I really like Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
But I don’t know if I like the game as much
as I like the idea of it.
Experimentation is important.
In a GDC talk on the development of Prey:
Mooncrash, it’s level design lead Rich Wilson
laid out three important pillars to its creation:
Motivation to Evolve, Preservation of Core
Values and Adaptation to new problems.
That last one is perhaps the most interesting
to me.
Games have become too expensive to produce
and no longer do guaranteed franchises, developers
or genres equal guaranteed sales.
A single £40 game purchase no longer covers
the cost of development, and generation schemes
like Season Passes and Randomised Cosmetic
Items aren’t always a welcome option.
Finding ways to innovate in the space isn’t
just a means to freshen the genepool, but
also to find ways to ethically reuse content
that would otherwise have been a sunk cost,
and to create something enticing out of a
proven product.
Prey: Mooncrash is a fantastic example of
that ethical approach to reuse in action.
They took the spirit of the base game: an
exploration driven, mystery solving, slower
paced shooter, and extended it.
The mechanics and almost all the assets are
the same, but what you’re trying to achieve
is different.
It’s not about leading one character through
a single playthrough, but rather sending many
characters through multiple loops of a simulation
in order to achieve an end goal.
Although it’s a lot smaller in scope than
the original game, I would say that it is
as successful as the original game in achieving
what it set out to do.
I would even say I like it a lot more than
the original.
But I get why people don’t like experimentation.
Bethesda tried it with Fallout 76; turning
a crafted roleplaying experience into an instance-driven
multiplayer one.
Even before we experienced the glitches and
stability issues, the idea was off putting
to many.
On release, it was apparent that this was
an experiment that, outside of some bright
spots, didn’t seem to resonate either with
fans of Fallout nor the potential audience
it could of had.
And there’s been trepidation from fans of
these games that they’re taking resources
out of the things they like, in order to fund
these experiments that just aren’t for them.
As if the development of these games comes
at the cost of new yet familiar AAA titles,
rather than a remedy to cover the costs of
developing them.
What I mean by this is that downloadable content
including spin-off games can often be a profitable
arm for many publishers.
Look at EA, they make on average $1.3 billion
on microtransactions and DLC per year.
That money has to go somewhere, and often
it goes back into funding the development
of more games; established franchises and
smaller titles.
For every Battlefield there is also a Sea
of Solitude.
As I stated earlier, these experiments aren’t
just a means of recouping costs.
They are also an avenue to find new and interesting
ways to evolve on core principles, and in
turn take what’s been learnt and apply it
forward.
After all, first person shooters wouldn’t
exist as they are today if the original Wolfenstein
3D didn’t experiment with dropping the stealth
of the original games for high octane action.
It’s why, despite hating some of Youngbloods
design, I understand why it’s there, and
appreciate that it is doing something different.
I love the addition of multiplayer and a more
open world structure, but I really do not
like how enemies have been rebalanced for
both, and how the game misses some of that
story-telling that makes Machine Games’
Wolfenstien titles so fantastic.
While I don’t love it, that doesn’t mean
that there isn’t an audience that will.
Machine Games take on Wolfenstien has been
a shot in the arm for the series that invented
the first person shooter.
After decades of american developers slowly
transforming Wolfenstien into an indiana jones
style shooter full of occult nazis, the european
Machine Games took a more measured approach,
one that could only really come from a less
hollywood and more historical approach to
Wolfenstien.
They didn’t want you to hate Nazi’s because
they’re overpowered videogame villains,
but because they’re Nazis: highly motivated
by their insidious ideology of fascism and
white supremacy.
Machine Games took measures to fully realise
a world where, through their obscene experiments,
the Nazis achieved victory in World War 2
and had fully realised their takeover of every
nation.
These games aren’t the cheeky series of
an all american soldier verses supernatural
Nazis villains.
They’re a cathartic power fantasy in a world
gone horribly wrong, where you play as the
only character who’s overwhelming passion
to dismantle this new world order will spark
a revolution.
In my opinion, Machine Games’ greatest achievement
is taking the first true First Person Shooter
protagonist, and making him the most nuanced
First Person Shooter protagonist.
BJ Blazkowicz is a conflicted jewish polish-american
war machine who is both a supremacists perfect
specimen and their worst nightmare.
A man who has achieved so much with enormous
firepower, and yet treats his peers with intelligence
and respect.
A man who cannot achieve his mission without
the help of minorities; women, the differently
abled, people of colour and those who don’t
fit into the Nazi’s vision of a perfect
aryan utopia.
