Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a budget-priced, standalone expansion and prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order. Released barely a year after its predecessor, it arrived somewhat unexpectedly and sets out to depict the events leading up to the opening moments of The New Order.
Over the years, The Old Blood has earned a slightly dubious reputation, mainly due to its thin story and repetitive environments. While I agree that these aspects make it weaker in direct comparison, I don’t share the disdain. I don’t play first-person shooters for their narratives, and I actually consider the setting one of the game’s strengths. This is a genre built on immersive mayhem, and where it truly matters, The Old Blood delivers.
Once again, you step into the boots of square-jawed American spy B.J. Blazkowicz, this time infiltrating enemy territory in 1946. His mission is to penetrate the ancient stronghold Castle Wolfenstein and uncover the whereabouts of the high-ranking SS officer Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse, who will later emerge as the primary antagonist of The New Order.
Because of its premise, the adventure plays like a revisionist corridor shooter, openly rooted in the design philosophy of the original Wolfenstein 3D. In fact, a handful of optional dream sequences allow you to revisit that 1992 classic directly. Movement options are limited, hiding spots are scarce, and mistakes are brutally punished.
The opening stretch typically unfolds in a familiar rhythm. You enter a new area densely packed with enemies and immediately intercept radio chatter from Nazi commanders. Armed with a silenced pistol or a knife, you stalk the perimeter, attempting to eliminate these officers quietly. Once they’re dealt with, reinforcements are cut off and the remaining grunts can be dispatched at a more manageable pace. Eventually, the restraint falls away and the game pivots into full-blown chaos, with enemies pouring out of walls and doorways alike.
The weapons feel appropriately heavy and lethal, and MachineGames excels at crafting encounters that occasionally emphasize each gun’s unique strengths. Since enemies wield similar firepower, ducking into cover becomes essential the moment your armor depletes. Later, the game introduces towering mechanical foes that demand quick thinking and careful positioning to bring down.
An unlockable perk system exists to support the player, but its thresholds are set so high that it rarely makes a meaningful impact. By the time you’ve killed fifty enemies with a sniper rifle, for instance, you’re likely nearing the end of the campaign, and the reward hardly justifies the effort.
Veterans of The New Order will appreciate how much of the underlying mechanics carry over intact. The most notable difference lies in pacing. Where The New Order felt like a season of episodic television, The Old Blood plays more like a focused spin-off film, building steadily from its prologue toward a climactic final confrontation. Mercifully, it’s also much shorter, with a runtime of roughly six to eight hours.
I wasn’t particularly invested in the finer points of the story, but whatever it lacks in narrative depth, it compensates for with confident staging and direction. Several tense moments wrest control away to deliver heart-stopping first-person cutscenes. In one extended interactive sequence that doubles as a mission briefing, you experience B.J.’s first impression of Castle Wolfenstein—and instinctively know this mission is doomed.
The castle looms above a quaint Alpine village, accessible only by cable car, which later becomes the setting for the game’s most memorable set piece. Classic war films like Where Eagles Dare inevitably come to mind. Majestic yet deeply oppressive, the location feels like stepping straight into the wolf’s maw. The game captures that vulnerability beautifully: you are an intruder in hostile territory, surrounded on all sides. By staying hidden, you can overhear both absurd and unsettling guard conversations, sometimes even picking up hints about upcoming boss encounters.
The cold, stone corridors are filled with paintings, suits of armor, tapestries, books, and furniture—meticulous environmental details that you mostly sprint past or obliterate in firefights. This craftsmanship is invaluable. Even if you don’t consciously register it, your subconscious recognizes these spaces as lived-in. If you slow down to read diaries or listen to audiotapes, you glimpse the frightened, fragile people behind the Nazi façade. MachineGames consistently excels here, pairing rich level design with frantic action that distracts you from fully appreciating it.
As the narrative veers into occult territory, the titular “Old Blood” takes center stage, and the game feels like a reckoning with ideas that should have been left behind—Nazism and outdated FPS conventions alike. The final boss is an abomination, and much like Nazism itself, the only real pleasure it offers is in tearing it down.
Historically, the Third Reich’s obsession with ancient mythology makes this descent into pulp occultism oddly fitting. The events wouldn’t feel out of place in an Indiana Jones adventure. The Old Blood both mocks the Nazis and indulges the exaggerated tropes surrounding them in popular fiction. And, as ever, they stubbornly refuse to stay dead.
It may all come across as B-movie schlock, but Wolfenstein: The Old Blood embraces its absurdity wholeheartedly. The “silent” takedowns that are anything but, the grotesque boss fights, the ludicrous overheard conversations—it’s all delivered with complete conviction. In those moments, I surrender to it as well. I admire games that understand their own limitations and manage to fold even their weaknesses into a cohesive, satisfying whole.
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