Living in 2020 is pretty wild at times. Rural Victoria recently had the spotlight shone on it when some residents complained about a neighbour flying a Nazi flag. But there have been numerous instances of Neo-Nazi activity in recent memory including a rally at St Kilda Beach, the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and a push to recruit disgruntled white males into an underground far-right group.
Video games largely shy away from depicting the real world and instead focus on fantasy, science fiction, the past and the future. Some games famously look at the past and retell versions of it. Games like Wolfenstein.
In 2017, Bethesda was forced to defend itself for using Nazis as the enemies in Wolfenstein: The New Colossus. Pete Hines said;
It’s disturbing that the game can be considered a controversial political statement at all.
At the time none of us expected that the game would be seen as a comment on current issues, but here we are. We make games that we think are fun, meaningful, and immersive for a mature audience.
In Wolfenstein’s case, it’s pure coincidence that Nazis are marching in the streets of America this year.
With Zombie Army 4 right around the corner, I wanted to ask Rebellion’s Vicky Boyce if she thought that game had a political message.
Zombie Army 4
When it comes to killing Nazis, Boyce said, “It’s not something we’ve been too concerned about.
“We’ve seen in the past that people have enjoyed shooting Nazis and Nazi Zombies and we just thought, ‘Let’s carry on.'”
She added that Rebellion hasn’t had any problems in the past with using Nazis or Nazi Zombies as enemies and she doesn’t believe that Zombie Army 4 is politically motivated. Boyce also told me that shooting Nazis isn’t really a political statement in 2020.
Or at least it shouldn’t be.
Zombie Army 4 is coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One on February 4, 2020.
