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[John Rabbit]

I just completed this for the first time as I wanted more after finishing my 2nd run through The New Order in preparation for The New Colossus.

I know that at the time of it's release, The Old Blood had a less enthusiastic response than TNO did, and to be honest I completely understand. It's just not quite as good as TNO; it's smaller in scope, the new mechanics they introduced aren't so hot, the story and characters are less developed and interesting, etc etc.

HOWEVER!

Given the following things are true:
- It's October, the month for spooky, scary skeletons
- The New Colossus is less than 2 weeks away
- It's almost been a year since America lost it's goddamned mind and gave way to a sudden resurgence of white supremacist assholes

The Old Blood has something for you across all 3 points:
- It's a fun, pulpy story that takes a hard turn into the supernatural/occult for the last 1/4th or so. The last two chapters alone are almost worth it; I completed them back-to-back in a dim room with the cool night air coming in through my windows. Just perfect.
- It's a nice "side-story" kind of thing to see if only to have more background on B.J.'s adventures before TNC comes out (plus you get to use some different 1946-era weaponry that isn't in TNO); the ending is a really nice tie-in to the beginning of TNO
- There's no end of Nazis to shoot/maim/exsanguinate

Bonus, you can run through it in about 8 hours (less if you don't bother looking for the collectibles) so you can probably knock it out in 2 sittings. I hope we get more of the supernatural/occult/horror aspect in The New Colossus.

At $20 I'm not sure I can recommend it, but if you've already got it in your backlog, or you can find it for less than $12-15 and are interested in The New Colossus, I say go for it.

 

[Stranya]

This regularly goes in sales for next to nothing. Great expansion.

 

[LiK]

Played it this year and it was fun. Can’t wait for Wolf2 so I can kill more Nazi scumbags.

 

[Kevtones]

It's pretty good. The ending stanza is nutty. A good cheapie weekend play through for sure.




Also: I wish the 2009 Wolfenstein got more love. It was really great online and the single-player was legit. Really underrated title.

 

[sTiTcH AU]

I tried the other day and that stealth level at the start of the game is just terrible.

 

[Creaking]

Plus no hole-cutting or hub stuff (if you didn't fancy it in TNO).

Unfortunately, the first few sequences after getting captured are a bit of a drag. But it picks up.

The whole thing is really wonderful if you've played Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It's a sort of re-imagining of some of that game's scenarios for the Machinegames canon.

 

[TsunamiOfSwagger]

It's £3.99 on cdkeys at the moment for pc (excluding germany)

https://www.cdkeys.com/pc/games/wolfenstein-the-old-blood-pc-cd-key-steam

 

[AlexBasch]

Jumped into this game completely blind and thought it was just a expansion pack DLC or something.

Then when THAT SHIT happens I was like

It's amazing.

 

[Jackpot]

It was OK. It peters out as it goes on. Barely qualifies as stand-alone.

 

[Falk]

OP, you're a godsend.

Downloadin'

Probably a good time to replay TNO anyway.

 

[DieH@rd]

The only vid I saved from my The Old Blood playthrough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFxOltMjAnc

 

[Zojirushi]

I tried getting into this a while ago and it reminded me that I was really not as much into the stealth aspect of Wolfenstein as I would've hoped.

 

[PhantomThief]

Ehh its not as good as TNO

 

[Dictator93]

It was OK. It peters out as it goes on. Barely qualifies as stand-alone.

I wanna play those stand alone games that you are talking about if this barely qualifies as one anno 2017.
As an fyi, there is a hfr fix for idtech5 games now. You can play this 165fps/hz if you want.

 

[Mechazawa]

Actually going to be playing it soon in anticipation of New Colossus since I never got around to it.

Looking forward to it.

 

[daviyoung]

I can't remember anything about this game. It's the one with some small boats and climbing using pipes I think.

 

[galv]

I think one of the biggest complaints about this one is the "forced stealth sections." That's completely missing the point, as you can steal the massive gun of the first enemy you kill in these sections and return immediately to the action.

The biggest problems of The Old Blood is exactly the same as what falls flat in The New Order - minor grievances like the inability to pick up ammo/HP/armor without looking at it and pressing a button while in a firefight. The story is "B-movie" inspired, as admitted by the developers, and I found it to be a lot of fun. I particularly loved the throwbacks to the original games (especially RtCW). If anyone is in the mood for a quick and cheap 6 hour FPS game to prep for The New Colossus, I'd highly recommend The Old Blood.

Also, if you adjust the settings accordingly, the game actually looks and runs fantastic at 1440p-4K on lower-end/midrange hardware (GTX970/1060 owners).

 

[Truant]

This game fixes one of my biggest issues with TNO, and that was the lack of occultism. There's plenty of that stuff in TOB, fortunately.

It doesn't look like it will play a huge part in 2, but who knows.

 

[Venuspower]

I can't remember anything about this game. It's the one with some small boats and climbing using pipes I think.

Yea. Same for me.
The only thing I remember is the weird endboss.
But it is a really good game. Maybe I should give it another try before The New Colossus comes out. Was thinking about re-playing TNO anyway.

 

[RumbleHumble]

Just played and beat it for the first time a few days ago, and OP is damn right. It's lacking in the regular cutscenes that made TNO so damn compelling, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun to just shoot those damn Nazis. The last act is insane too. The only downside for me was the boss fight at the end (which felt kinda lame compared to bosses in TNO).

