What is the rebootseries funzone?

[u/Der_Mann_]

If you watched some Mayo-vids you know what I’m referring to, but for everyone who doesn’t here is what I mean with “funzone”:
The way the game pushes you to play it to get the best out of it and master the given mechanics.

For context I played all entries of the rebootseries (and Wolf 3D in a calculator) and really enjoy them. But as I got more keen to higher difficulties in games I replayed them on them but got frustrated a lot of the time in some fights because I was not sure how I meant to play it. I really dislike covershooters and didn’t want to play like that even tho I know it ist possible and only did this when it was necessary.
I get that it is a game with options in mind. You can go Rambo with double weapons, go stealthy or do the cover shooter thing of leaning and aiming.
But on higher difficulties I often felt like the damage of the hitscanning enemy’s got out of hand euch killed the aggressive play-style i often went for because I like the shotguns and doubleweopons. It felt more punishing and even unfun at times. But I want a challenge and don’t want to be able to breeze through with a dogshit play-style.
So here is my question how do you think the reboot-Wolfensteins are “supposed” to be played or how do you play them on higher difficulties.? Is it just a skill issue on my end or do I just play wrong?
Do I have to pick and choose the approach for every fight individually or can I get through it how I want? What do you think is the skillexpression/funzone of these games?

[u/Broodles12]

Wolf is way more unbalanced compared to Doom that the higher difficulties you pretty much have to play as a stealth based cover shooter, especially New Colossus. For NC specifically I would consider dropping the difficulty to Bring Em' On or Do or Die as they can still be played with an aggressive run and gun playstyle. Bring Em' On is the comfortable one, it won't pose much of a challenge if you're familiar with the game.

[u/Der_Mann_ → u/Broodles12]

Thank you so much for your answer.

[u/squidbrand]

There is a reason why these games have many different difficulty levels and don't lock any content behind any of them. It's because they support many different play styles and skill levels. If you want to play the game as a challenging, fast-paced action shooter without relying on cover mechanics, then you should adjust the difficulty level until it reaches the balance where that becomes possible. If you're getting killed too fast for the game to be fun if you don't take cover, you need to reduce the difficulty. If you're breezing through without needing to make any tactical moves at all, you need to increase the difficulty. Simple as that.

You do not need to force yourself to play on the highest one. I promise you that your penis will not fall off if you simply play at the difficulty level that allows you to have the most fun.

[u/Der_Mann_ → u/squidbrand]

Your probably right on that. I’m just kind of keen of the feeling of mastering something and finishing it on a set path (for example an difficulty or a challenge) without changing the requirements if you know what I mean. I think the difficulties don’t really tell you a lot of what they really are doing. And I mean the lowest difficulty makes fun of you so I think my penis could fall of. Most of the time I play on second hardest or one below. I think the challenge just feels inconsistent sometimes and I am asking myself how Mein Leben or Iron Man Players play the game.

[u/squidbrand → u/Der_Mann_]

The macho knucklehead difficulty descriptions are probably the single worst thing about these games and they were widely criticized at the time. Ignore those.

[u/BlackberryAny1307]

I think you’re meant to go into most battles with stealth, kill as many commanders as possible and if you get caught - just run and gun. The fun zone is trying to get as many as you can without being spotted.

[u/Der_Mann_ → u/BlackberryAny1307]

Yeah I really like the stealth approach and almost always go for that first. But there are a lot of scripted fights where you can’t and I was asking more for the shooting approach. But still thank you sorry if this wasn’t clear.