Machine Laboratory

Lore & Background

The Nazis' ability to mass-produce robots stemmed from their discovery of a Da'at Yichud cache containing technology centuries ahead of its time. This resource enabled them to surpass Allied military might and develop inventions such as energy weapons, computer artificial intelligence, and super concrete. However, the source notes that someone was tampering with the super concrete's formula, making it susceptible to mold deterioration. The Resistance discovered a match for this anomaly in Set Roth, a member of Da'at Yichud imprisoned at Camp Belica. It was there that Blazkowicz learned the Nazis were co-opting their technology to control robots. A key turning point involved Blazkowicz finding a battery for a device capable of controlling these machines, which he used with Set to incapacitate Frau Engel and destroy the camp.

In Their Own Story

In July 1946, during an assault on a fortress run by Deathshead, Blazkowicz was captured in a human experimentation laboratory. After escaping an emergency incinerator, he remained catatonic until 1960. Years later, upon infiltrating the Resistance's stolen U-boat, Eva's Hammer, they learned it required keycodes from a Nazi lunar research facility to operate its nuclear cannon. Blazkowicz utilized the Spindly Torque, a Da'at Yichud spherical device capable of destroying super concrete, to steal the identity of a lunar scientist and infiltrate that base. Upon returning to Earth, he found the Resistance base assaulted by Frau Engel. The Resistance eventually used the Spindly Torque to breach Deathshead's fortress. Inside his workshop, Deathshead revealed he possessed the preserved brain of the comrade Blazkowicz spared in 1946, using it to power a robot that fought B.J. before Blazkowicz destroyed the brain and commandeered a larger robot mecha.

Reader's Guide

To progress through the game's chapters, players must navigate levels on foot from a first-person perspective, utilizing a cover system to lean around, over, or under obstacles during shootouts. Combat involves melee attacks for silent takedowns or direct firefights using a wide variety of weapons found on the ground or retrieved from dead enemies. Ammunition must be manually collected. Players can carry as many weapons as they find and dual-wield some to deal double damage. Weapon customization is available; for example, attaching a rocket launcher to an assault rifle or upgrading a wire cutter to a laser gun. Key objectives often involve retrieving specific items, such as the battery at Camp Belica or keycodes from the lunar base, which are essential for defeating robotic threats and advancing the storyline.

Did You Know?

• The game features a branching narrative where a morality choice in the prologue determines whether Fergus Reid or Probst Wyatt III survives, altering characters and plot points throughout the two timelines.
• Blazkowicz spent fourteen years in a persistent vegetative state at a Polish psychiatric asylum after escaping Deathshead's compound in 1946.
• The Spindly Torque is a Da'at Yichud device specifically capable of destroying the super concrete used by the Nazis.
• Deathshead utilized the preserved brain of Blazkowicz's spared comrade to power a robot that fought against him inside his workshop.
• A stand-alone expansion, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, was released in May 2015 and is set before the events of The New Order.