Each episode has nine levels (eight regular and a final boss level), plus a secret level activated by a hidden switch somewhere in the first eight levels. Regular levels often have the appearance of a maze or large areas with many enemies (the number of them in each area depends on the difficulty level), where the player must reach the exit elevator. To do this, he must kill enemies (although it is possible to move behind the guards, and there is even a slight bonus of attacking them from behind, most enemies have to deal with firepower), and depending on the level, activate "pushing walls" and / or get silver and gold keys to open certain doors.
Many items are found in the level, from medikits, meals, and even dog food (to restore health), ammo and treasure, which exist only for points. There are four weapons (knife, pistol, machine gun and Gatling - light machine gun). The knife and pistol are given at the start of the level, while the machine gun is either found (usually in secret areas) or taken from an SS soldier, and the Gatling is always dropped somewhere in the level. There are five types of enemies (besides the bosses) - Dogs (fast, but more of a nuisance than life-threatening), Soldiers (dressed in the usual brown clothes, not very powerful, but usually found in large groups), Officers (dressed in white, armed with a very accurate gun and hard to kill), SS troops (blue clothes, armed with machine guns and hard to kill), and mutants (the rarest and toughest regular enemies, pale-headed soldiers with green clothes and machine guns).
The player character has several lives; once he loses his last life, it's game over.
The game consists of eight different levels, and here is a brief description of each level:
- "Escape from Wolfenstein" - The first level of the game that serves as an introductory level. The player starts in his cell and must find a way to escape from the prison.
- "Operation: Eisenfaust" - In this level the player must find and destroy a master Nazi scientist named Dr. Schabbs who is working on creating a super-soldier.
- "Die, Fuhrer, Die!" - In this level the player must find and kill Adolf Hitler.
- "A Dark Secret" - In this level, the player must find a secret laboratory that houses a secret Nazi technology project.
- "Trail of the Madman" - In this level, the player must follow the tracks of a mad Nazi general named Gretel Grosse.
- "showdown" - In this level, the player must defeat three Nazi generals: Hans Gross, Dr. Schabbs, and Gretel Gross.
- "Return to Danger" - In this level, the player returns to the fortress to destroy the remaining Nazis.
- "Ultimate Challenge" - The last level of the game where the player must defeat the main Nazi leader and avoid death while defeating the last opponents.
Controls for Wolfenstein 3D vary depending on the platform you play the game on. Here are the basic controls used in most versions of the game:
Character movement - Use the arrow keys or the W, A, S and D keys on your keyboard to move your character forward, backward, left or right.
Change weapons - Use the number pad keys 1 to 9 to change weapons. Each weapon has its own button.
Shooting - Use the space bar on your keyboard to fire your weapon.
Interaction with objects - Use the Shift or Control key to open doors, pick up items or press buttons.
Map - Use the Tab key on your keyboard to browse the level map.