A man who despises everything a poisoned supremacist
mindset has achieved, and yet could be considered
an extension of it.
It’s pretty heavy stuff for a first person
shooter… but Machine Games handle it well.
That’s why they are fantastic games.
Mechanically, It is ostensibly a First Person
Shooter.
Outside of scripted story moments and base
sections, you’ll be running and gunning
through linear levels set in nazi occupied
landmarks.
The weapon choices are plentiful, and even
your approach to taking out enemies is varied.
Going in guns blazing is effective and feels
fantastic, but a stealth approach can help
better even the odds.
There’s even a hint of exploration in some
levels to give them a bit more shape, either
hiding ammo and health, extra collectibles,
or just more of the world to take in.
These games are at their best when they slow
down.
When you can marvel at Machine Games’ attention
to detail and how they figured out just how
far the Nazi Regiem has rippled across culture.
What kind of music do people listen to?
What does the advertising look like?
What would happen if every building in your
city was designed by Albert Speer?
Again, you aren’t just fighting the Nazi’s
because this is a videogame, you’re opposing
what they’ve done to society, and details
like this show you how sweeping their influence
is.
It’s a great shooter though.
Actually, It’s a good shooter.
As these games go on and the challenge ramps,
that feeling of just going up against waves
of enemies in arenas without much nuance to
it all really starts to sink in.
Stealth becomes less effective as enemy populations
increase, and by the end of these games it
always feels less like I was pushing myself
to fight for the revolution, and more like
going through the motions waiting for the
next big story beat.
It felt like the grind of lesser games; in
a loop of death and reloads, with dwindling
ammunition and patience, as you fight off
hordes of the games biggest and baddest.
It’s why those quiet moments were important,
those moments of stealth and even those base
sections to pace out the intensity of all
that shooting.
Every poster, every person, every cutscene,
and of course every new way the plot could
keep me going.
These are great games, and even as an experimental
side-project, there was no reason to believe
that Youngblood wouldn’t be the same.
Not only was it being produced by Machine
Games, but it was also being co-developed
by Arkane: the talent behind the Dishonored
series, Prey and it’s DLC, Mooncrash.
Two developers whose work I love, working
together on a series I adore.
What could go wrong?
I really like Wolfenstein: Youngblood, but
I don’t love it.
And I hate that.
You’re not playing as BJ Blazcowicz this
time round.
Instead you play as one of his twin daughters:
Jess and Sophia.
To reiterate: they’re not BJ Blazcowicz,
and this is both great and not so great.
One of the most interesting aspects of Machine
Games’ story telling has been that introspection
into the mind of its protagonist, and it is
often at the forefront of many of the cutscenes
and dialogue pieces.
Youngblood isn’t concerned with the kind
of introspection that BJ got over the course
of almost four games.
That said, there is not really a lot to be
introspective about with the Terror Twins
yet; they haven’t lived the life their father
has and nor do they have that isolation in
his struggle with the Nazis.
By design, they will always have another person
that they can rely on.
What you do understand is that they’re characters
born into a post-Nazi regiem and post-American
revolved world, and they have different sensibilities
because of that.
They're neither hardened murders brought up
by Terror Billy nor are they detached wish-fulfillment
characters.
They are very odd though, and I like that.
Wolfenstien has always had some moments of
levity, and although I did say earlier that
Machine Games’ take on the material is heavy
compared to its contemporaries - they’ve
never been shied away from using humour.
They’re not making a misery shooter, they’re
making a cathartic power fantasy, and a balance
needs to found between showing you the sheer
horror of what you’ve been tasked with having
to overcome and also showing you things worth
fighting for.
It can use it to make characters more human
and likeable, and also use it to make the
Nazi’s more cowardly and reprehensible.
Perhaps because of its change in gameplay
though, Youngblood is lighter than previous
games so far.
It bends around the personality of the protagonists;
leaning into a tone that borders on a light
action movie aesthetic that fits the time
period, except it’s teen girls off to fight
Super Nazis.
I don’t just mean this aesthetically, but
also in its more playful approach to problem
solving.
For the first time in the Machine Games series,
Youngblood is a multiplayer co-op game.
Even in solo play, the other sister is always
there as an AI partner, and working as a team
is baked into the very design of the game.
They have all the tools at their disposal
that their dear ol’ dad did, but what he
never had was someone watching his back.
One player can take out enemies from a distance
while another goes in guns blazing, or both
can coordinate attacks on larger enemies from
different angles.
Another thing that’s different?
The level design and its approach to completing
objectives.
