Wolfenstein is a real castle...

[Dark Redshift]

...it's just in ruins and is called "wolfstein". The real Wolfenstein is located in Neumarkt, Bavaria instead of the alps.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgruine_Wolfstein

The Wolfensten Castle in the game seems to be based off of either Wewelsburg castle near the real Paderborn district, or Hohenwerfen Castle, which some people will recognise from Where Eagles Dare.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3366926/Welcome-Naziland-forbidding-fortress-SS-chief-Himmler-plotted-darkest-deeds-WW2-one-Germany-s-popular-tourist-attractions.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenwerfen_Castle

I learned about the existance of Castle Wolfstein, Neumarkt from a german colleague at work experience.

[KeyG]

old

[Dark Redshift]

Originally posted by KeyG:

old

What do you mean by that? If you mean it's already known, not everyone knows that. I didn't know it until late last year, which is why I'm posting about it, to inform others who also might not know by now.

[Atom.Little]

Interesting, thanks for the info and the links.

[sput45]

I visited the castle ruins when I lived in Germany near Neumarkt, and thought it interesting too as Return to Castle Wolfenstein had just come out. It is kind of a small structure, so agree that the inspiration for a large castle was elsewhere. But interesting coincidence at the time.

[Portugal]

good information

[Dark Redshift]

Originally posted by AmaDraque:

Interesting, thanks for the info and the links.

Originally posted by sput45:

I visited the castle ruins when I lived in Germany near Neumarkt, and thought it interesting too as Return to Castle Wolfenstein had just come out. It is kind of a small structure, so agree that the inspiration for a large castle was elsewhere. But interesting coincidence at the time.

Originally posted by American dad:

good information :jarate:

Thank you all. :) Glad it was interesting. Certainly was to me.

[Zen_Disaster]

Great post ~ thanks for taking the time to share with the community the real world background of these historic game locations. You're spot~on saying that relatively few players are aware of these facts & to know them adds a lot of color and immersion to the game's story.. Many of us who played the first games in the original Wolfie series were inspired to do some actual siteseeing throughout the region & it sure was a memorable experience (y)

[Dark Redshift]

Originally posted by Zen_Disaster:

Great post ~ thanks for taking the time to share with the community the real world background of these historic game locations. You're spot~on saying that relatively few players are aware of these facts & to know them adds a lot of color and immersion to the game's story.. Many of us who played the first games in the original Wolfie series were inspired to do some actual siteseeing throughout the region & it sure was a memorable experience (y)

Thank you. :)

I learned about it when I was talking to one of my colleagues in an internship back in 2017 about Wolfenstein 3D and Old Blood. One of my other co-workers at the time who is German herself overheard us, found it interesting and informed me about the real Wolfstein, providing me with the link above (though I had to track it down again for this thread). Before then, I didn't know about it.

Sightseeing locations I know about from games is something I've wanted to do for a while now, with my top picks being Luxor, Cairo, Ross Island plus the Antarctic mainland for Tomb Raider, Wolfstein itself, Vlad Tepes's Poenari Castle in Romania -technically for Hellsing and Bram Stoker's book, besides Akumajou Dracula/Castlevania- and Kyoto and Yokosuka for Sonic the Hedgehog & Shenmue.

Tomb Raider and Japanese games (TV too) like Sonic, Mario, Mother, Rockman and NiGHTS inspired me to learn both Japanese and Middle Egyptian.