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For over 30 years, the Wolfenstein franchise has held its head high in the clouds, considered one of the most influential video game franchises of all time. The grandfather of the modern FPS genre, Wolfenstein laid out fundamental game concepts that future titles and award-winning franchises would expand upon and integrate into core concepts, such as scavenging weapons and ammo off of defeated enemies, stealth gameplay against unaware enemy guards, and of course, killing Nazis that are bent on world domination through weaponizing experimental technologies and the occult.

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With over a dozen games being ported to almost every major console from the early 1990s onward, deciding which games to play and in what order can feel overwhelming. Not all Wolfensteins are created equal, so here's a rundown on which Wolfenstein entries have a bite worthy of their bark.

Wolfenstein 3-D (1992)

Menu screen for FPS game Wolfenstein 3-D from 1992 by id Software

The grandfather of the Wolfenstein franchise and first-person shooters as a whole. Wolfenstein 3-D, a re-interpretation of an early stealth-puzzle game released by MUSE Inc. in 1981, much like its equally important successor, Doom, has been ported to a wide variety of consoles and continues to have a thriving mod scene for custom sprites, new levels, new weapons and re-imagined mechanics, keeping this well-aged game forever fresh and replayable. Developed by id Software and released in 1992, Wolfenstein 3-D would change everything.

The story is rather simple, but much like the genre it helped establish, Wolfenstein's plot became a foundation for future entries and the wider FPS genre. Players take control of B.J. Blazkowicz, an American military operative fighting his way though a Nazi-controlled castle during the Second World War that is being used as a testing ground for government experiments and serves as a meeting place for high ranking German officials.

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Players will have to shoot and stab their way through the maze-like floors of the castle, fighting off attack dogs, Nazi soldiers, officers, machine-gunners, and of course, the thing that elevated Wolfenstein 3-D into the popular consciousness beyond gamers: mecha-Hitler. Yes, really. You fight Hitler, whose head is mounted in a jar atop a robotic mech suite outfitted with twin chain guns, all inside of an ancient Germanic castle. You can see how the absurdity of Wolfenstein helped aid its then-new first-person perspective gameplay and secret-hosting hallways launch into a successful franchise that holds strong decades after the fact.

Return To Castle Wolfenstein (2001)

Return To Castle Wolfenstein 2001 Boss Level Activision Screenshot FPS

Just 9 years later, Wolfenstein hit the scene again with a fresh coat of polygons and three-dimensional gameplay. While far from the first 3-D (pun intended) first-person shooter, Return to Castle Wolfenstein came out right when a new generation of consoles and hardware was releasing, and many of the early kinks in first-person gameplay on older hardware were being ironed out. The first-person gameplay is less than perfect, but again follows in ideas that were becoming the norm in this new area of shooters, including bullet spread when firing automatic weapons for sustained periods, reloading weapon magazines instead of using a generic ammo pool, and emphasizing critical areas to aim for on enemies, such as headshots and glowing weak points. The game would later be ported to Playstation 2 and the original Xbox in 2003, with both ports having a unique prologue level not seen in the PC original, additional unlockable secrets, item shops, and the Xbox version offering a 2-player co-op mode and online play.

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Return to Castle Wolfenstin again gives players control over B.J. Blazkowicz as he investigates a Nazi research outpost within and surrounding castle Wolfenstein, uncovering a plan to turn the tide of the war in Germany's favor by weaponizing the undead, the occult, and the otherworldly. Fighting through castle grounds, ancient ruins, crypts, mountain lifts and secret laboratories, B.J. and a select few allies have to shoot their way first to freedom and then to victory against inhumane and unholy machinations of the Third Reich and its army of loyal soldiers.

Return To Castle Wolfenstein was also the first entry in the series to offer online multiplayer, with game modes such as Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. This multiplayer component would prove wildly successful, in many ways more-so than the base game, and remains playable to this day.

Wolfenstein (2009)

Wolfenstein 2009 MP40 Courtyard Screenshot FPS by Raven Software

Often considered the black-sheep of the franchise, Wolfenstein 2009 came and went with far less fanfare than the previous entry, releasing during the first big peak of modern first-person shooters, with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 and Battlefield Bad Company competing for top billing for players' attention, while games like Mass Effect, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Resident Evil 5 drew large audiences and took their respective developers and franchises to new highs and mainstream news coverage.

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This game sees B.J. find a supernatural medallion that grants him, and thus the player, incredible powers. His investigation leads him to the town of Isenstadt, where players confront a Nazi dig-site, at which the Germans are working to uncover and harness powerful crystals to access an alternate dimension and weaponize its energies. In addition to the standard Wolfenstein fare of World War 2 weapons and experimental technologies, players can use the medallion and the crystals to enhance their combat ability, such as seeing in the dark, deploying an energy shield, boosting weapon damage, and slowing down time. While met with mixed reception and middling public attention in a very competitive game market at the time, this entry would become the first in a new line of games that would put the Wolfenstein moniker back on top of the totem pole.

Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014)

Wolfenstein The New Order 2014 Concept In-Game Design by Machine Games

A fresh coat of paint and an excellent re-imagining of Wolfenstein's aesthetic, story and gunplay for a modern audience. Developed by Machine Games, The New Order brings the gameplay down a peg from the mystical occult of 2009's entry and refines the weapons, movement, and maps to the highest point the franchise had seen in years. With sharp, powerful cracks from sniper rifles, duel-wielding assault rifles through office spaces, and slitting throats on the Nazi's moonbase, The New Order delivers thrills, visuals, and sound design worthy of the modern gaming age and worthy of its legacy as a first-person shooter juggernaut.

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This game sees B.J. and the allied nations pushed to the breaking point against the Nazi's groundbreaking technologies — and ultimately falling to the Axis Powers after a last-ditch effort to cripple their regime in 1946. Blazkowicz awakens from a coma in the year 1960, with Nazi control extending across most of the world, and even into space. Fighting his way to freedom and locating a resistance cell in London, BJ works to keep this fragile resistance movement alive as they work to undermine the Nazi's perceived invulnerability — all the while pondering his own existence and the world he is desperate to create for good and decent people that are under the Nazi's tyrannical rule.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (2015)

Wolfenstein The Old Blood FPS 2015 village burning by Machine Games

A standalone prequel set before the 1946 events of The New Order, The Old Blood sees players control B.J. Blazkowicz as he steals away the location of Deathshead, the Nazi scientist responsible for turning the tide of the war back in Germany's favor. B.J. finds himself in a nearby village where ancient evils are awoken through the Nazi's arrogant disregard of old tales and legend, their lust for power bringing fire and brimstone to rain down while the dead arise and threaten to overrun the land.

Wolfenstein: The New Colossus (2017)

Wolfenstein The New Colossus 2017 FPS by Machine Games, Blazkowicz in disguise in USA

The sequel to 2014's smash hit The New Order, The New Colossus follows the continuing adventures of B.J. Blazkowicz and his growing resistance movement as they travel to the United States in the hope of re-kindling the American Revolutionary spirit. Along the way, B.J. is forced to confront the darkest corners of American society being pressed to the front and center by their Nazi overlords, his own mortality, and his upcoming fatherhood as his wife, Anya, is pregnant. He worries what kind of world his children may be inheriting from the violence and greed of the Nazi regime and their collaborators.

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The gunplay has been further refined in The New Colossus, built off of the excellent foundation laid with The New Order. Weapons have various attachments and modifications that can be discovered and swapped about, allowing players to craft each weapon the game has to offer to cater to their desired playstyle. This includes turning the submachine gun into a nail gun or giving the shotgun pellets an enhanced ricochet ability to bounce off corners and cut into enemies, to more mundane changes like attaching a scope or extended magazine to a rifle. Tearing through the rubble of New York City and the high-class embellishments of a Nazi courtroom has never been more fun than in The New Colossus. Later in its life cycle, DLC missions would expand upon the rising insurgency movement in the United States with players controlling new characters creating havoc for the Nazis.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood (2019)

Wolfenstein Youngblood 2019 FPS in-game screenshot in combat by Machine Games

The most recent mainline Wolfenstein release, Youngblood was as much of a technical achievement as it was a misstep for the series, as far as fans and critics are concerned. While running rather smoothly on all platforms, including the successful but flawed Nintendo Switch, and looking as polished as the last several titles regarding sound design, art style, and character movement, fans were mostly disappointed with the inclusion of RPG mechanics into the gameplay loop. Enemy players became life-bar-sporting bullet sponges that players have to whittle away at, all the while concerning themselves with upgrading the number statistics of their weapons and equipment instead of outfitting weapons with attachments that make the gunplay and player movement more fun for fun's sake.

Youngblood takes place 20 years after the events of The New Colossus in 1980. B.J. Blazkowicz's twin daughters, Jessie and Zofia, have grown up to follow in their father's footsteps in aiding the growing resistance movement against Nazi control. Traveling to France to follow their father's trail after he falls off the radar, the two sisters find themselves working to uncover a secret Nazi laboratory that could be the game-changer the resistance has been looking for all these years. In their way stands soldiers and enemy types new and old, determined to destroy them and their resistance cells to safeguard the laboratory and the longevity of the Nazi regime. Despite this entry's flaws, it's well worth playing for those who have become invested in the timeline first established in The New Order.

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