Wolfenstein: The New Order was an ambitious reimagining of the venerable series featuring the hunky B. J. Blazkowicz who needs no introduction. The game took the series into an alternate reality where the Nazis had won the Second World War and our hero had been in a waking coma through it all, to wake up to a very different world in the year 1960. While this was a bold step that let developers Machine Games reshape the franchise in their own vision, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a spinoff using the same basics established by that game that takes the series back to its roots.
It’s highly recommended to play The New Order before one starts with Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, since the story of the latter is what connects to the prologue of the former. It also lets one get used to the basic gameplay elements and appreciate the changes that have taken place in Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. The first thing you will notice is the simplified control scheme on the PC where grenades have been removed from the weapon wheel and are available as a hotkey, as are the throwing knives. The crouch button and the alternate fire mode keys have been remapped though one could set them back to the keys that were used in The New Order. Having the Grenades and Knives more easily accessible does improve combat, so that’s a welcome change.
In Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, the perks system has been overhauled and simplified so that you now can unlock most of it without having to unlock something else first. Since these counters stack up irrespective of your in-game progress, you can effectively farm the first couple of missions to unlock all of these and make the rest of the game a little easier, since you will need to grind quite a bit if you wish to unlock them all. The game has some collectibles from the New Order like Concept Art and characters, though Gold has been simplified into generic gold bars. A new addition is the return of the Easter egg nightmare from The New World where you navigate classic Wolfenstein worlds with weapons from the modern game. These levels can be found in secret areas and collecting all the silver in them unlocks a new character portrait. When Wolfenstein: The Old Blood claims it goes back to the roots of the series, it means it.
The Wolfenstein series has popularised it’s namesake as an in-game location and Wolfenstein The Old Blood shows us yet another rendition of the infamous Castle Wolfenstein. The story begins with B. J. accompanying another OSA operative to infiltrate Castle Wolfenstein in order to recover a folder that will reveal the location of General Deathshead’s military compound that is assaulted in the prologue of The New Order. The main antagonist is reveals as General Deathshead’s second in command, Helga Von Schabbs, though your immediate adversary is introduced as Rudi Jager, Helga’s second in command; a minion of a minion with more minions under them.
If you have played the New Order, you will immediately recognise a few weapons and enemy types as predecessors of the same. While there was a time leap between 1946 and 1960 in The New Order, the weapons and enemies in Wolfenstein: The Old Blood predate even them. Early on, the Supersoldaten are hooked to electric rails that can be powered off, though you encounter some with their own power source later on. The Kampfhunds are even less advanced and can still be recognisable as dogs with armour.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood allows you to play stealthily or go in all guns blazing with its dual wielding system, at least in the early parts. If you wish to kill every enemy, then you cannot do so stealthily since of the four types of Nazi soldiers you initially encounter, two have protective gear that protects them from falling to silenced headshots from your handgun. The toughest soldiers to kill besides the Supersoldaten are the Heavy infantry that carry a Schlockhammer, which is a shotgun that’s actually the most effective at taking them out and can’t be killed with a takedown. You can snipe other enemies with the Bombenschuss or blow them to bits with the Kamphpistole, which works best against groups. A perk also allows you to store the heavy Machine Gun in your inventory so you can carry around the maximum firepower. You can dual wield Handguns, 46T assault rifles and Schlockhammers. Commanders return in this game and should usually be prioritised for killing as they can call up to two waves of reinforcements.
The most innovative new weapons in Wolfenstein: The Old Blood are the Pipes. You can connect them for more powerful melee blows or dual wield them for faster attacks. Pipe executions are particularly gory with blood spurting out the end once you lob it into an opponent’s head. Pipes are also used to climb up certain special surfaces and with a mouse, this is done by keeping the left or right button pressed while you click the other in order to keep the respective hand fixed. It can prove a little tricky and climbing might be slow for some. Pipes can also be used to open hatches and hold open doors while you slide underneath them. Later on, when you encounter undead enemies, the pipes are an effective means of bashing skulls.
The levels are quite linear, though there are enough secret areas around for you to want to explore every nook and cranny. There are also letters lying around that give you an insight into the background of the game’s story. In contrast, the long corridors and flat textured walls of the nightmares feel more open than the game’s levels. These levels also have secret areas which are a chore to find as they are hidden behind regular wall sections, but it’s hard to keep track as they don’t show up on the map and you can’t track if you’ve collected all the old silver either. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood offers hints in the form of scurrying rats to find some of these areas as well as letters to hint at others. In some areas, you can clear out enemies and in others, the objective is to survive and escape, as the enemies will keep respawning constantly.
The Gunplay is decent, especially when dual wielding. It can be annoying when the environmental location blocks you from quickly reloading though. The clips for some weapons like the Schlockhammer, Bombenschuss and Kamphpistole feel too short, and the carrying capacity also feels restrictive. Also, reloading is drawn out especially when dual wielding which can be suicidal when faced with a lot of enemies, though a perk lets you mash the reload key to speed it up. Don’t expect to be safe hiding in one spot, since the cover is destructible and enemies will throw grenades that you can lob right back, though more often than not, these exploded in B. J.’s hands.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood lets you overcharge not just your health, but also your Armour. This can be useful when taking on a room filled with enemies, though the placement of health and armour pickups around the map will rarely let you have that advantage. Since your health regenerates in batches of 25, you can effectively use 4 food items giving 5 health each to let you recover your full health of 125 (Provided you unlocked that Perk of 25 bonus health). Armour can also be unlocked to 125 with the relevant perk, though there are few areas in the game with enough armour lying around to let you unlock that perk.
The story mode contains a prologue and nine missions, which is quite a significant amount for a spinoff title. While the early chapters are full of familiar human enemies and super soldiers, including some unkillable ones like the Panzerhund, later missions also feature undead enemies, thanks to the main antagonist’s extreme interest in the occult. There are certain areas in the game where you must survive multiple waves of enemies and these are unlocked as Challenge maps with a timer and medals for your score. There is even a global leaderboard for these. This adds a lot of replayability to Wolfenstein: The Old Blood that was missing from The New Order, despite its split timelines. And like that game, you do have a choice of characters to save in this game as well, though it occurs much later.
Visually, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is quite beautiful and your first moments of the game will be spent enjoying the scenery. However, you will soon find yourself in cramped corridors that might have details on the paint, but aren’t quite worth standing around and staring. The UI is the same as The New Order. Even the map uses the same blueprint style. The music score complements the game quite well with nostalgic tunes playing in the nightmare scenarios. The Sound effects are well done and it feels satisfying to hear the guns and explosions.A minor annoyance is the sheer number of screens you must wait through before you start playing the game.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a decent spinoff that certainly complements its original game (The New Order) well, but isn’t quite as appealing as a standalone title. While it changes some things for the better, it is overreliance on the pipes for gameplay can get boring after a while. The Challenge mode is quite interesting but the collectibles aren’t quite attractive to want to seek. While nightmares worked fine as an Easter egg, the game has an overdose of them, which dilutes the charm and also makes you realise just how many modern ease of life enhancements they lack. What starts as a celebration of the classic Wolfenstein experience soon becomes a chore lost in limbo between the new games and the old. For the price tag though, it’s well worth it.
