Moment pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.
Not only was Return to Castle Wolfenstein the first game of the Wolfenstein franchise to make the jump to polygonal graphics, it also introduced horror elements in it.
- Doktor Zee torturing B.J.'s teammate to death with electricity. Cue the screams.
- Those Wacky Nazis have awakened various types of mummies and ghouls when they Dug Too Deep in their frantic search for artifacts. Those who ran out of ammo got dismembered and devoured. Their screams of horror and pain can be heard in the "Crypt" levels and in the penultimate level ("Castle"). The player better not run out of ammo in these levels...
- There is some foreshadowing late in the first Village level where two Nazi officers comment about the chilling screams coming from the catacombs, and lament that their own men were sealed in there.
- Special mention to the intro cutscene of the first Crypt level where 3 Nazi soldiers overhear the dying screams of one of their fellow soldiers and run to the entrance, only to discover that the ladder was destroyed by their own side to hopefully keep The Undead sealed in there. "Get ready. They're coming!"Nazi 1: Did you hear that?!Nazi 2: Yeah, and I wish I hadn't!
- Judging by the Noodle Incident involving Helga losing an eye to the undead in 1939, it's clear that this isn't the first time this has happened.
- There is a Video Game Set Piece early on in the Castle level where a Nazi is heard being dismembered alive by the zombies and the only thing we see are pieces of flesh rolling down a staircase.
- Olaric (the first boss in the game) is an abomination that seems made of rotten muscles and skulls stitched together. He has also butchered Helga von Bulow to bloody bits and sends screaming ghosts at B.J.'s face that cause Temporary Blindness.
- The horrific gasping of Blazkowicz as he's attacked by ghosts is another layer of nightmare fuel.
- Oberst. Wilhelm Strasse's Cyborg X-Creatures. God knows how many human guinea pigs he butchered when doing his Frankenstein-esque experiments... He isn't nicknamed Deathshead for nothing: he's basically the Stupid Jetpack Hitler version of Josef Mengele.
- The Loper creatures in particular are completely out of control and casually fry anyone they turn their attention to with glee.
- The Proto-Soldiers are still a hundred percent loyal to the Nazis, but they're Made of Iron Demonic Spiders equipped with Venom guns and Panzerfausts. And the Nazis want to mass produce them to use them against the Allies. Blazkowicz wins against them because he's just that badass, but the Allies really wouldn't stand a chance.
- And then there's the pinnacle of his work: Das Über-Soldat. The Super Soldier. It makes the Proto-Soldiers look like child's play. The fact they can shoot always-accurate lightning from a Tesla cannon makes them look like you're being attacked by an evil sorcerer out of a Space Opera combined with a cyborg.Deathshead: Well, Agent Blazkowicz. You are a most impressive specimen. It would be my pleasure to dissect you piece by piece. Let me introduce you to someone. Do not confuse it with the mere prototypes you've encountered. This is the pinnacle of all my research. Das Über-Soldat. The Super Soldier. It will be my pleasure to watch it destroy you.
- Some tracks on the OST are chilling and set the mood very well: The Undead
, The Cave, Graveyard, Un-Natural, Arena
