Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a stand-alone prequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order.
It was released on May 5 2015 for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
The prequel is set in 1946 and contains two missions called "Rudi Jäger and the Den of Wolves" and "The Dark Secrets of Helga Von Schabbs". The location of the game is Castle Wolfenstein in the German Alps.
New weapons include the pipe, the bolt rifle and a handy grenade launcher.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood contains occult and supernatural elements, as well as many references to the older titles. Despite this, the so called "supernatural" elements are heavily implied to have a mundane scientific explanation.
==Campaign==
===Plot===
In the closing stages of World War II the OSA sends B.J. Blazkowicz and Richard Wesley to infiltrate Castle Wolfenstein and retrieve a folder containing the location of Deathshead's Compound from Helga von Schabbs' office. The plan goes awry as both the agents are captured by Rudi Jäger, Helga's second-in-command, after raiding an office and starting a firefight just after the entrance to the castle.
They are put into the castle's prison, heavily guarded by Super Soldiers. Blazkowicz manages to escape and makes his way to rescue Wesley, along the way discovering that Helga Von Schabbs is seeking a crypt containing artifacts relating to King Otto, the Holy Roman Emperor.
Upon finding a severely tortured Wesley in the castle's medical observation room Jäger appears and electrocutes Wesley and knocks Blazkowicz unconscious. While being tortured by Jäger for information he manages to break free and kills Greta, Jäger's dog. Blazkowicz, outnumbered by the Nazis, escapes Castle Wolfenstein and goes to the neighboring town of Paderborn to rendezvous with his contact, a tavern owner named Kessler. At the establishment's door, Blazkowicz meets a village girl, Annette Krause.
The tavern is soon attacked by the Nazis before Rudi Jäger makes his entrance equipped with a terrifying suit of powered armor. Blazkowicz defeats Jäger and kills him. Kessler, Blazkowicz and Annette head to Wulfburg where Helga Von Schabbs is unearthing a crypt underneath an old church.
In Wulfburg, Blazkowicz meets Agent Two, Pippa, who is an undercover nurse. Blazkowicz heads out to the Wulfburg tavern to steal the folder from Helga. Posing as a waiter he reaches Helga but is soon discovered. Suddenly, an earthquake hits the area, caused by Helga's squad blasting the crypt's entrance, which causes a strange chemical to pour out that reanimates the dead.
Blazkowicz escapes and returns to Pippa, only to watch her be thrown into a fire by the reanimated Nazi she had killed earlier. He searches Wulfburg for Kessler and Annette before finding them near the Old Town where he is forced to save one of them.
After saving one or the other, Blazkowicz proceeds to hijack a prototype construction mech and makes his way to the graveyard through the old church. Fighting his way through the graveyard and to the tunnels below, he enters the inner sanctum where he is trapped by Helga once again.
She reveals her intention, to unearth King Otto's secret held for centuries, which turns out to be a monstrous creature of unknown origin. It kills Helga's officer and heavily injures her. Blazkowicz fights and kills the monster and faces Helga, whom he kills.
After retrieving the folder from her corpse, Blazkowicz is knocked out by falling rubble and is saved by Fergus Reid. While leaving, Blazkowicz observes whoever he had saved being extracted by airborne troops before leaving the town.
The game ends with Reid and Blazkowicz on a truck headed to RAF Kinloss at the northern tip of Scotland as they make final preparations for the assault on Deathshead's Compound, leading to the events of The New Order.
==Chapters==
* Prologue - German Alps
Rudi Jäger and the Den of Wolves
*Chapter 1 - Prison
*Chapter 2 - Docks
*Chapter 3 - Wolfenstein Keep
*Chapter 4 - Escape!
The Dark Secrets of Helga Von Schabbs
*Chapter 5 - Wulfburg
*Chapter 6 - Ruins
*Chapter 7 - Old Town
*Chapter 8 - Dig Site
==Protagonists==
* Captain William Joseph B.J. Blazkowicz
* Fergus Reid
* Ludwig Kessler
* Richard Wesley (Agent One)
* Annette Krause
* Pippa Shepherd (Agent Two)
* Village Drunkard
* Katrin
==Antagonists==
* Rudi Jäger
* Helga Von Schabbs
* Hans Grösse (Nightmare! levels)
* Adolf Hitler, mentioned only.
* Wilhelm Strasse, mentioned only.
* Emmerich Schreiner
* Eberhardt
* Hoffman
==References to older games==
*Many elements of the story are basically a nod to, and retelling of similar events in Return to Castle Wolfenstein -- put more simply, Old Blood may be considered a remake of the first part of RTCW up to and including the fight with Olaric.
*Design of The Old Blood's main menu bears some resemblances to box art of Jaguar version.
*An ally of Blazkowicz is a partisan named Ludwig Kessler, who is a nod to Kessler from Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Like Kessler, B.J. meets Ludwig Kessler for the first time inside of a village below Castle Wolfenstein. Kessler doesn't recognize him, B.J. has to introduce himself to him, but he has heard B.J.'s voice before.
*Both Paderborn and Wulfburg from RTCW appear in the game, as does Castle Wolfenstein. The location has been changed from the Harz mountains in northern Germany to the German Alps, presumably because the Alps are much higher and more impressive.
