See also:
- Wolfenstein: The New Order (YMMV)
- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (YMMV)
- Awesome Music: Mick Gordon and Tex Perkin's song, "The Partisan"
, plays during the credits... and if it doesn't make you want to start up a new game and go fuck some Nazis up, you might not have a soul. - Breather Boss: Hans Grosse in the climactic Nightmare level can be taken down with nothing more than the one magazine each of assault rifle and pistol ammo with which B.J. starts. This is in large part due to B.J. having nearly a quarter century of gameplay advancementsnote on his side.
- Broken Base:
- Many critics praised the game's intense firefights, intriguing locations, and the balance between stealth and action. At the same time however, just as many critics disliked the game's story, with most reviewers saying it was the weakest part of the game, and that it is a step back compared to The New Order's story, which was heavily complimented.
- The fact that the game isn't available for XBOX 360 and PS3 has saddened people with only those systems.
- Cheese Strategy: The final boss. Run up to the second level, and shoot it while dropping down. It doesn't react until after you shoot, causing it to miss every single time.
- Contested Sequel: Or rather, prequel. Some feel The Old Blood is a bit of a step down from The New Order for several reasons, such as its shorter length, its relative lack of varied environments, and its weaker story. Others, however, appreciate the game for paying homage to the classic Wolfenstein entries, and for focusing less on story in favor of a pure gameplay experience.
- Goddamned Bats: Regular enemy foot soldiers are obviously just as manageable here as in The New Order... until the Final Boss battle, during which they storm the inner vault where B.J. is battling the Monstrosity, and instead of firing at the goddamned Eldritch Abomination decide to aggressively pursue B.J. instead. And when you kill them, they are immediately returned to life by the zombie mist and become even harder to kill. It's actually easier to kill them by not shooting them at all and letting the blind Monstrosity flail in the direction of their gunfire to reduce them to Ludicrous Gibs.
- Harsher in Hindsight: During the Wulfburg crisis, Blazkowicz somberly remarks that his father said if BJ "did wrong, [the monsters] would creep out at night and get [him]." And that they came anyway despite B.J. trying not to do wrong his whole youth. Sad enough, gets worse when you play The New Colossus and see what kind of monster came for poor ol' Billy anyway.
- Jerkass Woobie:
- Rudi Jäger, due having to live under an Abusive Dad and becoming grief-stricken over the loss of his pet dog Greta, who he genuinely loved and tried to avenge her death against B.J. during a Boss Fight, then tearfully stating he'll be reunited with her in death when defeated.
- Helga von Schabbs is callous and evil to be sure but doesn't seem to be sadistic and over the top to the same degree as many of her fellows. Her diaries and dialogue reveal that she was an inquisitive child who wanted to please her father and found 'escape' in drawing maps and digging for treasure. A polio epidemic slowly and painfully crippled one of her legs, something that she admits to having broken down and cried over. Then her father killed himself, something that she fears he did out of shame about her. Some of the depths she reaches are because she thinks this is what he would have wanted, and because she wants to be able to control her fate - which was never hers to control. Even if she'd survived, the regime seen in New Order and New Colossus would have scorned her.
- Play the Game, Skip the Story: See above.
- That One Level: Of all levels, the first level Prison is difficult for players who are not used to being stealthy, as you begin the level with nothing but a pipe, which is utterly useless against the many Supersoldaten patrolling the area, requiring you to sneak past them and turn off their energy source so you can disable them for good with a takedown. Easier said than done.
- The Woobie: Annette, as she is Jewish and had escaped from going to a concentration death camp, but lost her parents to the Nazis. She also gets mauled by a Kampfhund and had to wear a cast around her arm where the Kampfhund injured her. She is then either killed then turned into a shambler if B.J. saves Kessler, or if she is saved and reunited with her girlfriend, she and her girlfriend will probably have no future as we know in The New Order, the Nazis would win the war.
