Wolfenstein 2 DLC Review: The Diaries Of Agent Silent Death Is Meh

Wolfenstein 2 is a fantastic game, among the standouts from a year that will go down as one of gaming’s best. Unfortunately, the DLC released so far has not lived up to the excellent characters and story found in the base game. That downward trend continues with the latest installment, The Diaries of Agent Silent Death.

The story is a simple one, Agent Silent Death and her husband were both spies fighting the Nazis. Eventually, Silent Death’s husband was captured and killed. After years out of duty, Silent Death is mysteriously called back into action to kill the men responsible for her husband’s demise.

Silent Death feels somewhat generic as a character, even if she’s a fairly atypical depiction of a woman in games. She’s the experienced veteran getting back into the game, the alcoholic, the one mourning over the death of a loved one. It’s a refreshing twist on the typical hard-boiled male spy, even if it’s ultimately the same well-tread territory.

Like the name suggests, The Diaries of Agent Silent Death largely focuses on stealth play. Right from the start, players can crawl and use a silenced pistol, along with a few throwing knives for longer-ranged stealth kills. There are also a number of small spaces to crawl through or hide under while sneaking around each of the three levels.

Here lies my biggest problem with Agent Silent Death: stealth is Wolfenstein 2’s weakest aspect, lacking the depth of games like Dishonored or even Assassin’s Creed. For example, the levels are largely static, so you can’t open and close doors to hide from enemies. There are no indicators to tell what direction someone can see you from, and you can’t drag away dead bodies to hide from enemies. While there is a nice added feature where time slows down if you are discovered, devoting an entire DLC to stealth just seems like a mistake.

It is possible to make it through The Diaries of Agent Silent Death with brute force, and the last level seems almost impossible to get through without being discovered somehow, but it’s difficult. Agent Silent Death can only have 40 out of the typical 100 armor points at any time, so firefights end much faster than you’d expect.

Like The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe, Agent Silent Death is pretty darn short. Each level can be completed in around an hour, making the entire DLC run three to four hours. There are a few collectibles to go back and find, but it’s nothing too game-changing. Although the price to gaming ratio from the Wolfenstein 2 season pass is solid overall ($25 for nine to 12 hours), each installment seems to suffer from the short run time.

Speaking of Gunslinger Joe, it’s funny that I complained in that review about an anti-climactic final encounter that used a single quick-time event to kill the main boss. Agent Silent Death manages to make killing the boss feel better, but possibly has an even more underwhelming finish. It seems odd that the most memorable boss in Agent Silent Death is the second one, the Hollywood producer. His calls over the intercom at the movie studio are hilarious, and I couldn’t wait to shut him up.

This all sounds negative, but The Diaries of Agent Silent Death is still built on the excellent framework of Wolfenstein 2. Movement, gunplay, graphics and sound are all at the high level of quality we’ve come to expect from the franchise. If I’m being a little extra critical, it’s simply because I know how good things have been already. While there’s nothing terribly wrong or broken with Agent Silent Death, there’s nothing exciting or noteworthy either. It just doesn’t feel like it’s living up to its potential.

The Diaries of Agent Silent Death is now available to download on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

So what do you think? Have you been enjoying the DLC packs for Wolfenstein 2? Will you wait to pick up a season pass until all three episodes have been released? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.