The unveiling of the XBox One X . A new Metroid Prime game . The confirmation of a new Assassin’s Creed . This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo had plenty of newsworthy announcements to keep industry journalists busy. Perhaps the most controversial, especially if you like games with a political message, was the unveiling of Wolfenstein 2 during Bethseda’s presentation. Set in an alternative universe where the Nazis won World War Two, the game will take place in the occupied territories of the United States. Along with Nazis walking into diners to order milkshakes, the trailer depicts KKK members openly walking down the street in their white robes. More importantly, and perhaps most interestingly, the trailer depicts an underground resistance led by a woman of colour named Grace.

Wolfenstein 2 is the second game in about as many months to feature American villains (and rustle the right’s jimmies accordingly). In late May, Ubisoft’s unveiled its latest iteration in the Far Cry series . With an accompanying image depicting a cult draped in their own cross-covered version of the American flag and the word ‘Sinner’ carved into the back of one of their victims, it is clear that the game will take players into America’s own heart of darkness. Swapping Africa and the tropics for a particularly grim depiction of Montana, Ubisoft has made a bold choice in setting, one that was not appreciated by all denizens of the internet. Within hours, Ubisoft’s Twitter page was inundated (at the time of writing, the page had thousands of comments).

No Escape

More than the generation of any internet controversy, these recent game announcements around E3 may be significant for what they represent to the wider game industry. In a post-Trump world, AAA developers seem to be willing to embrace political themes (via games that see you shooting American Nazis in the face, no less). While political commentary in games is itself nothing new, with the exception of the Bioshock series and a few other notable titles, this traditionally has been considered the purview of independent developers.

There are a number of reasons as to why AAA developers (and players themselves) may be reluctant to explore political themes in their games. One of these is the assumption that games are apolitical. As a form of escapist entertainment, games offer a temporary reprieve from politics, or so this line of thought goes. As such, big releases, as the Forza series did recently, may explore a locale like Australia without considering the social and political dimensions of that place, a treatment that James O’Connor described as depicting “A better Australian than Australians deserve”.

No matter how much gaming may wish to retreat into the private spheres of players’ lives, devoid of political themes or context, the gaming industry itself is profoundly affected by the policies and actions of government. In the U.S, the industry has found itself facing possible pressures due to the cutting of arts funding . When it comes to more controversial territory, developers have expressed consternation over President Trump’s travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries, with the Entertainment Software Association cautiously criticising the order

Video game developers, then, are experiencing pressure due to the Trump administration’s policies, and are responding. Perhaps the most interesting aspect to this is AAA developers’ use of political themes in their work. Returning to the E3 unveiling of Wolfenstein 2, in a context where celebrating the punching of Nazis is the topic of a political meme, making a game whose protagonist fights them for America’s future is a statement in and of itself. MachineGames, the Swedish studio tasked with making Wolfenstein 2, made this clear in a variety of ways. Perhaps the clearest is the revelation that the game’s working title was ‘1000 Ways To Kill Nazis’.

The online response to the reveal trailer showed that a lot of people are on board with the concept, with some predictable responses from online neo Nazis.

Killing Nazis in an occupied America, then, is a theme that has currency and resonance. Timing has also been a crucial factor for a game set in an oppressive and brutal version of Montana. According to Far Cry 5’s creators, they have been sitting on this setting for some time. In an interview on Red Bull Games, Franchise Lead Don Hay explained that the idea for a U.S-based Far Cry developed shortly after the series’ third installment.

“So the concept of the ‘America’ we were building was baked a long time before we saw what’s happening in America today. And so what’s interesting is when I think back to the first moments of where the game came from... at the end of Far Cry 3, I don’t know that we knew what we had. And I think we should be honest about that: we built this really generous world that was super-cool, and then we started to think: what’s next? And we kept thinking what’s new and unique and cool and surprising? And the idea of going to America came up. And it’s something I felt passionate about; America is a great place to do this, but at the time it didn’t feel like it worked. You know, we just weren’t hearing ideas that made sense. So we shelved it.”

The U.S. setting, then, is one that the Far Cry team was previously lacking impetus to use, something that has changed in recent times. Hay defined this version of Montana as being a place where “people don’t wanna be messed with there, they want to be left alone and out of the prying eyes of the government.”

Joining The Resistance