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Castle Wolfenstein (1981)

Muse Software

Apple II · Atari 8-bit · Commodore C64/128/MAX · DOS

2.77 from 44 ratings

109 members have it in their collection · 1 playing now · 24 backlogged · 38 wish listed

How long? Main story 16h (from 1 logged playthrough)

Castle Wolfenstein is a slow-paced stealth game set in World War II. The game's main objective is to traverse the levels of the castle to find the secret war plans and escape alive. Progressively higher military ranks are earned upon each successful escape with the war plans, and the game becomes correspondingly more difficult as each higher rank is achieved. … Read more
Castle Wolfenstein is a slow-paced stealth game set in World War II. The game's main objective is to traverse the levels of the castle to find the secret war plans and escape alive. Progressively higher military ranks are earned upon each successful escape with the war plans, and the game becomes correspondingly more difficult as each higher rank is achieved. There are 8 ranks, beginning with Private, culminating at the rank of Field Marshall. Read less

Details

Developers
Muse Software
Publishers
Main Street Publishing, Muse Software
Genres
Shooter
Themes
Action, Historical, Stealth
Franchises
Wolfenstein
Series
Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein

Release dates

  • Sep 1981 (Full Release) (North_America) Apple II
  • 1983 (Full Release) (North_America) Atari 8-bit, Commodore C64/128/MAX
  • Jul 01, 1984 (Full Release) (North_America) DOS

Rating distribution

5 stars
3
4 stars
4
3 stars
23
2 stars
8
1 star
6

Community All Reviews Statuses

scoopings

Review scoopings 1/5 · Feb 2, 2022

There Are Better Action-Adventure and Action Maze Games Released In 1981

The controls reminded me of Crazy Climber and the TRS-80 Showdown, where it felt like they added extra steps just to show they had the capability to do so. The aiming is like in Showdown where you lift left/right arms etc, or like climbing in Crazy Climber. Even tho Black Widow showed me that the dual-joystick controls actually solve the …

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The controls reminded me of Crazy Climber and the TRS-80 Showdown, where it felt like they added extra steps just to show they had the capability to do so. The aiming is like in Showdown where you lift left/right arms etc, or like climbing in Crazy Climber. Even tho Black Widow showed me that the dual-joystick controls actually solve the Berzerk issue of having to face/walk the direction you shoot, this challenge of getting used to a new era of controls reminds me of when I was young and decided I didn't like Nintendo anymore due to the amount of buttons on the N64 and Gamecube controllers. I just never like the idea of having more buttons/using more buttons simply for the sake of doing so. Like I said, though, it turns out this dual-joystick paradigm has a definite function for it: it wasn't just to have more buttons. Uff, and don't even get me started about Wii with all the extra attachments you need, I couldn't get into Lego Lord of the Rings when I tried it last year just cuz I had to memorize so many controls. Anyway yada yada, the controls def turned me off from this game, and it reminds me of one of my issue with later games, though as usual with this chronology project, I'm starting to realize sometimes there is in fact a purpose to what I deem convoluted controls. Surprise! I'm not always right lol. Smh.

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Mazinkaiser

Review Mazinkaiser 3/5 · Jan 20, 2019

Castle Wolfenstein: An Interesting Start to Stealth

Being one of the first stealth games, Wolfenstein plays around with chasing down guards and feels a bit dated. However, it's got some fun elements and is quite playable, even amidst the horrifying Nazi screeches.

Infiltrating Castle Wolfenstein with 10 bullets and up to three grenades, your mission is to get the war plans and escape. Without a map, the …

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Being one of the first stealth games, Wolfenstein plays around with chasing down guards and feels a bit dated. However, it's got some fun elements and is quite playable, even amidst the horrifying Nazi screeches.

Infiltrating Castle Wolfenstein with 10 bullets and up to three grenades, your mission is to get the war plans and escape. Without a map, the player will amble around a bit but can use chests and soldiers to mark their progress. Opening chests is a strange affair - the player has to wait an ungodly amount of time (or shoot the chest or hold down the use button to make it go faster), and various items other than the war plans, uniforms/bulletproof vests, and weapons are useless. Liebfraumilch? Schnapps?

Gameplay is stable enough - the player can shoot in eight directions, throw grenades (that won't always hit) and move in eight directions, holding up guards as necessary (even those pesky SS). The game acts as if twin-stick is the norm, so the player will have some getting used to when it comes to controls. As for grenades, similarly to Kagirinaki Tatakai they can blow holes in walls and possibly jump from room to room in a manner other than presented. Keys can also be found (in excess) to unlock doors.

That said, the game has a variety of difficulty levels and presents the same affair arcade style. It's not something you really wanna play over and over, as even the first difficulty is tricky - however as an early stealth experience, Wolfenstein is pretty solid.

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