If you're new to Wolfenstein this entry might sour your opinion of the franchise. For Wolfenstein veterans, Youngblood is a departure that may leave you scratching your head.
If it weren't for the Nazi's and occasional cameos from protagonists familiar to the franchise you may not be able to tell this is a Wolfenstein game. Bullet-sponge enemies? Check. RPG-lite mechanics? Check. Rehashed environments with generic baddies? Check.
For all the goodwill Bethesda gained with the revamping of the Wolfenstein series, Youngblood feels like a distinct step in the wrong direction. Having an appreciation for a studio that prices the product to reflect the development process is admirable... until you discover the final product feels like an exercise in exerting the least amount of effort possible. The buddy pass option is a cool feature to get a friend in on the Co-op fun for $10, but your friend may prefer you buy them a round or two than subject them to any prolonged encounter with this game.
The positive: The gun play is fun, the graphics are good (pretty much identical to Wolfenstein 2: The New Collossus), the sound design is excellent, and the Nazi mech designs are very cool.
The negative: While gun-play is fun it feels like a step backwards. You can only dual wield certain weapons which takes away from the staple trope of OP, bad-assery the series in know for. The addition of RPG-lite mechanics means that your Nazi enemies have a health bar and different armor types that I imagine were implemented to encourage strategy and teamwork. Unfortunately, this simply adds a level of grind where you slowly eat away damage with one type of weapon and then switch to another in order to finish your opponent off. At later levels, the discrepancy in your level vs that of your Nazi foe can introduce a frustrating amount of difficulty that really shines when you factor in the lacking checkpoint system and poor partner AI. Speaking of poor AI... get ready for a maddening level of "please heal me... please heal me... please heal me" if you're unfortunate enough to rely on the games AI to control your teammate. Pathfinding can be atrocious. On the flip side you'll likely encounter moments where enemies simply bug out and stand around soaking up damage. Nothing kills immersion in games quite like an AI needing to hit the reset button.
To keep this relatively brief, Wolfenstein: Youngblood feels like a swing and a miss. The protagonists you play as feel rather simple. In retrospect I'm not sure what I expected but the "Dude Bro" duet of Jessica and Sophia are remarkably shallow and the limitations of the game means you'll be hearing "Hell yeah, dude" or "Good job, bro" while you do the robot in an elevator throughout the majority of the game. Fun the first few times. Annoying and cringy 10 hours in.
Gamers who want a true to form Wolfenstein game are better off spending their time and money on the main line installments. Hopefully the next spin-off feels more like The Old Blood and less like Youngblood.