Much of the source code for Wolfenstein 3D was later reused in Apogee's Rise of the Triad, released in 1994.

Planes are shaded with flat colors instead of having textures. The game's engine, the Wolfenstein 3D engine, is fairly simple, using maps composed of tiles, which only allow 90-degree angles between walls. The final release did retain some arcade-style concepts, such as lives and a point scoring system. Though id had planned to include more strategic elements seen in these earlier games (such as wearing captured uniforms and dragging bodies), they came to feel these features made gameplay too complex, slowing the action down. Unlike these predecessors, Wolfenstein 3D shifted the focus away from puzzle solving in favor of more action-oriented gameplay. Inspiration for this game came from the 2D games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, published by Muse Software and released in 19, respectively. Since then, several Wolfenstein games have been made with newer technology.

It also spawned a commercial prequel, Spear of Destiny, which used the same game engine. It owes much of its success to an aggressive shareware marketing campaign which was later repeated with even greater success for Doom. Blazkowicz, fighting his way through a series of Nazi dungeons during World War II. It involves the adventures of an Allied soldier, William B.J. Wolfenstein 3D (also written Wolfenstein 3-D) is a first-person shooter developed by id Software, published by Apogee Software, and released on May 5, 1992.

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