Wolfenstein: Youngblood is trying multiple new things that its predecessors never tried. Not only is it a game that puts an emphasis on co-op (but which can also be played solo), that co-op affects other areas of the game as well (as do the contributions to development made by Arkane Studios). For instance, Youngblood will allow players to tackle missions in whichever order they want while having much more open-ended gameplay and progression, which is something that will, of course, affect the narrative as well.
And according to MachineGames’ co-founder Jerk Gustafsson – who is also executive producer on Wolfenstein: Youngblood – that’s all thanks to the game’s co-op nature. While speaking in an interview with VGC, Gustafsson got to speaking about how the developers are more nervous to see the reception for Youngblood than they were for its predecessor, owing to how many new things it tries- its co-op being one of them.
“I feel good about it,” said Gustafsson. “It’s a bit scary as well, to be honest, since we are doing so many new things with this game compared to what we have done previously.
“There are a lot of things in this game that we haven’t done before, such as co-op, the non-linearity of it and the level progression of players. I’m really happy with co-op because it’s great fun to play with a friend.”
Gustafsson then went on to speak about the co-op in earnest, mentioning that it influenced not only gameplay progression, but non-linearity in other areas as well- such as the game’s story.
“It’s what the title refers to: a new generation,” he said. “The co-op adds something new and fresh for us, but of course that also comes with some challenges because we didn’t really have that experience.
“But I feel that we needed to take that step. Co-op has forced us to think in a non-linear way, not just in terms of gameplay but story as well.”
Wolfenstein: Youngblood promises around 25-30 hours of gameplay, as per the developers, but thanks to its shorter development time, is still going to be a half-priced game in spite of being the series’ biggest title to date. Having recently wrapped up development, the game is out in a week on July 26 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Check out how much storage space you’ll need for it through here.
