Is Multiplayer A Story Hindrance? Wolfenstein II – Scripted Gaming

Today it was reported that Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus would not have multiplayer.

This was a choice made by the developer MachineGames to focus more on fleshing out the story. They claimed that by including multiplayer they would’ve diluted what they were trying to do. While I don’t like the Wolfenstein series, the devs might have a point. Name one first-person shooter with multiplayer that has a perfect story.  Have you named one yet? Me neither. And I like a lot of shooters.

To be fair not every shooter that is without multiplayer wins in the story department either. That includes games that aren’t first-person shooters. Then we have games like Overwatch, that focus only on multiplayer. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with games like that, but to me, a game doesn’t feel complete without a single-player campaign. My opinion is probably due to me owning an SNES and SEGA Genesis when I was growing up. Back then there was no problem having single player and multiplayer. I do miss the good old days.

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Let’s look at Call Of Duty, one of Wolfenstein’s competitors. Every single COD has a campaign and multiplayer. The story from the games varies from Meh to Great, but they at least have a story for people who enjoy them. Depending on who you ask the multiplayer is where it’s at… thanks, I’ll go play Titan Fall 2 instead.

“But Bob, what about other game genres?” I’m glad you asked. A certain RPG series has had multiplayer for a while. The Tales Series by Namco and Bandai has had co-op multiplayer for years now. The multiplayer in those game doesn’t dilute the story either. You can only play with 2-4 people so if you just started you have to get a second character first. It doesn’t break continuity that way.

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Then we get games like Final Fantasy XV… Adding a multiplayer mode way after the game came out. Sure the game needed a lot of updates to fix it, but it’s impressive that they are creating a story-based multiplayer, well after the initial launch of the game. My point is Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus could do the same thing. I’m sure it won’t happen but it’s still possible.

There is one game that I totally forgot about until now, JourneyJourney was a very unique gaming experience. It was co-op with a twist. You would be randomly teamed up with perfect strangers. The multiplayer and single player were one-in-the-same in that game. You could complete the game single-player and have a totally new experience depending on who you played with. Here’s the kicker. It didn’t dilute the story one bit. Granted the story was flexible and there where no voiced-over cutscenes, but this was an indie game. An Indie developer did what MachineGames says would dilute the story.

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My conclusion is that MachineGames is full of it. While not perfect, their competition is well-received. Even Call Of Duty has a campaign and a few of them have solid stories. I mean COD has 14 games so far, and it’s way younger than Wolfenstein. (Yes I’m aware that this Wolfenstein series is a reboot.)

Well, that’s my opinion on this subject. That’s all I have for you today. Thanks for letting me waste your time, people.

Keep it classy,
Evil Bob

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