What If Wolfenstein 3D Never Spawned the FPS?

Where most modders look at a classic video game and ask, "What can I add to this experience?" mod creator LoGeKyl approached Wolfenstein 3D with a radical premise. His question was not about enhancement, but about substitution: "What if this was an entirely different, and worse, game entirely?"

LoGeKyl uses the term "worse" lightly, not to diminish the quality of his work, but to highlight the sheer luck of history. The pitch for his new project, Isowulf, is simple yet provocative: a faithful re-creation of the original Wolfenstein 3D viewed from an isometric perspective.

An Alternate History of Game Design

This concept invites us to imagine an alternate 1990s where id Software followed its 2D Commander Keen platformers with a top-down puzzle-action game akin to the original 1980s Castle Wolfenstein. By removing the "3D" from Wolf3D, we must ask: would id have ever pivoted to create Doom? Would the first-person shooter (FPS) genre have emerged from the ashes of Wolfenstein at all?

Without the groundbreaking shift to first-person navigation, the gift of the FPS might never have been delivered to gaming history. Isowulf serves as a fascinating "what if" scenario, testing the core mechanics of Wolfenstein outside of the genre-defining camera angle that made it famous.

The Isometric Experiment

Despite the pessimistic historical speculation, LoGeKyl’s mod is undeniably cool, rooted in a deep appreciation for the early days of id Software. On Isowulf’s ModDB page, LoGeKyl explains that the project was inspired by a specific realization in his youth.

"What made Wolfenstein 3D special to me was that it was one of the first times I realized that people made games," he writes. "The credits were right there: John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, and Tom Hall. (Wait—aren’t these the same names I saw on Commander Keen!?) From that moment on, making games was all I ever wanted to do."

To prepare for this project, LoGeKyl listens to audiobook versions of Masters of Doom or John Romero’s autobiography, Doom Guy. The goal was to explore how well Wolfenstein 3D’s design would function with the camera pulled out and tilted, creating a hybrid shooter-Diablo experience.

It Just Works

The most surprising aspect of Isowulf is how little alteration was required to make the isometric view function. LoGeKyl expected to have to tweak movement speeds, adjust enemy AI, or switch from hit-scan weapons to projectiles. Instead, the original design holds up remarkably well.

"As it turns out, John Romero and Tom Hall’s original design still holds up, even from a completely different perspective. I figured I’d have to tweak movement speeds, enemy AI, maybe switch from hit-scan to projectiles—but nope. It all just works."

Visually, the only significant addition is a sprite of B.J. Blazkowicz, as the original first-person game did not include a character model beyond his portrait. Despite debuting six months ago, the mod has since been updated to include all original episodes, along with essential features like saving, loading, and rebindable keys.

Would the FPS Still Have Happened?

If Isowulf had been hurled back in time to swap places with the original Wolfenstein 3D, would the FPS have still found a way to exist? Perhaps the genre would have emerged later, or taken a different shape.

If Isowulf had essentially done Diablo before Diablo existed, perhaps Blizzard North would have pivoted to invent the first real-time first-person shooter instead. The path of technology is rarely linear, but Isowulf offers a compelling glimpse into the road not taken.

For those interested in exploring this alternate timeline, Isowulf is available to play. It stands as a testament to the robustness of id Software’s original design and a tribute to the developers who changed gaming forever.