It owes a lot to experiments done in the New
Colossus, as well as build on what Arkane
has done with its Dishonored series.
Although the new colossus was a strictly linear
experience; there were Enigma Machine missions
that would send you back to previously completed
levels with remixed conditions and looks.
A way to reuse content already developed for
the game in a fresh way.
While not every mission was a winner, it certainly
added more value to the end product.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider on the other
hand had a contract system; a series of additional
objectives you could take whilst on a mission.
These were there to encourage more exploration
of these multi-tiered spaces.
Youngblood doesn’t have strictly linear
missions outside of a few unique cases.
Instead it’s set in a segment of nazi occupied
paris, made up of small and connected sandboxes.
You’re not intended to go through these
once; they’re used and reused for small
missions and tasks that all push towards helping
the resistance and ousting the Nazis from
the french capital.
I really like this approach.
Having two players already pushed the need
to open corridors and layer the arenas more,
but having multiple paths through an environment
is really satisfying to engage with.
It’s less of the curated grind of the original
and more of an invitation to experiment yourself.
It makes an initially cloaked attack more
viable when you can shoot from on high, it
makes getting in the action safer when there’s
more angles to hide behind, and it makes running
away an actual viable option for progression.
Unlike their dad, Jess and Soph even have
more options for getting around these bigger
spaces.
Again, something that was experimented with
in the previous game.
In the latter half of The New Colossus, you
can unlock augmentations to BJ’s abilities;
one that can blow through gratings, extendable-stilts
and one to squeeze through tight gaps.
These are adapted to Youngblood as a double
jump, stealth camo and a barge.
They’re not just offensive and defensive
measures, but they’re needed for getting
around Paris in the smartest way possible.
You’ll want to do so.
Arkane’s influence really shines in the
level design.
Machine Games already had a knack for creating
spaces that weren’t just corridors and arenas,
but the Dishonored developers make Paris feel
like… well, Paris.
There’s cramped apartments, shanty towns,
office buildings and more.
Lived in places with history, both before
and after the Nazi occupation.
Importantly, the two studio’s knack for
occupying its spaces with bespoke assets really
fires on all cylinders here.
Across all of the Machine Games Wolfenstein
titles, we understand how almost 50 years
of Nazi occupation changes the world.
Even the post-liberated america of Youngblood
doesn’t look like our own; in the bits that
we see, its scrappy and built on the liberated
technology the Nazis used to hold it in control.
The Nazi america of the New Colossus wasn’t
just the 1960s with swastikas either; it mutated
structures that were already there like the
washington monument and found ways to perverse
them through fascism.
It took an all american town and put stormtroopers
and the KKK in plain sight.
A similar thing could be said of Dishonored’s
Dunwall; it’s not victorian england with
walker drones.
You can see how this post edwardian society
embraced a technology and design language
that pushes a feeling of utter isolation and
desperation.
In Youngblood, both ideologies in world design
are in play.
It shows how insidious a fascist ideology
is, not just in how it’s affected the people
but even Paris.
They’re disrupted the architecture of the
city of lights with their gaudy concrete walls
and opulent golden eagles.
Monolithic towers breaking over it’s skyline
are perhaps the most noticeable example of
their fascist architecture.
To me it’s more effective than a cutscene
telling you how bad things have gotten, because
you can see it yourself.
So what’s the problem?
A decision was made for Youngblood to add
levelling to the mix.
This makes sense, after all unlocking new
passive abilities as the game goes on keeps
people invested and opens new wrinkles to
the fight matrix.
That and making sure a player goes through
an open world in a somewhat curated manner
is important; otherwise they’re going to
chew out all the taste in the gum and get
bored with the same environments.
But having enemies with levels over their
heads takes a lot of the fun out of engaging
with them.
It makes a stealth or an overwhelming approach
amount to the same result, it also tries to
push you towards engaging with microtransactions
that frankly didn’t need to be included.
But, more importantly, It undermines the message
of the previous games; that the Nazis were
a legitimate and very grounded threat.
As stated earlier, Machine Games’ MO with
their previous Wolfenstiens was building up
the Nazi not just as a videogame villain but
as a truly monsterous ideology.
They put you face to face with some of their
most decorated officers and showed you just
how reprehensible they could be.
Even when they stomped around in giant mech
suits, they were still treated as very serious
threat.
But in Youngblood, because of its somewhat
typical PvE approach to shooting, it makes
them feel like those videogame villains that
should be relegated from these Wolfenstien
games.
