Wolfenstein: Youngblood Has Dishonored-Inspired Level Design

Wolfenstein: Youngblood continues the rebooted Wolfenstein story, but transitions the narrative away from series' stalwart BJ Blazkowicz in favor of his twin daughters, Jessica and Sophia. A different set of protagonists isn't the only change being implemented in Youngblood though. The game is also leaving behind the fairly straightforward structure of previous Wolfenstein games for a more open-ended Dishonored approach.

"I think players will see a lot of similarities to level design in the Dishonored games, so in that sense it can be a little bit different as an experience but it can be for the benefit of the game, especially when it comes to finding different ways of approaching a combat scenario or a mission in general," Youngblood executive producer Jerk Gustafsson told Official PlayStation Magazine.

"Regarding game length, it's hard to say," MachineGames senior producer John Jennings wrote in a Reddit AMA. "We're doing a much more open-ended/branching gameplay structure on this one so, while there's a golden path to finish the main story, if you want to play all of the side missions you're easily looking at a length more similar to [Wolfenstein: The New Order or Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus] than [Wolfenstein: The Old Blood]."

In that same AMA, Jennings also spoke about how it was to work with Arkane Studios, the developer behind Dishonored, Dishonored 2, and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. "It was great working with [Arkane]; they're a really awesome team," Jennings wrote. "We certainly learned some things from them and I'd like to think they learned some things from us too. It's really nice being part of the Zenimax/Bethesda family; there are so many studios you can talk to and share experiences with. Our past collaborations have been mostly with [id Software] in the past though, so it's been great to work with Arkane directly for the first time."

During the AMA, Jennings also spoke about game development crunch culture, and how MachineGames is trying to eliminate it. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is expected to launch this July for Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and PC. Pre-ordering the Youngblood Deluxe Edition nets you a pretty nice bonus, allowing you to more easily play through the campaign's optional co-op mode with a friend without needing to buy two copies of the game.