BJ Blazkowicz is officially more of a plumber now than Mario.
The recently released The Old Blood story expansion to MachineGames’ surprisingly fantastic reboot of the Wolfenstein first-person shooter franchise takes a decidedly more mystical approach than the main release. Which makes it odd that the most prominent new addition to Nazi-killer supreme BJ Blazkowicz’s is a common pipe. But simplicity can often make for the most satisfying brutality, and in Blazkowicz’s hands, this length of lead not only provides a plethora of Reich-bludgeoning options, but opens up the environment as well. I recently spoke with Old Blood senior game designer Arcade Berg about where the idea of this hyper-useful piece of plumbing equipment came from, and whether or not we can expect to keep it in any future Nazi killings.
Unlike most weapons BJ acquires over the course The New Order and The Old Blood, the pipe can offer new methods of traversing the environment, as well as denting the skulls of the alleged master race. The idea of a multipurpose tool/weapon had been brewing in the minds of MachineGames for a while, and inspired quite a bit of violent creativity at the office.
“The idea for the pipe had been brewing for a while, and we decided that The Old Blood was the perfect fit,” said Berg. “The moment you mention a lead pipe in the context of a weapon, it’s not hard to get people excited and to start thinking of all the cool moves you could do with it. The animation team had a blast working on the take-downs.”
A pipe for all occasions
MachineGames’ designed Blazkowicz’s new toy for use through the whole expansion, a tricky goal given the variety of weapons (most with secondary uses and firing modes) picked up over the course of the new story. Keeping gamers interested in using the pipe across the few hours it takes to beat The Old Blood was a matter of gradually introducing new environmental and combat maneuvers for the weapon. Berg offered the example of “prying off certain armor pieces” off stronger enemies as an exclusive pipe-oriented tactic.
One the chief ways players use the pipe to maneuver along the environment is to scale decrepit walls, unfitting the pipe and using its two, sharper edges as de-facto handholds. Not wanting to limit this interaction to just being effectively a ladder, MachineGames turned the crest of a scaled wall into a bit of low-hanging cover. If BJ didn’t immediately hurtle himself over the edge of a wall and back into the Nazi fray, he could plug a few bullets into a nearby commander’s knees or begin a stealthy ascent with a suppressed shot to the closest head.
“Once you reach the top and get a solid grip of the edge you can use any one-hand weapon to fire on enemies above, or lean down to stay hidden,” said Berg. “It’s one of the best received new features from testing, with people loving to stealth kill an enemy before climbing up completely or shotgunning enemies in the knees, if that’s more to your liking.”
Keeping the split and whole forms of the pipe as distinct entities was essential to not only certain forms of movement, but combat styles as well. The “halved” pipe’s take-down execution plays out differently depending on where BJ positions himself relative to the enemy. A frontal assault is a swift slash attack, while a sneaky attack from behind is a more hurried jab to the neck.
The future of the new Wolfenstein brand seems relatively stable at this point, but the fate of BJ’s lead pipe is not so certain. At this point, MachineGames is looking to the community to ensure the new weapon’s survival into the next game. Whether or not it becomes a new inventory staple or not, MachineGames is perhaps too morbidly satisfied with the gruesome things the pipe is already capable of.
“We’ll keep a close eye on the community’s reaction to everything in the game, including the pipe,” Berg said. “We hope people will let us know in reviews, comments, and forums what they think. At least we’ve made a weapon that should be fairly easy for cosplayers to replicate!”
I feel I should remind cosplayers at this time that most conventions will not allow lead pipes on site outside of the janitorial staff. Unless they are full of Nazis.