By Luke Reilly, game editor, IGN Australia
Two new faces in the charts this week as Nintendo’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Bethesda’s Wolfenstein: Youngblood pierce their way into the top 10 retail sellers in positions one and three respectively.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a turn-based, tactical role-playing game – so it’s niche gear that’s about as far from typical mainstream FIFA and Call of Duty fare as it gets – but the Fire Emblem series has been going since 1990 (and, although the series didn’t find its way out of Japan until 2003’s Fire Emblem for Game Boy Advance, that’s still plenty of time to amass a loyal fanbase). Top spot is a good showing for the Switch exclusive (the first Fire Emblem game for a home console in over a decade) but it probably won’t hover there for as long as Nintendo’s own first-party juggernauts tend to. It’s a quality game, though.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the second spin-off game in Bethesda and MachineGames’ acclaimed Wolfenstein series, which was established in 2014 after Activision’s Wolfenstein in 2009 proved unsuccessful. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is an entirely serviceable shooter and brings co-op to the Bethesda series for the first time, but it’s definitely a step down from The New Order, The New Colossus, and even previous spin-off The Old Blood. Co-developed with Dishonored and Prey developer Arkane, Wolfenstein: Youngblood has added an out-of-placeleveling system and a bunch of unwelcome always-online caveats to the previously pure and unfussy single-player FPS experience many loved about the previous Wolfenstein games. With a lukewarm and divided reception from critics and fans alike, Youngblood is unlikely to trouble the top 10 for long.
