Wolfenstein: Youngblood
Wolfenstein heads to Reich-ridden Paris amid the glamour of the ’80s
PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Well, they had us at ‘developed in partnership with Arkane Studios’. Eighteen months after the release of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Swedish studio MachineGames has hooked up with the Lyon-based creator of Dishonored, ostensibly to augment this vibrantly violent alternatehistory FPS with a dash of Arkane’s openended level design. And – if you hadn’t noticed from the neon-soaked sights and Jean-Michel Jarre-esque sounds – to take the whole thing to the heart of France in the synthesised midst of the 1980s.
It isn’t, it transpires, the only big change. MachineGames is pitching Youngblood as an even bigger leap forward for the series than 2017’s The New Colossus was from 2014’s The New Order. That’s no small claim for a this co-op spin-off, which sees long-time series protagonist, William ‘BJ’ Blazkowicz, out for the count. In his inimitable place come his twin daughters, Soph and Jess, who head to the French capital to try track down their father. Two decades after he liberated the US from the Nazi war machine, he’s disappeared for reasons unknown. Without wishing to spoil anything, it may have something to do with his unending need for vengeance.
It’s a bloodlust that both BJ and his wife, Anya, have attempted to instil in their teenage girls. Our demo opens with Soph and Jess being taught key killing techniques by their elders – Jess gets a healthy dose of hunting in the wild with dad, armed with nought but a heavily upgraded sniper rifle and her improving senses, while Soph is given an intense melee training session by mum. When Soph eventually succumbs to tiredness, Anya gives her a real taste of combat – holding a makeshift knife to her throat, insisting that if their Nazi enemies can endure for just one second longer, it’ll mean certain death.
So far, so Wolfenstein. MachineGames’ talented writers briskly manoeuvre the tricky waters of a hard-hitting family drama that’s lined with the sharp wit of a black comedy. It’s both shocking and funny at whiplash pace. Not just because of its penchant for out-andout gore, but also the naïve sensitivity of its central pair: while the two of them quickly get into the swing of killing, there’s a rawer dynamic between them than the series has previously played with. That in itself is exciting narrative territory for such a capable team.
And then comes the rest. Across two distinctly different levels – the first inside the hulking gunmetal airship called the Nachtfalter, and another on the sun-bleached streets of Paris – we see MachineGames demonstrate Youngblood’s structural shakeups. First come the traditionally confined, near-claustrophobic corridors of Wolfenstein as you know it, treating you like a rat in a run as you dart from room to room strategically managing your arsenal of weapons to decimate the Hugo Boss-clad cannon fodder. And then, with the spirit of Arkane in its sails, come the open-ended hub levels infused with the come-look-over-here freedom of Dishonored 2’ s Karnaca. We see nothing here quite so beautifully, intricately complex as that game’s Clockwork Mansion mission, but it doesn’t need to be. Youngblood is still very much a MachineGames joint: this is a game to be played with your finger on the trigger, rather than perched up in the rafters.
It helps that combat has had a healthy injection of firepower. If there was any major mechanical criticism to level at both The New Order and The New Colossus, it was that their guns simply didn’t match up to the standard of other Bethesda-published shooters – namely, anything with Id on the box. Here, the gap in quality has been closed. Firing off shotgun slugs with wanton savagery now packs the devastating jolt of force-feedback it deserves, while your array of automatic weapons rattle with a punchy rat-a-tat.
We went in expecting glorified DLC, and found an inspired marriage between two of Bethesda’s best teams. MachineGames’ work has always had a certain confidence to it, but Youngblood reflects a developer aware of its shortfalls – if everything slots into place, this spin-off might just turn out to be the most accomplished Wolfenstein to date.
Feeling free
Arkane’s fingerprints are all over the game’s structure. The team has broken apart the relatively constrained attempts of MachineGames’ previous outings, so, while The New Colossus dabbled somewhat in larger arenas with perhaps two or three routes to solve any combat puzzle, Youngblood instead offers players the breathtaking art design of this twisted world with the finesse of a team used to creating labyrinthine levels. The campaign has multiple hubs, each of which you can tackle in different orders and return to at your leisure. It isn’t clear from our demo quite how heavily the game will rely on these more expansive stages compared to the traditional levels, but greater choice and deeper progression push Youngblood in a tantalising direction.
To be played with your finger on the trigger, rather than perched up in the rafters