“We wanted to actually show Hitler’s penis,” Wolfenstein 2 devs say, but a Bethesda producer said “I don’t advise doing that”: “We all need to be saved from ourselves sometimes”

MachineGames’ contemporary Wolfenstein run blends bleak history with slap-the-table excess, daring to wade into nightmarish themes while cranking the dial to eleven. It never blinks at grown-up content, and frankly I still can’t decide which tidbit feels stranger: that Wolfenstein 2 almost rendered the Führer’s full-frontal anatomy mid-stream, or that the studio let itself be talked out of it.

“Our plan at one point was to expose Hitler’s manhood during the urination beat,” studio head Jerk Gustafsson reveals in a fresh Noclip film, “but that proved a bridge too far, so we dropped the notion.”

Let’s rewind a moment. Anyone who reached Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus will recall the audition-room meltdown with Hitler. The dictator gate-crashes a casting session for an anti-BJ propaganda picture, hacking up lungs, spewing lunch, and relieving himself—all while casually gunning down terrified hopefuls.

Creative lead Jens Matthies says the brief was “to make him grotesquely corporeal, anti-ethereal,” hence the spotlight on decaying flesh and every embarrassing secretion. Showing the dictator’s privates grew naturally out of that mandate.

“My thought was, ‘Why not just flash it?’” Matthies tells the camera. “I messaged Todd Vaughn—Bethesda’s VP of production back then—‘Hey, any red flags if we expose the guy’s junk?’ He fired back, ‘Yeah, skip it.’ I answered, ‘Fair call. Maybe that’s a step across the line.’”

“Recognizing the boundary matters,” Matthies chuckles. “Sometimes we need someone to yank us back.”

Genitals or no genitals, Wolfenstein 2 remains one of the greatest shooters ever coded.

Dustin Bailey hopped aboard GamesRadar as Staff Writer in May 2022 and now files from Missouri. He’s spent years chronicling games—with occasional detours—