It took a long time: The classic Return to Castle Wolfenstein is available uncut in Germany for the first time, Bethesda Germany announced on Thursday via X. The first-person shooter, released in 2001, can be purchased in this country via Steam, GOG, and the Microsoft Store in its international version.
Currently, Return to Castle Wolfenstein costs only 2 Euros on Steam and GOG instead of the regular 5 Euros. The occasion for the release is the QuakeCon, which runs until Sunday, and Bethesda's 40th anniversary, Bethesda Germany writes on X. Previously, the game's store pages were not accessible from Germany.
One year earlier than expected
The sale is made possible by a decision from the Federal Centre for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BzKJ): The shooter has no longer been indexed since February 24. In addition to the PC version, the console versions Tides of War and Operation Resurrection were also removed from the index.
The removal from the index came earlier than expected: Indexed content is removed from the list after 25 years anyway, as long as no subsequent indexing occurs. Return to Castle Wolfenstein was indexed in 2002 and would therefore likely have been released in 2027 anyway. It is unclear whether Bethesda actively applied for a new review. The company did not respond to an inquiry from heise online.
