| Castle Wolfenstein | |
|---|---|
 Cover art by John Benson | |
| Developer(s) | Muse Software |
| Publisher(s) | Muse Software |
| Designer(s) | Silas Warner |
| Programmer(s) |
|
| Artist(s) | John Benson |
| Series | Wolfenstein |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | Apple II
|
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, stealth |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Castle Wolfenstein is a 1981 action-adventure game developed by Silas Warner for the Apple II and published by Muse Software in 1981. It is one of the earliest games based on stealth mechanics. A port to Atari 8-bit computers was released in 1982, followed by Commodore 64 (1983) and MS-DOS (1984). The player takes the role of an Allied prisoner of war during World War II who is held captive in the fictional Castle Wolfenstein. After escaping from a cell, the player's objective is to find the Nazis' secret war plans and escape from the castle. Nazi soldiers can be dealt with via impersonation, sneaking, or killing.
Warner was inspired by the 1961 film The Guns of Navarone and the 1980 arcade video game Berzerk. The 60 room castle is procedurally generated.
Castle Wolfenstein was positively received by critics and became one of the best-selling games of the early 1980s. The game was praised for its graphics, and gameplay, but criticized for long waiting times when opening chests. It had a direct influence on modern stealth games. A sequel was released in 1984: Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. The rights to the Wolfenstein name were purchased for the 1992 first person shooter Wolfenstein 3D.