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Review of Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Nazi killing has rarely been as fun as MachineGame's Wolfenstein reboot. What started with The New Order lead to a smaller experience in the form of 'The Old Blood' one year later. Although it released after New Order, it is narratively a prequel.
Personally, these games draw me in with the theme of an alternate reality where the Axis are beating (Or have beaten) the Allies during the second World War. However, if I'm being honest.. Wolfenstein is a bit too whacky for my tastes, especially with how the games seem to lean more heavily into the silly comedy the further you go. On the flip side, it keeps me invested with extremely satisfying & tight gunplay.
The Nazi's Are Winning
At the beginning of The New Order, the Allies are launching a full scale assault against a compound by the one and only General Wilhelm Strasse, better known as "Deathshead". The Old Blood shows exactly how those events come to be. As you, B.J. Blazkowicz, infiltrate Castle Wolfenstein to acquire a folder detailing the location of Strasse's compound. The folder is currently property of Helga Von Schabbs, who leads the SS Paranormal Division.
It is March, 1946. The Germans are winning the war. Almost single handedly thanks to Deathshead and his various horrifying inventions. Taking the idea of German Wunderwaffe to a whole new level - though unfortunately it's mostly super soldiers & mecha. The games don't really focus too heavily on the alternate history aspect, however there's quite a few readable notes you can find in The Old Blood which detail famous historical events from our time ending differently. Such as the failed D-Day Invasion by the Allies.
I do appreciate that there's no shying away from appropriate imagery of the setting.
Brutal Action
By far my favorite part is the gameplay. Specifically the gunplay. Aesthetically I really like Wolfenstein's 1946, over its later decades. This more feels like a.. "WW2+" if you know what I mean. Still over the top, but retaining the 1940's German design in everything. Add to that smooth animations & responsive combat, and you've got me sold.
Once you're past the opening chapter (Of the 9 in total), the loop usually consists of blasting your way through Nazi's, then sneaking via stealth. I think the stealth sections come far too often, but I will mention that they're mostly optional. You can go loud as early as you want. Though without dispatching the commanders in the area first, enemies will continue to pour in.
There's a pretty high variety in the combat, for such a short experience. There's a fair selection of well crafted guns, from the StG46 Assault Rifle to the SH46 shotgun. Or the MG46, which is essentially a 4 barreled MG42 (Because yes). Multiple weapons even have dual wielding options for greater effectiveness, and it feels great to use. Of course you also have throwables like grenades or knives. My personal favorite guns to use were probably the Bombenschuss, a bolt action rifle, and the SH46. This variety carries over for the Nazi's too. Foot soldiers, and heavily armored SS. Supersoldiers attached to giant power cables. Etc.
Gameplay is backed up by a perk system, which is basically just a set of permanent unlocks to acquire for completing specific challenges. Like increased magazine sizes for getting a set number of kills with a weapon type. Or increased health/armor for finding enough pickups, etc.
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Health & Armor is found via old school pickups. I really like this system personally.
There's two major bosses (Maybe 3 if you count the robotic Panzerhund). The first is Rudi Jäger, who's fight is alright. Once you know what to do anyway. However, the final boss of the game, King Otto I's flesh golem, is an interesting idea.. but I personally cannot stand this type of boss design philosophy. It is a multi-staged fight, where, Nazi's will drop from the ceiling during certain points. Immediately firing at you. All while the boss continues to attack various parts of the arena. There are ways to deal with this, but it's possible I'm just super bitter about it because it's extremely annoying on the highest difficulty.
Speaking of, difficulty. There's a whopping 5 options + a permadeath mode. I have played through the game on the hardest and must admit that I find it more frustrating than a fun challenge. So now I tend to stick to the middle difficulties.
Challenges & Extras
Scattered throughout the main campaign are collectibles. Gold & letters. These unlock extras of various types in the menu. What's most fun is finding them, as a lot are hidden away in secret areas. Bringing back the essence of older FPS games that rewarded you for exploration.
Also scattered throughout the main campaign, are "Nightmares". Bonus stages based directly on the original Wolfenstein 3D, but with the modern weapons & mechanics. I loved these.
Then you've got 10 challenges that unlock when you meet the requirements. These are basically small areas from the main game, reworked to be a score attack mode. These can be quite tough to get the 'Gold' rating on.
My Gripes
For as much fun as the gameplay can be, there's things I'm not too big on. These are relatively small gripes however, because the game is exceptionally short. Meaning whatever issues I might start having, are gone about as fast.
During the story, after you've entered the village, events lead to the Germans releasing some sort of.. curse(?) that begins transforming them into zombies. While the spectacle of the village & airships burning is amazing, zombies were only fun for about three minutes. It's not so much that I find them boring, but rather how they work isn't super fun for me. First of all, living Nazi's will sometimes transform into a zombie after death.. EVEN if you kill them with a headshot. Wasting ammo and often blocking your path. This occurs during the final boss stage as well. Lastly, zombies do that really annoying lunge thing, where once they get within 30 feet of you they start to sprint, if you have to reload, enjoy taking unavoidable hits. - Add to this when you obtain the sawed off shotgun, it forces you into a cutscene that ends with a zombie automatically doing damage to you.

Conclusion (Pros & Cons)

In spite of my frustrations on higher difficulties, the overall package here is well worth the time if you enjoy this kind of action. Or if you're just a Wolfenstein fan. I've never played Return to Castle Wolfenstein myself, but I've heard from many that this game is something of a spiritual successor. Can't say whether that's true, but if it is, that might be of interest to you. Overall though, the game is very short. Coming in at just barely 4 hours long for me. Longer if you play higher difficulties.
Pros:
+Great gunplay
+Good prequel
+Fantastic Main Theme
Neutral:
~Extremely short
Cons:
-Some frustrating enemy mechanics

Disclaimer

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Please remember, that this is just my opinion. We don't have to agree, one thing I love you may hate, and one thing I hate you may love. Hopefully this gave you an idea of what to expect.
Review lengths have been greatly compressed due to the character limit.
10/30/2024