Wolfenstein: Youngblood goes tag-team Nazi-hunting in July
Bound in torrents on Nazi blood
Co-op Nazi-mangling spinoff Wolfenstein: Youngblood launches on July 26th, just before my birthday. It looks to be a gift that literally keeps giving, too; the Deluxe edition comes with a 'Buddy Pass', so you can invite a special someone to join you on your power-armoured rampage. Set some years after Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, it casts one or two players as BJ Blazkowicz and Anya's twin daughters, now old enough to hunt Nazis for themselves with the aid of matching super-suits. Check out the debut trailer below, featuring Carpenter Brut's appropriately titled Turbo Killer.
It looks a whole lot like The New Colossus, only louder, dumber and with a buddy to double up the shooting with, and that sounds just fine to me. If you play solo, the second player's role will be taken by a bot, so if your friend during a co-op game has to drop out suddenly, you won't be left entirely without aid. With there being another player to impress, there's also some cosmetic customisation options, plus emotes. Between that and the positively gleeful tone of the trailer (those kids are just SO hyped to kill Nazis), I'd expect this to be a little less grim than past games.
Interestingly, both Wolfenstein studio MachineGames and Arkane are credited on this enthusiastic tangent for the series. The YouTube description for the game also calls it "open-ended", which makes me wonder if at least some of the missions are designed for repeated play. Story-wise, it appears that America is finally free of Nazi rule, and BJ has snuck off to fascist-occupied Paris on some kind of secret mission. His kids are hot on his trail, unsure of why their turbo-charged dad would just disappear like that. The family that slays together stays together, after all.
As an aside, Turbo Killer has a really good music video. Worth a watch if you've never seen it before. And maybe once more if you have.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood launches on July 26th. The Standard edition will cost £25/€40/$30, and the Deluxe edition (including the Buddy Pass and an extra skin pack) a bit more at £35/€40/$40. Players that pre-order get the cosmetic Legacy Pack, which includes some of BJ's old outfits and melee weapons. You can find it here on Bethesda's store and Steam.