The Tutorials in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus Look Like Ikea Manuals

Everyone remembers building their first piece of furniture from Ikea. For my first few years living on my own, Ikea furniture building was done by my parents when they were visiting, and later on by my partner. Then I got my own office chair and I decided now was the time. The time to follow Ikea's legendarily simple instructions.

Luckily, I only messed up once. Even today, I sit upon that very chair. I felt proud to build it.

After marathoning the excellent first-person shooter Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus this week, I giggled at its tutorials buried in the menu. Like the white pamphlets that are stowed away in Ikea boxes, the tutorials are devilishly simple with predictably sometimes-bewildering instructions. The illustrations that show us how to do things are just silly animated silhouettes; from hero BJ Blazkowicz riding a giant robotic beast to throwing a hatchet.

It might be a stretch to note that the developers behind Wolfenstein 2, MachineGames, were outwardly inspired by Ikea instruction manuals, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were. As BJ grows in power throughout the campaign, the tutorials increase in silliness, showing off the new tools that BJ adds to his arsenal as the campaign expands in scope. But like all Ikea manuals: they might as well not even have words at all. The pictures and button prompts tell us all we need to know already.

You can skim the endearing tutorial pages yourselves when Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus launches tomorrow, October 27th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.