There’s nothing quite as cathartic as laying the beat down on Nazis, but there are some games out there that get close to capturing the experience.
Sometimes, you just have to kill some Nazis. Thankfully, video games offer an outlet for this and have—for the most part—remembered them as the villains they are. In these troubled times, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at some of the games (both past and present) that let you cut loose on history’s biggest pieces of shit.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Might as well start off with a more recent release! Indiana Jones‘ greatest stories involved him fighting back against the Nazis, which is one of the reasons I was so excited to see them still be the focus in The Great Circle. On top of being a really fun story that allows you to make the Nazis look like absolute fools, the gameplay does a fantastic job of making you feel like the iconic adventurer.
Even better, it’s open world design and freedom to experiment means there are all sorts of creative ways to dispatch enemies. From sneaking up to push them off the top of dig-site scaffolding, to electrifying them in shallow water, yanking them off a ledge with your trusty whip, or getting to business with your own two fists. You can truly go wild with it, all while getting a fresh story that makes them look like the bitches they are.
Wolfenstein (All of Them)
Wolfenstein is the OG of Nazi killing games. Having helped spawn the beloved first-person shooter genre, Wolfenstein 3D new exactly what people wanted most out of their action/shooting games: oodles of Nazis to mow down. It’s a tactic that has kept the franchise going throughout the 90s/early 00s and its more recent revival managed to take things to another level.
Rather than sticking with the same World War II setting, The New Order and its subsequent DLC/sequel took full advantage of its alternate history setting. Taking place after the end of the war, where the Axis forces had won, iconic badass BJ Blazkowicz is given a whole new slate of Nazis to slaughter in the fast-paced shooter. Combine that with an engaging story that helps highlight how truly monstrous they were, these are some great games to revisit while we await the new game now in the works.
Company of Heroes
Real-Time Strategy games have long been among my favorite genres, and the first Company of Heroes game is one of the best out there. Bringing solid strategy and refined gameplay, it allowed players to truly feel like they were helping the Allied forces beat back the Nazis.
The top-down RTS aspect might lack the more visceral quality of handing out ass-whippings to Nazis like the other titles on this list, but it makes up for it in scale. Whether you’re taking out whole swathes of Nazi forces or crushing squads under the treads of a tank, there’s something fulfilling about knowing your wits and tactics are behind their demise.
Best of all, thanks to some remasters and even a Nintendo Switch version, it’s easier than ever to revisit this classic!
BloodRayne
Originally launched in 2002 for the PlayStation 2, BloodRayne not only gave players the chance to hunt down Nazis, but gave them a host of vampiric abilities to do it! As a human/vampires hybrid, players were tasked with tracking down and assassinating high-ranking officers in order to keep them from getting their hands on occult artifacts that could turn the tide of war. So it’s kinda like Indiana Jones, just a lot bloodier.
Despite being an older title there’s plenty of fun to be had in this action title. There’s a reason it has so many fans still and helped inspire other heroines like Bayonetta. Thanks to an enhanced “ReVamped” release a few years back, you can experience it for yourself on pretty much every system (even Switch) you could want. So feel free to drain those Nazis of their blood!
Sniper Elite (Franchise)
What other game allows you the opportunity to watch a slow-motion, x-ray view of Hitler taking a sniper round to the testicle? Or how about strategically lining up a bunch of Nazi soldiers and watching your high-powered rifle round tear through jaws, throats, and brains? It’s one of the many reasons the Sniper Elite franchise remains so beloved over the years with several mainline entries, spin-offs, and even VR outings.
The gameplay is a little more slower paced than typical shooters, but it’s tough to beat the satisfaction of watching the damage you inflict. The latest game arrived just last year with Sniper Elite: Resistance, which changes up the protagonist for once, while retaining the Nazi destruction.
There are plenty of other Nazi killing games out there, and honestly, it’s hard to go wrong with any of them. For this list, however, I wanted to stick with some that are easily playable today (sorry The Saboteur). If you find yourself in sudden need of hamstringing some Nazi shit-bags, be sure to grab one of these and go to town!
