3.5/5 ★ – theebigbamtheory's review of Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

I finished this back when it came out, and was disappointed by it despite still liking the game, but I started replaying it not too long ago and I find myself to be much warmer towards this game overall. MachineGames once again does a good job with the writing, story and worldbuilding. They continue to build a interesting world out of the simple concept of Nazis flourishing and having a big presence, and most importantly, they don't take it too seriously. The game has a lot of absurd and dark humor, which is a fun way to experience the grim concept. The main story is lighter than usual, but there's a lot of side collectibles and background decorations that add to the lore of the world. The twin sisters are simply crazy characters that people will either love or hate (personally I'm the former), but overall the new cast of characters are good enough, and they're quite distinct from the old cast. The gameplay is where Youngblood truly differentiates itself from the rest of the series, for better and worse. The RPG aspect of the gameplay can get in the way of gunplay, making things feel like a bunch of numbers interacting with each other in a clunky way, instead of a beautiful dance of actual guns harming the Nazi's flesh and metal. The progression system in particular is a bit unsatisfying, since the game uses levels to limit many of the stronger upgrades, which can be frustrating if you just want to focus on a few particular aspects. Still, if you make the most out of the RPG aspects, it can be decently satisfying. For example, you can upgrade your gun in order to get only one of three available stat bonuses, but all of the guns have one stat bonus that works best on it, so it's better to look at the raw numbers and figure that out instead of just choosing whatever you want. Knowing that Arkane helped on the development of this game, it makes sense to see the levels being more open-ended and having lots of nooks and crannies to look for. It makes exploring them more fun, but sometimes the shootouts can be a bit awkward because of the level design being not as tight as it could be at times. Same thing goes for the stealth, where sometimes it feels like the levels are pushing you towards gung-ho action instead of sneaking around. In short, Youngblood will still deliver on many of the qualities that MachineGames has previously established with their Wolfenstein games, but it's definitely not on the same level as their past work. If you're one of those people who enjoyed their mainline Wolfenstein games but skipped this one because of the mixed reception, I recommend you to check it out on sale with keeping in mind that it's going to be a different experience than their usual stuff.