Having sampled Wolfenstein: Youngblood across all platforms now, it's fair to say that technologically speaking at least, Machine Games' latest is very a side-step from its excellent work in Wolfenstein: The New Colossus. There's the sense that the id Tech 6 feature set hasn't evolved beyond the additional enhancements to the engine found in TNC and that this time around, Innovation comes from gameplay, with cooperative play the key new mechanic, paired with more thoughtful level design likely due to the influence of co-developer Arkane Studios.

Youngblood launched at the tail-end of last week with little to no fanfare, which is surprising as this is a full-blooded multiplatform roll-out with considerable resources and talent put behind it. Not only do we get PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 releases, but Switch received a day and date release too with Austin-based developer Panic Button once again at the conn. The turnout for the game across consoles is diverse and although genuine surprises are limited, performance isn't quite the same as it was on the last Wolfenstein release.

The PC version is the easiest to cover in that if you're au fait with The New Colossus, you'll know exactly what to expect here. There are no pretensions of new engine technology, the options selections are entirely identical, performance is much the same - although with two players in the same scene pushing out effects-heavy pyrotechnics, you can see some additional GPU load. The bottom line is that technologically speaking, it's more of the same - you're simply getting a bunch of new levels with a different design ethos, with the added benefit of cooperative play.

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Nintendo Switch exclusive Fire Emblem: Three Houses has topped the UK charts during its first week of release, beating Wolfenstein: Youngblood into second place.

Fire Emblem sold more than double the physical copies on Nintendo Switch than the Wolfenstein spin-off shifted across PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One.

Three Houses is the franchise's biggest release for a very long time - as far as our records go back. It sold a decent amount more than the combined launch sales of Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest/Birthright for 3DS, as well as those for previous 3DS entry Fire Emblem: Awakening. It sold around 15 times more than Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn did on Wii.

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Rather suitably for a game that features a hefty amount of flamethrowers, I recorded this week's episode of Ian's VR Corner on the hottest day of the year so far.

While the incredible heat of my office did compliment the nazi toasting action of Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot somewhat, I do wonder to what extent this unusually hot weather will have affected its first week of sales. As you'll be able to see in the video below, playing VR in a 40 C room is definitely not the most comfortable of experiences. I mean, who knew it was possible to sweat from your eyelids?

Cyberpilot is a spin-off of MachineGames' recent Wolfenstein titles, but you won't find yourself inhabiting the virtual shoes of any of the Blazkowicz clan. Instead you play as a nameless hacker who, thanks to some friendly resistance fighters, is able to control an assortment of nazi mechs from within the safety of a virtual cockpit.

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Green Man Gaming has launched a new promotion that allows you to save 20 per cent on a selection of new and upcoming game releases.

Probably the most exciting of the bunch is a chance to get Wolfenstein: Youngblood for 19.99. All you need to do is use the code 'NEW20' at the checkout.

The co-operative shooter takes place almost two decades after the rather brilliant New Colossus and follows BJ Blazckowicz's twin daughters as they attempt to take down the Nazi regime. It's scheduled for release on 25th July.

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It's fitting that a game about cooperation is itself the result of two studios collaborating. MachineGames have brought in the lauded Arkane Studios to assist on this new entry in the Wolfenstein series and their fingerprints are all over it. For better and for worse.

I got to play through the first two levels of Youngblood and there's a lot to take in with just that initial hour or two. It centres not on brooding BJ but his daughters, out on a mission to Paris to find him after he goes missing. I had some fears that the shifts in design would lead to the story, the previous two games' main strength, taking a back seat but senior game designer Andreas jerfors assures me otherwise. "I think there's quite a lot of story content, but it's probably told in a slightly different fashion," he explains. "Because we want to give more room for two players to interact and tell their own story."

Andreas is referring to the game's shift to a hub-based world where players can launch missions though the game's "metro system", primary and secondary, from the resistance HQ in the catacombs of Paris, to various different districts which can also be visited outside missions too.

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Wolfenstein: Youngblood executive producer Jerk Gustafsson has confirmed the upcoming game will have "open-ended" levels that players can complete in a variety of ways.

Gustafsson said that collaborating with Dishonored and Prey developer Arkane Studios has given MachineGames the opportunity to explore "open-ended structure" in a way that's "quite different from what [it has] done before". While the campaign will be "lighter" in both tone and length, the play-your-way mechanics means "the amount of gameplay time is greater".

"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," Gustafsson said, talking to Official PlayStation Magazine this month (thanks, GamingBolt).

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