Wolfenstein: Youngblood

This is my first foray into Wolfenstein as I have never played these games for as long as I have been alive, and it's nothing short of rage-inducing.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a first-person shooter that plays like an RPG with it's grinding, leveling system, enemy teirs, and heavy/light ammo mechanics. And of the little that I do know about Wolfenstein I'm certain that the mainline games are fairly linear shooters with none of these gameplay elements.

The gunplay feels good and the ability to upgrade your weapons is neat, but it's second to none compared with the enemy durability. They absorb damage while eating through your health and armor, even with your guns upgraded. To add insult to injury the upgrades you apply to your weapons transfers to theirs as well, giving them an unfair advantage. And to add to the frustration the enemy AI has heightened senses, making stealth difficult.

Then there is the game map. You're given a minimap and a marker to direct your characters through their objectives. But often times you'll get lost and run around in circles if you don't have a keen eye for your surroundings.

Now for my closing statements. I have heard and read people express their dissatisfaction over this game's protagonists, from them being females and supposedly pushing identity politics, to not being able to play as the male lead (B.J. Blazkowicz) from previous games, to the supposedly cringe nature of the playable character's personalities and interactions.

And honestly I don't care about any of that. It's the half-baked gameplay mechanics, even with the subsequent patches to make difficulty and gameplay simpler, that I take issue with.