Wolfenstein: The Old Blood

A robust, entirely worthwhile release that gives you plenty of bang for the buck and expands upon one of last year's best games in a purposeful way.

Simply put, if you liked The New Order, you’ll like The Old Blood. The more than competent shooting, likable protagonist, writing, and gameplay choices make up for some small issues and a few static characters.

A solid FPS experience for a fraction of the usual price, Wolfenstein – The Old Blood is a DLC add on that rivals some AAA titles in terms of sheer enjoyments gleaned from the experience.

Even without multiplayer, the game shines in nearly every aspect, and holds up the tradition of B.J. Blazkowicz's Nazi-killing provocatively well. If you loved the first game, this eight-hour adventure is just what you need.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood may not have many innovations, but the experience is really satisfactory as a whole. A must if you like first person action games

A wonderful prequel to the New Order. Did you like the original game? Then you'll definitely want... nay, NEED this. What are you waiting for?

After an extraordinary comeback of the Wolfenstein series last year with The New Order, now Machine Games studio and Bethesda deliver a prequel of the events that happened during the middle of the 1940's decade with the Germans experimenting with technology and soldiers to win the war. B.J. Blazkowicz is back in action to stop the Nazi threat and save the day.

The action sequences are some of the best on PS4 and William Blazkowicz is still a badass. [Issue#258, p.68]

By keeping the elements that made The New Order a great, old-school shooter, The Old Blood offers 5 to 6 hours of mindless and extremely enjoyable FPS gaming.

The stealth options aren't quite as reliable as last time, but the core shooting experience is incredibly fun with meaty weapons, a ramped up pace and enjoyably over-the-top characters.

As a snippet of what The New Order has to offer, I’m quite impressed with The Old Blood.

Doesn't reinvent the wheel or go above last year's offering. Just a solid fan-service that delights much more that it 'infuhreriates'. [July 2015, p80]

For those that have played through The New Order and are keen for more of its beefy action, this delivers around 7 hours of it for a decent price. I’d argue The Old Blood also makes a satisfying starter to The New Order’s more substantial meal if you haven’t yet had a taste. A well-priced piece of downloadable content that works equally well on either side of the main game? Clever.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a great prequel to The New Order. It still has the points that makes The New Order great, but adds a few new things as well. Unfortunately, the addition of zombies is a bit of a downfall.

A solid shooter standing atop fan service and nostalgia.

MachineGames’ latest take on Wolfenstein is a very good shooter that is only a few missteps away from being, like its predecessor, a truly great one.

If for some reason you never opted for The New Order then this could be the perfect introduction. Opening chapter aside, The Old Blood is just as good as its predecessor with excellent combat, nice visuals and an intriguing story.

Competent, compelling gameplay, but with an uneven tone.

It’s pretty simple: If you enjoyed Wolfenstein: The New Order you’ll like Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, too.

The Old Blood is very much an expansion of its fun, entertaining predecessor, but doesn't quite pack the same emotional clout. Still, a great FPS worthy of your attention.

This is what an expansion should be like. A great game, with solid gameplay and interesting additions. If you enjoyed The New Order, you shouldn’t miss this one.

For those that don't have the time to devote to The New Order, this abbreviated Old Blood experience should suffice.

Smaller in scale than last year's epic adventure, The Old Blood treads familiar, blood-soaked ground and doesn't offer much in the way of new ideas. However, it's very well produced, has some great moments of dialog, and offers a ton of Nazi-slaughtering action that's somewhat relentless, but still plenty entertaining.

Machine Games has given the franchise a tremendous shot in the arm, and even if you never played The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is a game you shouldn't miss.

A great follow-up to The New Order, which cleverly reuses all of its best features and yet still finds time to add plenty of new elements of its own.

Overall you get a lot of gameplay for a downloadable title, and even more so if you try to find all of the secrets and collectibles in each level. You're also getting the same basic gameplay that comes with the triple-A The New Order title, somewhat of a rarity in the downloadable shooter space.