 

[BLAUcopter]

I've tried to play this a few times, both on ps4 and pc (bloody sales) and I Just get so bored during the overly lengthy intro with the dogs and the dude's attached by cables. That whole section just blows imo.

 

[wild wild rice]

I couldn’t even finish it. Terrible level design.

 

[Atolm]

Also: I wish the 2009 Wolfenstein got more love. It was really great online and the single-player was legit. Really underrated title.

It would if, you know, we could buy it. It's not available anywhere.

 

[Lagunamov]

I didnt like the stealth component, its not very well introduced and they almost force u to use it.

 

[mazillion]

I tried the other day and that stealth level at the start of the game is just terrible.

Yeah I loved the TNO so I was pretty excited to jump into The New Blood but I lost all interest at that point.

Though it sounds like it gets better so maybe I should give it another shot.

 

[FelipeMGM]

Just played and beat it for the first time a few days ago, and OP is damn right. It's lacking in the regular cutscenes that made TNO so damn compelling, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun to just shoot those damn Nazis. The last act is insane too. The only downside for me was the boss fight at the end (which felt kinda lame compared to bosses in TNO).

yep, its a great game but that final boss fight is baaad

 

[GeoramA]

Was disappointing, tbh. Really hope there's no stealth shit in New Colossus.

 

[Shredderi]

Yeah I liked it. It was maybe "just good" instead of great like TNO but it was still good.

 

[OfTheOverflow]

I actually haven't finished either of the two; but enjoyed my time with TNO significantly more. Must finish it before the new game.

 

[Fisty]

Already finished TOB back at release, I will be tackling Wolfenstein 2009 in the run up to TNC. Apparently one of the DLC's for The New Colossus deals with the project / main plot device of Wolf 2009, so it might be cool to see how they connect

 

[JarlRaven]

between The Old Blood, Death of the Outsider, Lost Legacy and The Assignment and Consequence DLCs, I've really been enjoying these bite sized chunks of AAA lately after a first half of incredibly long RPGs and adventure games

 

[Noisepurge]

Yeah its a lot of fun blasting nazis away just the beginning prison part can get tedious and the final boss is silly

 

[Rated-Rsuperstar]

I cant even call this an expansion. Its a full blown sequel and a must have. Other developers should be ashamed of themselves to charge 30/40 dollars for a season pass and not even come close to what this offered at launch.

 

[old manatee]

The beginning was ill-conceived, but it gets better.

 

[Alpha Phoenix]

It's a really well done expansion to TNO. I played it when it first came out. Mechanically it's even better than TNO.

 

[Indelible]

I played a bit but the start is very slow, I will return to it before I play Wolfenstein 2.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Never understood the complaints about the stealth section at the beginning. Its super short and optional since you can pretty much just grab a chaingun after a single stealth kill.

 

[Zeneric]

The Old Blood is always a perfect game to play anytime.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Bought both of the games earlier this year. Played New Order and enjoyed it but still have yet to play Old Blood. Suppose now is a good time if that's what you says, OP.

And some stealth, you say? I like me some stealth.

 

[Necron]

Highly recommended. I love the locale it is set in...

Time for some gifs!

 

[deadscreensky]

It's a really well done expansion to TNO. I played it when it first came out. Mechanically it's even better than TNO.

Yeah, I personally prefer it a little bit to the New Order. TNO might be a larger, more epic, more emotional experience, but the Old Blood has slightly better combat and an overall better, faster pacing. I like the new weapons, I like that picking up ammo seems at least slightly easier, and the new combat challenges are an obvious but great chunk of replayable content.

I even liked the stealth section in the beginning (which for the record is faster and more interesting mechanically than the forced stealth you get in places like TNO's prison).

Put simply it feels like a slightly lower budget sequel but developed by a more experienced, skilled team.

Both games are excellent, but any fans of TNO should definitely give the Old Blood a go.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Apart from the fact that it's ludicrously easy, I like Wolfenstein stealth. I should probably get this!

 

[Sygma]

Outside the kinda dull stealthy beginning, old blood has a better level design than TNO and it also has much more action stuffed in. You'll be killing a whole lot o'nazis

 

[Brandon F]

I'm all for killing Nazi's, but this little game was not the best way to go about doing so.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Jumped into this game completely blind and thought it was just a expansion pack DLC or something.

Then when THAT SHIT happens I was like

It's amazing.

yeeeeep

 

[SpacLock]

Most importantly, you have your shirt off in this expansion. They were thinking of how they could up the ante in the expansion, and they figured out how to do it by removing the protagonists shirt. Perfection.

 

[Son Of Sparda]

I completely disagree OP.

Not that Old Blood is a bad game (I really like it) or shouldn't be played, mind you. It's just that you should keep that thirst for The New Colossus. That will make the game even more enjoyable.

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

Old Blood is really good. There's one small attention to detail that I really liked too, namely how they established where BJ got his "Deep breath, count to 10" mantra that he does a few times in TNO. Machine Games keeping those small Starbreeze character moments alive.

 

[NullPointer]

Hell yes. Loved both New Order and Old Blood.

New Order has more focus on character and story and stealth, Old Blood starts with stealth, but is more focused on action overall, and that action is more replayable and is set up to be easily replayed as on-demand combat arenas. Where New Order is more about technology, Old Blood taps into the occult. The two compliment each other well.

 

[Lt.Chips]

As great as TNO was as an overall package, The Old Blood offers a fantastic locale for a Wolfenstein game. Loved it!