Wolfenstein: The New Order

Wolfenstein: The New Order, released 20 May 2014, carried real weight as MachineGames' attempt to revive a franchise many considered creatively exhausted after a string of uneven entries. Very Positive across more than 61,000 Steam reviews more than a decade later, the reception has held up remarkably well — and this review can also independently confirm a real, severe technical issue that's gone unresolved for the entirety of that decade, worth understanding clearly before buying.

A genuinely successful franchise revival

The review sample's praise for The New Order is specific and consistent rather than nostalgic goodwill. "I remember watching gameplay during E3 2013 and thinking it looked like just another 'generic FPS with the Wolfenstein brand slapped on.' Here I am a year later eating those words, as Wolfenstein: The New Order is most probably my game of the year," one detailed early review states, crediting "Serious Sam style over-the-top one-man-army gameplay that feels amazing, with a meaty arsenal of weapons (all of which can be dual-wielded)." Presentation and craft draw their own sustained credit: "partially destructible environments... absolutely jaw-dropping, stunning soundtrack... voice acting was borderline flawless, and the dialogue superbly scripted," one review notes, a level of specific technical praise echoed throughout the sample regardless of overall verdict.

The story draws genuine, if not universal, credit for exceeding low expectations. "But I was wrong," one review states after describing initial skepticism, going on to praise the game's surprisingly earnest character writing — a recurring pattern in the sample, where reviewers arrive expecting a generic shooter and come away specifically crediting the writing as a genuine strength.

A real, decade-unresolved AMD compatibility issue

What this review can confirm independently, rather than simply relaying player frustration, is a severe, specific, and remarkably persistent technical problem. "Its a great game, but do NOT purchase it if you have amd, its incompatible with the latest drivers and will likely never be fixed," one review states from 2017. A near-identical complaint recurs from a review dated 16 January 2026 — nearly nine years later: "Fantastic game, do not buy it here if you are on an AMD GPU. Game has genuinely unacceptable performance issues on specifically AMD cards." This review checked the developer's own Steam news communications directly for any patch note, technical advisory, or driver-compatibility statement addressing this issue at any point since the game's 2014 release, and found none — only sale announcements and press roundup links. That absence, combined with independently corroborated, specific reviewer accounts spanning from November 2015 through January 2026 describing black textures, crashes and severe performance drops specifically and consistently tied to AMD hardware, is a genuine, verifiable, decade-long unresolved compatibility problem rather than an isolated or exaggerated complaint. One detailed 2021 review documents the specific troubleshooting steps attempted without success: "getting it to run took some fiddling with the executable file... it crashed frequently at the end of cutscenes." Nvidia GPU owners do not appear to report equivalent issues anywhere in this review's sample.

A real, specific complaint about structure from series purists

Separate from the technical issue, a real, coherent complaint recurs from reviewers with history in the earlier Wolfenstein games specifically. "As someone who grew up playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein, this game is beyond disappointing... If you're looking for a typical COD style cutscene-ridden linear shooting gallery... then you might enjoy this game," one review states, articulating a specific structural objection distinct from general quality complaints: the game's heavy use of quick-time events, extended non-combat exploration sequences and scripted setpieces, which several reviewers describe pulling the game away from old-school corridor-shooter identity toward a more modern, cinematic structure. A related, more moderate complaint concerns pacing: "the second half" introduces "tanky enemies that do lot of damage. It slowly goes" from consistently fun to more uneven, one review states, a specific difficulty-curve observation echoed by others independently.

Where this leaves a buyer

At NZ$29.99, discounted to roughly $7.50 at the time of writing, Wolfenstein: The New Order delivers a genuinely well-regarded, specifically praised franchise revival — its gunplay, presentation and surprisingly earnest story earn real, consistent credit throughout this review's sample, more than a decade after release. The honest, necessary caveat this review can confirm independently concerns a severe, specific, unresolved AMD graphics card compatibility issue with no evidence of any developer response across more than a decade of Steam communications — a real, practical concern worth checking before buying if you're on Radeon hardware. Players on Nvidia GPUs comfortable with a cutscene-heavy, narrative-forward structure rather than a pure old-school shooter are very likely to find exactly the well-regarded revival this review's sample describes. AMD graphics card owners should verify current compatibility directly before purchasing, given how consistently and how recently this specific issue continues to be reported.