*Richard Wesley is a nod to Webley/Wesley, the dead British Agent One from Return to Castle Wolfenstein. The Old Blood may be following the RTCW coop mode timelime in which Agent One escaped with B.J. Both Agent Ones are killed via electrocution and torture while being interrogated in Castle Wolfenstein while B.J. escapes.
*Helga von Bulow from RTCW appears in this game with essentially the same role, except her name has been changed to Helga von Schabbs. Olaric meanwhile is replaced with a much bigger monster.
*A newspaper mentions that Hitler revisiting Castle Wolfenstein on Jan 12, 1946. He only ever appears in Castle Wolfenstein in the Original Encounter/Mac Family versions of Wolfenstein 3D and Wolfenstein Graphic Novels. Another Newspaper mentions a Wolfenstein Terrorist who attempted to kill Hitler, and that there were rumors that he was badly injured by the terrorist, and that terrorist escaped. This is a another nod to the events of Wolfenstein 3D and/or Original Encounter/Mac Family versions of Wolfenstein 3D.
*There are nine Nightmare! levels hidden throughout the game, taken from Wolfenstein 3D leading up to the boss fight with Hans Grösse. This is a continuation of the memory/nightmare easter egg found in Wolfenstein: The New Order.
*Otto I, the son of Heinrich I, is tied into the plot, and is the creator of monsters although he himself is not evil, and ended up sealing away his terrors. This appears to be somewhat of a nod to and backstory to RTCW, without the boss battle ending with an evil king. Instead elements of Heinrich I plot are merged with Olaric plot. However, it might be possible that he is the one unwittingly resurrected his father turning him into an evil undead warlord. Konrad seems to be this game's version of Simon the Wanderer, he is a priest who helps seal away the monsters Otto created.
*Rudi Jäger's power armor and dual chainguns are similar to Hans Grösse's appearance in Wolfenstein 3D and Wolfenstein (2009).
* Helga Von Schabbs appears to be a nod to both Helga von Bulow and Doctor Schabbs. Like Bulow, Schabbs is killed by a monster she releases near Wulfburg.
* "Hot Dog" phrase, which Blazkowicz expressed out of anxiety durning the document check by Rudi Jäger at the guard post, may be a nod to an old joke on poor enemy voice acting in Wolfenstein 3D, with many people hearing Guards say "Hot Dog!" instead of "Achtung!"
* Egyptian trophies in Helga's office in the castle may be a reference to Cursed Sands campaign from console ports of RTCW.
* The events of the game take place in the same month as the original version of RTCW events, just moved to a different year. From March, 1943 to March 1946. This is another nod to the original game's story, being reimagined.
== Trivia ==
* In the game's prologue, within Helga's operations center, it is possible to find the helmet of the player character from another Bethesda game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as an easter egg.
* In the first cut scene of the game, the key of the car carrying Blazkowicz and Wesley shares a key ring with a key chain in the shape of Rocket Launcher of the Quake first-person shooter series.
* In Rudi Jager's room is the bed for Greta, in the bed is a Cacodemon squeaky toy. Cacodemon is a reference to Doom.
* After entering Castle Wolfenstein in disguise, a vending machine stocked with Nuka-Cola can be found on the tram platform.
** Nuka-Cola is a soft drink found in Fallout series.
*According to a newspaper article you find in the game, the Invasion of Normandy has failed as the Allies suffered 156,000 casualties, which was the entire Allied military strength at the day of the invasion.
* Like Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is more an action adventure game than a traditional First-person shooter game.
* The end credits music is a cover of the French folk song “La Complainte du Partisan”, which has been translated into English.
==Reception==
*Gamerankings: 78.56% (XONE) http://www.gamerankings.com/xboxone/131848-wolfenstein-the-old-blood/index.html, 78.08% (PC) http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/131849-wolfenstein-the-old-blood/index.html, 77.11% (PS4) http://www.gamerankings.com/ps4/131847-wolfenstein-the-old-blood/index.html
*Metacritic: 76/100 (PC) http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/wolfenstein-the-old-blood, 76/100 (PS4) http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/wolfenstein-the-old-blood, 75/100 (XONE) http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-one/wolfenstein-the-old-blood
*Destructoid: 8/10 http://www.destructoid.com/review-wolfenstein-the-old-blood-291497.phtml
*EGM: 7.5/10 http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/wolfenstein-the-old-blood-review/
*Game Informer: 7.5/10 http://www.gameinformer.com/games/wolfenstein_the_old_blood/b/playstation4/archive/2015/05/08/wolfenstein-the-old-blood-review.aspxZ
*GamesRadar: 4 out of 5 star http://www.gamesradar.com/wolfenstein-old-blood-review/
*IGN: 7/10 http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/08/wolfenstein-the-old-blood-review
*PC Gamer (US): 70% http://www.pcgamer.com/wolfenstein-the-old-blood-review/
*Ploygon: 7/10 http://www.polygon.com/2015/5/6/8561545/wolfenstein-the-old-blood-review-ps4-PC-xbox-one
*VideoGamer.com: 8/10 http://www.videogamer.com/reviews/wolfenstein_the_old_blood_review.html
==See Also==
*Wolfenstein: The New Order
==Gallery==
==References==
==External links==
*Wikipedia
*Title at Moby Games
*Title at Gamefaqs
Category:Games