How to play all ‘Wolfenstein’ games in order

Got a burning urge to explode, dismember and violently obliterate Nazis? The long-running Wolfenstein franchise has been allowing players to take out their violent frustrations on the Third Reich for over 40 years.

Along the way, its pioneered stealth mechanics played a pivotal role in the history of first-person shooters, and attracted a number of controversies due to its violence (it also offends Nazis, which can only be a good thing). So, where to begin with this illustrious franchise? There are a few play orders to consider here, so let’s dig in.

Chronologically by release

I hope you’re prepared for some intensive retrogaming, because the very first Wolfenstein – Castle Wolfenstein – was released four decades years ago(!) in 1981. Inspired by The Guns of Navarone, this Apple II action-adventure sees you playing an unnamed prisoner-of-war trying to escape the titular castle. Three years later a sequel – Beyond Castle Wolfenstein – refined the mechanics and tasked you with assassinating Hitler.

But it’s 1992’s Wolfenstein 3D that saw the world sit up and take notice. This was an early title from iD Software, with industry icons John Carmack and John Romero laying the foundations for all first-person shooters that’d follow with a fast, graphically beautiful (for the time), and immersive experience unlike anything else you could play.

iD would soon switch focus to all things DOOM, with Wolfenstein re-emerging in 2001’s Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Eight years later, the franchise was rebooted in the form of the iffy Wolfenstein (2009), which has now been all but scrubbed from memory. Fortunately, that game set up MachineGames brilliant alt-history series of games, which rank among some of the greatest single-player FPS campaigns of all time.

So, here’s the full list:

• Castle Wolfenstein (Apple II, 1981)
• Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (Apple II/Commodore 64, 1984)
• Wolfenstein 3D (PC, 1992)
• Spear of Destiny (Mission pack, PC, 1992)
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC, 2001)
• Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (Multiplayer spinoff PC, 2003)
• Wolfenstein RPG (Java, iOS, 2008)
• Wolfenstein (PlayStation 3/Xbox 360/PC, 2009)
• Wolfenstein: The New Order (PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4/PC/Xbox 360/Xbox One, 2014)
• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC, 2015)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC/Switch, 2017)
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC, 2017)
• Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot (PSVR, PC, 2019)

You’d have to be seriously dedicated to Wolfenstein to play all of these games. The 1980s titles are prehistoric, several are locked on obsolete devices, and Wolfenstein (2009) has been delisted from online stores altogether. So, let’s dial it back a little to the most important games in the franchise:

• Wolfenstein 3D (PC, 1992)
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC, 2001)
• Wolfenstein: The New Order (PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4/PC/Xbox 360/Xbox One, 2014)
• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC, 2015)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC/Switch, 2017)

This will give you a comprehensive Wolfenstein experience and each of these titles is easily available on modern platforms (you can even play Wolfenstein 3D in a browser if you want).

There’s one other realistic option: the full story (so far) of B.J. Blaskowicz. Voiced by Brian Bloom he’s far more complex than the games’ gung-ho aesthetic might suggest and is one of my favorite video game heroes. Very technically, this version of the character’s story starts with Wolfenstein (2009), though there’s little connecting that to later games so feel free to skip it. If you want just games telling his story in chronological order, play:

• Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC, 2015)
• Wolfenstein: The New Order (PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4/PC/Xbox 360/Xbox One, 2014)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC/Switch, 2017)
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC, 2017)

Youngblood is about Blaskowicz’s children searching for him after he goes missing so he’s not on screen for much of the game, though does appear in cutscenes.

That’s a wrap for Wolfenstein, for now, at least. Here’s hoping a full sequel to Colossus is in development as a glance at the political landscape suggests it’s time once again to pick up a giant gun and reduce fascists to a pink mist. There’s been indications that a new game is indeed in the works at MachineGames, with the company’s Pete Hines saying in 2018 “absolutely we’re making a Wolfenstein 3.”

Let’s hope we get some firm details after MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle lands on Xbox consoles and PC in December.