This is one of those games that is so defining for me and I have so much nostalgia for that it’s hard for me to look at it objectively, so take the following with a grain of salt.
Wolf3D is still as playable for me now as the first time I experienced it when I was 8 or 9.
If it had an automap, was truly 3D or had deeper mechanics it just wouldn’t be the same game anymore.
I see it a bit like Tetris. There are modern clones with all sorts of extra mechanics and gimmicks, and nobody can deny that the original is just the same thing over and over again. But the original, in all its simplicity, is still worth playing.
And just like in Tetris, which sometimes refuses to throw a line piece at you for ages, sometimes Wolf3D throws endless, bamboozling mazes at you. But I still love it and will never stop going back to it.
