A recurring boss, Dr Josef Schabbs, is a giant in a lab coat, who throws handfuls of syringes in your direction. The opening would suggest a serious, realistic story, but occult elements and weird science are slowly introduced. It also becomes increasingly Wolfenstein. You’re encouraged to leave no room unturned, and no Nazi unkilled. At HQ, you can spend money on armour, health packs and even a metal detector. It becomes a fast shooter that rewards exploration and thoroughness. As you collect weapons and ammo, Blade of Agony’s pace evens out. But after this period of desperate scavenging, the pickups come thicker and faster, and the action transitions to something more familiar. It’s fiendishly difficult, as marksmen hide on the rooftops, chipping at your health. Much of the first mission is spent managing ammo. The way the camera moves through the low-poly room lends an amount of depth and drama to the otherwise retro style. It opens on a dolly shot set to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, as Blazkowicz’s brother-in-arms Cpt ‘Dirty’ Douglas Blake types out a letter urging the American beefcake to return to active duty. Blade of Agony’s first major surprise is its cinematics-specifically, the fact that it has them. You play as BJ Blazkowicz, Nazi killer über alles, drawn back to the frontlines after a period of administrative leave. This is not Wolfenstein 3D by way of Doom, but rather Return to Castle Wolfenstein by way of two decades of experimentation and dissection from the Doom modding community at large.
But what makes Blade of Agony exceptional is that it’s more than just PC gaming alt-history fan fiction. And there are elements of Doom, notably the combat, which has Doom’s pace, if not its plasma gun. There are elements of Wolfenstein, such as the chunky Aryan bosses dual-wielding arm cannons.
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