Franoszek was also inspired by publicized allegations of sex crimes committed by men in positions of power against vulnerable female targets, which informs Engel's sexually aggressive behaviour during the character's interactions with series protagonist B.J.

Tommy Tordsson Björk, who served as the Narrative Designer of the Wolfenstein series of video games developed by Swedish studio MachineGames, created the Frau Engel character.

[2] Matthies explained from Engel's perspective, that since she is humiliated and her status as the "queen of the realm" was challenged, this propels much of her personal vendetta against the Resistance and Blazkowicz in particular, beginning with The New Order and continued by The New Colossus.

[2] Matthies remembered that the development team thought they had prepared written scenes involving Engel which seemed strong within their original context, but much of the final product evolved with Nina Franoszek's input once she is cast as the character.

[2] What drew her to get involved with the game was its script, which she described as similar to Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and the opportunity for her to play what she described as a female version of Christoph Waltz's character Hans Landa with a boytoy companion.

[8] Franoszek had disclosed during interviews that she has German Jewish ancestry in Poland from her paternal side, and a maternal grandfather who was not a member of the Nazi Party, but did serve as a military general during World War II and was later captured by Soviet forces.

[7] Franoszek noted that she had studied historical information about notable female concentration camp staff like Irma Grese and Ilse Koch who had exhibited similarly malevolent behaviour, but still felt that she was unable to find Engel's character from her research.

[9] Franoszek sought to understand what drives such a human being to harbour such violent, intolerant thought and act them out in a cold and dispassionate manner, but for her, the atrocities committed by members of the Nazi German regime were so unspeakably evil that they blocked her access to the character.

[9] Franoszek experienced what she described as a breakthrough with her understanding of the character during a rehearsal, after she decided to mentally project herself into the position of someone who might have walked through the Auschwitz barracks "in sharp-heeled, perfectly shined shoes".

[7] Playing Engel became an "amazing ride" for Franoszek once she found the character's emotional truth, as she had the opportunity to explore the "abyss of human nature on a very deep level" and act out things she never thought she would be capable of.

[9] She noted that people connected to the scene as not only was it a "dark experience that opened them up to understand the depth of torment" her Jewish ancestor had endured, it is also relevant in her view for "anyone else who experiences enslavement or suppression because of their race, nationality, or religion.”[9] Frazonek described feeling a sense of catharsis about doing the card game scene, because she was reminded of her father's explanation of the "exact percentage of Jewishness" with regards to her ethnic background; from her perspective, it once felt like an odd notion that her heritage is measured so coldly and mathematically, as if it was a percentage that might have endangered her life.

Blazkowicz first encounters Frau Engel and her entourage while he is retrieving some coffee for himself and his companion Anya Oliwa in the refreshment room of a train en route to Berlin.

Having taken the captives to Deathshead's compound and leaving shortly afterwards to deal with rebels elsewhere, she later witnesses the brutal death of Bubi by Blazkowicz's hand via live broadcast when her lover failed at his attempt to subdue their enemy.

By the events of The New Colossus, Engel is promoted to the rank of Obergruppenführer following the death of Deathshead during the ending of The New Order, and is given command of the large fortified airborne platform, the Ausmerzer.

Engel personally carries out Blazkowicz's death sentence, beheading him at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. in front of millions in a televised event and casting his head to a furnace beneath her.

[11] Hamza Aziz from Destructoid found that the train car sequence with Engel was so strong that every other element that was shown in a preview showing for The New Order paled by comparison.

Dan Stapleton from IGN said Engel "steals the show with her absolutely gleeful sadism", and praised her as most memorably terrifying video game villain since Vaas Montenegro from Far Cry 3.

[16] Matt Bertz from Game Informer lauded the early sequence of The New Colossus as "bloody brilliant", highlighting Engel's portrayal as an "absolutely revolting and deplorable villain".

[18] Neil Bolt from PlayStation Universe said Engel eclipses her predecessor Deathshead in terms of personality and menace, and that the duality of her presentation, alternating between theatrical villainy and chilling cruelty is representative of the game's strong balancing act between bombastic silliness and grim drama.

[24] Writing for Vice Waypoint, Danielle Riendeau criticized Engel's fat-shaming of her daughter as well as her sadistic taunting using Caroline's severed head in The New Colossus, and argued that it ran the risk of desensitizing the game's audience to just how bad these actions are as they are becoming increasingly absurd.

[25] Kuchera agreed with Riendeau and said the gratuitous violence perpetrated by Engel and her minions during the early moments of The New Colossus did not resonate with him, and felt that the brutality of these characters should have been handled with better care.