Modern shooters are action-packed, often leaving little time to breathe, and are among the most popular gaming genres of our time. However, it wasn’t always like this – it was only with the release of Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 that shooters really took off. MeinMMO shows 5 examples of how Wolfenstein 3D has influenced the genre to this day.
The first-person shooter genre was established by Wolfenstein 3D. Back then, everything was new; there was no template, innovation had to be sought at every corner – and Wolfenstein pioneered many elements that can still be found in shooters today.
MeinMMO takes you back to the year 1992. A little time travel to the early days of first-person shooters, showcasing 5 examples of why Wolfenstein 3D was groundbreaking back then.
Heroes and weapons were defined
Wolfenstein didn’t redefine graphics at the time – that was already achieved by its spiritual predecessor “Catacomb 3D,” which was also developed by id Software. Here, you could shoot fireballs from a first-person perspective, which was quite close to that first-person shooter feeling.
However, Wolfenstein 3D defined characters and tools in a way that we still use today. It introduced specific “archetypes” that shooters still reference today.
The idea of a powerful lone wolf was entirely new to the genre. A character capable of toppling entire regimes, changing the world, and defeating evil. Even today, numerous shooters rely on this type of narrative.
Weapons followed a similar path. Wolfenstein introduced certain types that are now essential in almost every shooter arsenal, including:
- The small pistol as a starter weapon
- A submachine gun with a higher rate of fire
- A rocket launcher with a big bang
- Slow-firing bolt-action rifles
By the way, a year after Wolfenstein 3D, the first Doom was released, completing the weapon mechanics with important elements: The shotgun made its debut, and various ammunition types for weapons were introduced.
The developer studio for Doom: Also id Software, with its iconic developers John Carmack and John Romero, who also laid the foundation for Wolfenstein 3D. Later, Quake joined the ranks, another legendary shooter:
Level design still influential today
Wolfenstein 3D directly defined the 3D environment for shooters.
The combination of specific enemy types and level design that creates varying difficulty in almost every room is still standard in single-player campaigns of first-person shooters today.
There are also hidden areas that remain concealed from the player if they simply rush through the levels. Ammunition, health, armor, secret levels – if you don’t look around, you miss a lot.
While you couldn’t look up and down in Wolfenstein 3D, its level designs were groundbreaking at the time. What is now considered “logical” and “self-evident” was a significant leap in 3D level design for shooters back then.
World War shooters were born
With Wolfenstein, the boom around World War shooters began, which significantly shaped the genre. While it wasn’t the first game set in World War II, a real story featuring themes around National Socialism in Germany was rare before the release of Wolfenstein. At most, it was based on licensed games that addressed such themes.
In the multiplayer realm, Call of Duty and Battlefield lead the way for modern shooters that originated from a World War scenario.
Wolfenstein 3D never took itself too seriously. It aimed to be a bit wacky and its cartoon-like graphics contributed to this. Along the way, it laid the groundwork for countless games that address World War II, such as the current Call of Duty: Vanguard.
This, however, also led to the title encountering problems with authorities in Germany. For a long time, the game was banned here, initially due to its violent scenes.
Repeatedly, the symbolism was criticized and cited as a reason for the ban. This led to the so-called “Wolfenstein ruling” in 1998, which ensured for many years that unconstitutional symbols in video games were prohibited in Germany (via grimme-game.de).
Since 2019, the original Wolfenstein 3D has no longer been banned in Germany.
Wolfenstein sets a fast pace
The 3D shooters before Wolfenstein 3D were more aligned with a slower gameplay style that players were accustomed to from RPGs, similar to the aforementioned spiritual predecessor “Catacomb 3D”.
They were RPGs with gun violence that retained much of the pace of their RPG predecessors.
Wolfenstein 3D cranked up the pace. The developers pushed the gameplay more towards a “real” shootout. Chaos could erupt quickly, with a lack of overview and panic – Wolfenstein became the first real shooter because it was no longer an RPG.
It wasn’t Dungeons and Dragons that served as a model but rather the reality of a firefight.
This new chaos in video games also led to an entirely new level of immersion. To this day, shooters rely on the feeling of merging with your character and forgetting everything else around you.
There are certainly other concepts to create a high level of immersion. But Wolfenstein 3D raised the concept to a new level and showed shooters, as well as many other genres, how to captivate their players with constant action.
If you want to take a peek into the gameplay of that time, we’re embedding a suitable YouTube video here:
Mod support suddenly became a thing
Officially, only the spiritual successor Doom was mod-friendly. However, even back in Wolfenstein 3D, players found ways to introduce their own content into the engine, completely rebuilding the game as a result.
Wolfenstein 3D was one of the pioneers of the modding trend, and id Software knew exactly how to handle this player passion – to encourage it rather than suppress it.
In terms of modding, you cannot say that big shooters are directly influenced by it today.
This is also due to the popular but closed console systems of PlayStation and Xbox, where modding is only restricted or not possible for “normal” players. The later focus on the multiplayer aspect of many major shooters also hindered modding.
Indirectly, however, the influence is enormous.
Hobby developers started their careers with modding, professionalized, and greatly influenced the development of many games.
The large indie game scene would certainly be in a different place today if id Software had decided to protect its blockbuster games from modding instead of opening them up.
Although it was not intended, Wolfenstein 3D also created a legacy that will have lasting effects on the gaming market.
Wolfenstein 3D introduced some mechanics that feel completely natural to us today. But someone had to come up with them first.
It showcases the incredible creativity of the developers, who understood back then what makes a good shooter. Such surprising yet significant innovations are rarely found today, and often more in indie games.
Which game has defined your relationship with shooters or gaming in general? Was there a game in your gaming career that really showed you what possibilities games offer? Let us know in a comment.
