"GET PSYCHED!!!"

The title is appropriately named y'know. Return to Castle Wolfenstein offers a right amount of everything I can use out of an FPS game: An intriguing premise that still holds up well when compared to later releases, some solid tight gameplay, a very well founded atmosphere that realizes the vision that Wolfenstein 3D started, and some fun secrets that are waiting to be found. Killing Nazi's has never felt so good before. And the community support around this game is great too for those looking for some modded mayhem here n' there!

A game that I wish I could enjoy just as much as the majority of the fanbase does. The glaring issues I find in this game relate to the outdated UI, the combat system as a whole, and the way that stealth is implemented. Before I talk about the negatives, I want to mention the things I like about this game. The game excels at world building through the design of the various levels that you play, and it explores many of the fantastical elements associated with the Nazis like the obsession with the occult and their outlandish technological innovations. Sound design contributes greatly to the atmosphere, at some points being hectic while accompanying the slaughter of your enemies, and at other times accentuating the mystery and creepiness of the area that you are in. Starting off the discussion of the negatives with the least weight, the outdated UI can be circumvented by playing the game through a popular community mod for the game called "RealRTCW," which can also play various community-made campaigns (I will note that it was through this mod that I experienced the full game). My main gripe is that a game such as this should not require playing a mod just to play with a modern aspect ratio and resolution. As for the combat and stealth, I found these to be the biggest problems with the game, bogging down the whole experience. Enemy AI is very inconsistent, either going down very easily or absolutely destroying you. It was because of this issue that I found myself save-scumming far more than I would have liked to (a save system that is also not very good). The bosses were very limited and were just relentless bullet sponges, and the second boss in particular being the "Über-Soldat" with a disgustingly unfair hitscan weapon. After having played the other games in the franchise, I can definitively say that this game has the worst stealth system of the franchise, being very finnicky and unsatisfying. What is worse is that two levels require stealth just to proceed, and being spotted or noticed once sends you back to the start of the level. I found myself comparing this game to Half-Life a lot when I was playing as this game came out only a few years afterwards. While Half-Life has no stealth system, its combat and movement gave me some minimum expectations that Return to Castle Wolfenstein did not meet. I found this very disappointing considering the time gap that does exist between the two games and the missed potential for implementing something similar and improving on these systems. Perhaps it is the nostalgia factor for some, but I just cannot get myself to enjoy this game to the same extent as most other people that have played it.