the nick of time. He's half-dead husk however and his broken body and leaking guts are kept together by the high-tech Da'at Yichud body armor.

With the help of the armor B.J. can function properly, but inside he is slowly dying. He's a man running on his last strains of hope. During the first few missions he is constantly praying that his body won't collapse, that he can push himself just a little bit further.

His girlfriend Anya and his unborn child are the reasons he keeps going. At first he hides his physical weaknesses from her. But when she does find out in what terrible shape he's really in, the player witnesses a fragile and deeply human moment, seldom seen in video games.

This moment changes my whole perspective on the game. It doesn't matter how crazy the story gets, or in what brutal ways the action escalates. This isn't just a fun first person shooter anymore, but a story about a broken man trying to protect his family against impossible odds. And by family I mean everyone of the resistance, living together as a brotherhood in their ramshackle submarine.

I get attached to these people, thanks to excellent environmental storytelling by developer MachineGames. They all have a unique personality and I find myself constantly eavesdropping on their conversations about life, death, the Nazis and each other. This is my family and it is my destiny to lead them to freedom.

All these things made the story of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus many times more personal than I expected beforehand. Take for example the part where B.J. goes back to his paternal house to collect an old wedding ring. It doesn't take long however for Frau Engel (the main villain in the game) to get her dirty hands on the heirloom. So although the game still revolves about killing as many Nazis as possible, this has now turned into a personable vendetta. I must get that damned ring back, so I can propose to Anya in the proper fashion.

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus combines different themes and moods masterfully. On one hand it's a crazy action game with excellent controls en sublime gameplay. On the other hand it's a story that gets more and more absurd the longer it goes on. At multiple times I was laughing out loud with how ridiculous is all gets.

But between the cracks of the action and the ridicule, it's the themes of love, family and fraternity that really come shining through. I knew Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus was going to surprise me, but I wasn't expecting to be emotionally moved by it.

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