Judging by the game's early reviews, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is an enjoyable romp through Nazi-ridden Paris, but one that falls short of its predecessors in a few major areas. Youngblood strays away from the linear, story-focused formats of MachineGames' previous entries in the series, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Wolfenstein: The New Order, shifting the focus toward co-op shooting in more open-ended levels, influenced by Dishonored developer Arkane Studios.
Previous modern titles in the Wolfenstein series focused on emotional storytelling, centered around protagonist B.J. Blazkowicz, a good-hearted meathead with a passion for killing Nazis. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was one of the best video games of 2017, filled with memorable moments and good shooting gameplay. When publisher Bethesda revealed Wolfenstein: Youngblood, it was clear that the game would continue to embrace the series' Nazi-killing action, but with a co-op twist. Screen Rant's hands-on Wolfenstein: Youngblood preview saw the spin-off's potential as a worthwhile addition to the series, and the game seems to have delivered - at least barring a few shortcomings.
Some early Wolfenstein: Youngblood reviews have found the game to be Nazi-slaying fun, focused on gunplay and combat above all else. The game puts players in the high-tech armored shoes of B.J. Blazcowicz's teenage daughters, Jess and Soph, 19 years after the events of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. The two are tasked with searching for B.J., who has gone missing in Nazi-occupied Paris. Players' choice of which character they play is cosmetic, as each sister has the same capabilities at the outset. The rest of the game is fairly light on story, according to reviewers, with cutscenes taking a backseat to gameplay for the majority of the experience. Many have found the game's shift in focus to work to the game's detriment, creating a somewhat watered-down experience compared to the other Wolfenstein games, but it's worth noting that Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a $30 title. The PC version of Youngblood, out today, has a Metacritic score of 77 at the time of writing, highlighting the game's positive - yet not stellar - reception. OpenCritic reviews currently fall in the same range, with an average score of 76, but the site lists only 61% of critics as recommending the game. Read further to see what exactly critics are saying about Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
Game Informer: 8.5/10 - Javy Gwaltney
Youngblood is a side-story that opts for something different than what’s come before by embracing spongier combat, skill trees, cosmetics, and even live-service aspects like daily challenges. These smart changes make Youngblood an immensely enjoyable co-op first-person shooter about bashing in Nazi skulls. [...] The variety of tools at your disposal makes every combat encounter feel fresh and interesting all the way to the end. In the mid-game and onward, my partner and I were regularly massacring wave after wave of foes due to our ridiculous power – but that isn’t to say that combat isn’t ever challenging.
Destructoid: 6/10 - Peter Glagowski
Youngblood almost feels like Deus Ex with how many different pathways you can take to reach the same location. This isn't an open-world, mind you, but more a sandbox than the linear corridors of what MachineGames previously did with Wolfenstein. It's really the best aspect of the game because the RPG systems make the gunplay stumble quite a bit. Instead of being a skill-based shooter, this is now a numbers game and you'll get instances where you're unloading entire machine gun clips into an enemy without them falling.
PCGamer: 79/100 - James Davenport
For all its visual splendor and rad guns and alluring locales, Youngblood is compromised by a progression system that feels wholly designed to exploit attention and time, to deliver a tiny dopamine rush with every level up or skill upgrade or new weapon attachment, none of which changed how I play. Youngblood touches the big trends set forth by popular games, like Destiny and The Division, doling out daily and weekly missions and inserting a progression track and damage system that's a little too looter-shooter for my taste. There's even an endgame: Missions set after finishing the game that require leveling up most skills and guns to effectively take on. It's a nice bonus if you want to stretch out that time-played per dollar spent ratio, but I felt completely finished after watching the credits roll.
PCGamesN: 8/10 - Chris J Capel
The actual gameplay is very similar to the previous Wolfenstein games, meaning: it’s still excellent. [...] The only real change is the inclusion of a health meter with armour points – health is almost no concern, but an enemy with heavy armour will pose a real challenge. It’s a UI feature that complements well-judged character designs in communicating enemy threat levels well, and that usually stops fights from feeling too frustrating. The only real casualty of all this is stealth, which is still sort-of possible, but it’s much harder.
IGN: 6.5/10 - Dan Stapleton
[Wolfenstein: Youngblood's] level and enemy layouts simply aren’t designed with stealth in mind, and attempting to play it in the way I’d had success with previously almost always went poorly. [...] Instead, you’re supposed to use the blatant design Band-Aid of the cloaking device, an ability so essential it’s one of two you choose from when initially creating a character (and quickly unlockable if you choose the Crash ramming ability instead). Even before you upgrade it to last longer and let you move faster, it lets you walk right up to an economically anxious German, step around him, and stealthily ventilate his spleen. It feels like a cheat, probably because it absolutely is a cheat.
The Guardian: 4/5 - Rick Lane
Youngblood is adolescent in all the right ways, anarchic and ferocious on the surface with thoughtful design running underneath. Characters Jess and Soph are loud, goofy and annoying, but that’s exactly as they should be. Some of the writing is a little iffy, and you won’t find much in the way of nuanced storytelling, but to be honest it isn’t required. This a game about two young women blasting racists into goo – for me, that equals a bloody good time.
According to these reviews, it's clear that while some believe Wolfenstein: Youngblood's gameplay-focused approach delivered an enjoyable game - complete with interesting abilities that allow players to take advantage of the game's semi-open level structure - reviewers found quite a few problems with the game. Some found the less refined stealth mechanics disappointing, the characters uninteresting and the leveling system unnecessary, leading to an overall average reception for the new title.
It's hard to tell exactly what to make of the game, but it's worth noting that the game never seemed to be a full sequel to The New Colossus - it's not called Wolfenstein III, after all - and it seems to have done what it set out to do. While it may not be as interesting or groundbreaking as The New Order, Wolfenstein: Youngblood still appears to at least mostly deliver on the core draw of the series: giving Nazi scum what's coming to them.