Wolfenstein Youngblood review: In my day, we called this an expansion pack

Enlarge / Soph and Jess, ready for duty. (credit: Bethesda)

Five years ago, the Wolfenstein game series enjoyed a triumphant return as a back-to-basics excuse to virtually slaughter hundreds of mechanized Nazis. Its 2017 sequel was fine enough but failed to turn any gears in terms of gameplay evolution. And now we have another game in the series, which lands in curious fashion-with little promotion or buzz, without a "sequel" designation, and sold at the atypically low new-game price of $29.99.

Though it's being sold as a standalone game, this week's Wolfenstein Youngblood makes more sense when described as an expansion pack-albeit one that doesn't require owning the last game, which might be a point in its favor. The 2017 sequel's assets have been recycled and reshuffled to bring us a new adventure full of enemies, weapons, abilities, and geometry chunks we've seen before. This time, those assets are born anew as a co-op campaign (which can be played alone, in a pinch).

Honestly, it's a solid idea on developer MachineGames' part. If you gobbled up Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, then you can enjoy another heaping helping of the series' no-nonsense combat, weighing in at roughly 20 hours. If you skipped that sequel, you can expect the co-op twist to provide just enough new stuff to make it a worthwhile romp, alone or with a friend. In either case, this new entry builds upon the best level-design qualities of the 2017 game to make it an intriguing alternative to modern co-op shooters.

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