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HTC Vive owners can now pick up a VR-enabled remake of classic shooter Wolfenstein 3D for free. The game consists of the first ten levels of Wolfenstein 3D, the materials that made up the free shareware version back in the game’s heyday, remade from the ground up. There are a number of reused assets, but it’s all been retooled, and in some cases redone entirely, to support a dynamic perspective and aiming using the Vive’s motion controllers. Movement, sight and aiming are all buttery-smooth, eschewing the classic game’s slow turning and fixed angles alongside the jarring teleportation-style movement prevalent in many VR games. The game is only available on the Vive at the moment, but compatibility for Windows VR headsets and Oculus is coming. Unfortunately for Wolfenstein fans without a powerful PC and an expensive headset, there are reportedly no plans for a port to Daydream, Gear VR, Oculus Go or other mobile or standalone systems at the moment.
For those not in the know, Wolfenstein 3D was one of the very earliest first-person shooters, and it casts you as World War 2 prisoner B. J. Blazkowicz. The beginning of the game sees you overtaking a Nazi guard and taking their pistol, then roaming through the maze-like compound to face down more Nazis and obtain more powerful weapons. You eventually face off against Adolf Hitler in a super-powered robot suit, but since this game only covers the levels in the shareware version, Vive owners will have to resort to hacky VR-enabling methods for the classic game in order to insert themselves into that fight.
The Wolfenstein series has been extremely active in recent years, but there has thus far been no official remake, VR or otherwise, of the game that started it all. Those who are hungry to play through the full game in VR will have to resort to workarounds for the time being, such as TrinusVR. There seems to be no way to play through Wolfenstein 3D in VR on a mobile device at the moment, aside from streaming the game from a PC, but there are VR source ports of other classic id Software shooters such as Doom and Quake in the Play Store that can be played with a headset and a gamepad. Those who just want to play Wolfenstein and its sequel, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, on a mobile device can look to developer Beloko. Ousted from the Play Store a while back, Beloko’s APK files can be found on its website, but you’ll need the full, official game files to run them.
Download Wolfenstein 3D For HTC Vive