Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Yes, because it's an energic shooter with no superfluous gear or mission. All is pretty straight forward. Difficulties are ok. No. That's just a reboot of Return to Castle with way less story, and it's way less interesting overall. Also, it's way too short to be an epic game. It'll be a 2.5/5 as it could have been a magnificient reboot of Return to Castle Wolfenstein with nice touch of Wolfenstein 3D. They stopped at the middle of something great. The final fight is quite disappointing compared to Henrich with ghostly Helga. Über Soldat are ridiculous. There's way to much disappointing things for someone who played the franchise from the beginning. There's plenty of good things for someone who want a simple shooter.

Wolfenstein the old blood is a great tribute to the original Wolfenstein games alone in the fact that half of it's playtime will be set in the iconic Wolfenstein Castle. Any attempt at creating an interesting world like in New Order has been essentially scrapped. The story is near non-existent and most of the findable collectible texts focus on trying to explain the supernatural aspects of the game. Most of the game does allow the player to approach any situation in the way he wants, there is also a new Challenge mode which basically is a quick way to replay key battle scenarios of the game under a score based foundation. While I do recognise that the locations and level design should appeal to fans of the original I honestly found them beyond boring to evolve in. A castle, catacombs, caves,... that is what most of what you will find yourself in 80 % of the time. The gameplay is as good as in the new order and some of the new weapons do help in making the experience more fun like a bolt-action sniper type rifle that feels great to wield. Others however are not as convincing like a lousy gimmicky pipe or the sawed of shotgun that appears near the end of the game and does not even feature a dedicated shortcut key. I must also state that just like it's predecessor the game has a cap at 60 FPS. Not the worst framerate to be limited to by any means yet still somewhat of an inconvenience. I did not encounter any technical issues playing this game on Windows 11 with an RTX 3080 and an I7 12700K.

It's in my blood to kill Nazis regardless from what country they are from and where they are or in space if black white red, blue and yellow, green or pink this dirt has to vanish from earth

If you're wondering what order to play the Wolfenstein games, you would probably get the most complete experience starting with RtCW, then the 2009 game, then this, then New Order, then finally New Colossus. The way the games connect may be a little haphazard, but there is a throughline all the same. If you would prefer to just start with the newer titles... then start here. Old Blood may be a bit on the shorter side, but it has possibly the best gunplay in the entire series. Though only a minor improvement on the excellent combat of New Order, it's an improvement all the same; and it's polished to a mirror shine. Every gun feels powerful, every encounter feels intense, and the perks encourage you to find new ways to play instead of clinging to a single favorite. The story is there for fans of The New Order; or for new players who want a prologue before the main course. It's not deeply involved, but it contains plenty of lore and worldbuilding that is paid off handsomely in The New Order. The game is also dripping in atmosphere, and boasts a cinematic aesthetic that still looks gorgeous even to this day. That being said, $20 is a little steep considering the game's short length. I suggest you wishlist the series and wait for a sale. They get pretty cheap when the price drops, and you'll be glad you waited.

On Windows 10 64bit the game freezes on load screens. This bug is reproducible, it freezes on the second load screen of the game session. In terms of usage, it is positive that the save point feature occurs before the freeze and in the next game session that save point is loaded correctly. The game is practically playable up to a point where you play as a giant robot. It breaks the savegame on the next loading screen simliar what happens in Wolfenstein: The New Order. The game itself is a good shooter with a little story. Therefore 3 Stars.