A main antagonist set up in the early moments
of the game isn’t given the opportunity
to show you how despicable he is, because
your only interaction with him will be shooting
him in a cramped arena.
It doesn’t pull its weight when compared
to what has come before.
It lets down any of that world building done
through the impeccable asset and level design,
and instead leaves the whole game feeling…
well, quite artificial.
But, I can understand why it's there.
Sticking to the main missions is a trip to
the grinder; the Brother towers are a test
of your resource management and your patience,
and you can’t rush through them they way
you could with the action orientated levels
of the previous games.
If you and your sister die on mission, you’re
not going back a few minutes - you’re getting
sent back all the way to the beginning, with
every Nazi inbetween back on their feet and
ready to wear you down again.
If you play by the rules and go for lower
risk side jobs, you’re going to have a nicer
time.
This is where that curated aspect sneaks back
up; it’s an open world, open objective Wolfenstien,
but you are expected to play by the games
terms.
You’re not going to take down the Nazis
in a single playthrough, and you’re not
going to bond with the people of the french
resistance unless you help them out.
They make the Tower missions the most difficult
so you actually have to rely on the resistance
to help you.
In one instance, they shot a laser through
an enormous door that opened the way ahead.
Something that… well, I’m not quite sure
how I would have achieved that.
Though the power of game mechanics alone,
it teaches the Terror Twins that they’re
not going to win a war through sheer firepower
alone; it’s through networking.
It’s not by destroying the Nazi’s through
a single, linear attack, but through trangressive
acts and experimentation.
When the odds seem stacked against you, work
together to overcome.
The same learning their dad had to go through
in the new order, the new colossus, and hopefully
his next adventure in the series.
It’s why, as annoying as some of its design
is, I can’t hate Wolfenstien: Youngblood.
It achieves everything that is in the games
selling point: a co-operative Wolfenstien
adventure from Machine Games and Arkane.
It managed to evolve on the game that came
before it in a meaningful way: the linear
approach of the New Order and New Colossus
made the usual end game monotony of being
thrown against waves of high powered enemies
apretty unbearable, and that’s not much
of an issue in the more open-world Youngblood.
Having more than one objective to complete
in more than one single level means that you
never have to get hung up on a particularly
tricky section.
You don’t have to wait for those quiet moments
on bases and in little apartment buildings;
you can just go there and soak it all in.
If they make another Wolfenstien title, I
would much rather it be a better Youngblood
then the same Order and Colossus with new
setpieces.
Though not everyone might agree with this,
I felt satisfied with the conclusion of BJ’s
story in the new colossus, and I’d be happy
to see more of the twins go through their
arc or even characters aligned to the revolution
get their star turn.
But I think to win over people put off by
this new approach to Wolfenstien, they’ll
need to reconsider the importance of storytelling.
After all, many people including myself come
to Machine Games’ Wolfenstien series on
the strength of its writing, its characters
and setpieces.
It’s what’s worrying about this game;
without cutscenes and those slowdown moments
of the New Order and Colossus, It has to rely
on environmental storytelling and brief interactions
as a substitute.
I don’t think either do enough.
Maybe I’m more receptive to a bold experiment
than the competent but familiar.
I’m maybe the only person who went to bat
for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, and it’s
not going to be the last experiment I cover
positively.
But to tackle the buzz of Youngblood being
another Fallout 76 miss-step by Bethesda,
I have to turn around and say it’s frankly
untrue.
If you can jam with this game, experience
it for what it is rather than a co-op New
Colossus, you’re going to find stuff you
like.
The shooting is still there, those special
abilities are improved, and while there’s
none of the astonishing story moments of the
last game there is still those slow, considered
moments.
If you’re a fan of Arkanes work, then you
should support another great game by them.
There are rather vagrant microtransactions
included in the game, and it’s hard not
to think that the design of the enemy levels
was built to capitalize on this - and those
who don’t have the time or ability to see
the whole game.
I never found I needed to engage with them
in order to have a good time, though your
mileage may vary.
I’ll also say don’t be spooked by an AI
partner: they’re absolutely fine, at least
in my playthrough so far.
The next time your favourite developer wants
to try something new with a franchise you
like, don’t immediately write it off as
unworthy.
Fallout 76 and Prey: Mooncrash are wildly
different in their levels of success, but
they are both examples of reusing pre-existing
assets and applying some creative innovations
to make something cost-effective and, importantly,
very fun.
And that is exactly what Wolfenstien: Youngblood
is.
Which is why I really like Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
I don’t love it, I don’t hate it, and
I really, really hope that it’s going to
influence what comes next.
