Doom always takes the crown, but that doesn’t detract from Wolfenstein 3D‘s influence as a key part of FPS history. The series is still going to this day (maybe not as strong in some cases), and people are continuing to modify the OG 1992 release.
For example, “Blazkowicz’s Text Adventure 3D” is a different take on Wolfenstine 3D. Created by user TryHardWolfers, it essentially turns the game into a text adventure. By that, I don’t mean it converts the shooter into prose, dialogue, and reams of exposition. Rather, what it does is replace every single texture with a word.
Walls are simply described as “BRICK WALLS,” hanging lights are dubbed “LAMPS,” and the machine gun you carry…well, you get the idea. There’s even a screenshot showing that the picture of Adolf Hitler has been changed into words. You can download the mod from ModDB.
It’s a wordy one
As TryHardWolfers says, this “text tale is filled to the brim with well-worded action and tense text map design.” It’s almost as if we’ve come full circle, taking the immediacy and immersion of a 3D rendered environment and broken it down into a text adventure of ye olden days.
With Wolfenstein 3 said to be in development, there’s seemingly no stopping B.J. Blazkowicz and his Nazi-killing antics. With the first game in the series releasing all the way back in 1981 (developed by Muse Software, 11 years before id’s 3D take on it), battling against the Third Reich is evidently something that just doesn’t go out of style.