The Old Blood is a solid, fun and challenging shooter, with its distinctive mix between old and new school. Unfortunately, the original The New Order set the bar very high, and this expansion clearly can't keep up.

The first chapter is way better than the second, but it's an overall very interesting offer for all the fans of The New Order.

The biggest element that feels missing is the incredible character interaction from New Order.

If you liked The New Order, you will definitely enjoy this game. It may not be too long and might not have much content to offer, but as a standalone prequel The Old Blood more than delivers on its promise.

A lovely, bloody and bullet-riddled trip down memory lane is soured somewhat after reaching the weaker second act that serves to remind how much nostalgia is too much. Thankfully, The Old Blood is still an ultimately satisfying addition to the Wolfenstein family.

While The Old Blood could have definitely either turned up the grindhouse factor in part two, or stayed more true to part one, it still had incredibly fun combat and satisfying Nazi killing.

Had The Old Blood been injected with more new blood, maybe it would have matched or surpassed the quality of The New Order. But by over-relying on nostalgia to drive the experience, it's well-crafted fan service rather than an attempt to push the series in new directions.

A short yet intense visit to Wolfenstein. Five hours of fun shooting set in a fictional storyline where Nazis won the war, with solid technical aspects and interesting narrative moments taken from the original game.

Blazko's new adventure is surely still fun and challenging, yet far from the must-buy experience that The New Order was.

One year has passed since Wolfenstein: The New Order release. Wolfenstein is still trying to be a RPG hybrid. Game atmosphere is good, but id Tech 5 ruins everything again.

Has all the mechanics of its progenitor, but lacks the magic that made it such a hit. [Aug 2015, p.70]

As a standalone DLC add-on, though, it's a great use of the engine. [Issue#162, p.98]

Quotation forthcoming.

The Old Blood certainly displays intelligent action FPS design that's fun and effortless to play. Just don't expect the deep examination the game hints at to go anywhere. Here, the gloriously dumb (yet smartly designed) reigns. Progress can wait. Long live The Old Blood.

In terms of the gameplay, level design and overall pacing, The Old Blood has learned a handful of lessons and made the appropriate tweaks to improve the play experience from its predecessor. Unfortunately some of the spark that make last year's game oddly inspiring is gone, which makes it decent fun for shooter fans, but ultimately unsatisfying for anyone beyond that.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood does not offer any real surprises, but build on the mostly successful concept of its predecessor. This means great entertainment in the form of brutal action, beautiful one-liners and a long campaign for the price.

Seen as a sequel to one of the failed last-gen attempts at reviving Wolfenstein, The Old Blood is a wonderful palate cleanser, something to undo long-standing wrongs before diving in to a much deeper, gratifying installment. The conundrum is that the people who already know what MachineGames is capable of with this series have seen the future, and The Old Blood doesn't provide all that compelling a reason to return to the past.

The game’s B-movie vibe is evocative of the work of those skilled filmmakers who embrace the silly or even the self-consciously stupid.

Every expansion should be like this! Solid content and gameplay for a low investment. If you like Wolfenstein: The New Order, you will enjoy The Old Blood.

Many of the key aspects that made The New Order so enjoyable have not been carried over into The Old Blood.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood is more of Wolfenstein: The New Order. It’s the same gameplay and same perk system with similar design choices that made last year’s The New Order such a hit.

If The New Order was up your alley, The Old Blood will be, too. But here, it's all about murdering nazis and zombie nazis, with less of the reflection.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood places almost all its bets on the intense combat carried over from the game that came before it. The weapons feel great, and the arenas are interesting and filled with opportunity for some strategic creativity. But by doing this, The Old Blood misses out on some of the quieter moments that made The New Order so special. The Old Blood doubles down on blood and guts, but in doing so sacrifices some of its heart.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood has its fair share of problems – but it's still worth playing. With an enormous amount of content available for such a slender sum, fans of The New Order shouldn't hesitate when it comes to this alternate history treat.

The Old Blood mostly nailed the components that made New Order good, but it doesn't quite manage to capture what made it great.

The brutal pacing soon exhausts. [July 2015, p.86]