These video games kill fascists

Listen, I’m all about staying abreast of current events — but watching the fascist, white, cis, hetero patriarchy put boots on the necks of anyone they want to gets old fast. Sometimes, engaging in civil discourse in the marketplace of ideas falls short, and you just need to unleash some unbridled rage on some fools. If you feel like dismantling the systems of oppression with wanton destruction, these games provide that sweet feeling you get from bringing the ruling class down a peg.

While the evergreen violence of the Wolfenstein franchise is a natural starting point, we know that fascism doesn’t always wear a uniform tailored by Hugo Boss. Regardless of the motivations of the overarching antagonists, our recommended titles all feature enemies that are just following orders responsible for upholding corrupt systems or institutions. So you don’t have to feel bad about sending any of these suckers to an early grave. Go ahead, give your empathy the day off and become the Blazko that you wicz to see in the world.

Where you see a world run by Nazis, B.J. Blazkowicz sees a target-rich environment. The entirety of the Wolfenstein franchise, but specifically MachineGames’ Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, are all about streamlining the fascist-to-dog-food pipeline. And thanks to current events, it’s never been easier to identify with a motley crew of weirdos hell-bent on toppling a fascist regime. While these games are usually about new and creative ways to send goose-stepping morons to an early grave, both The New Order and The New Colossus still serve up plenty of poignant story beats to remind you what you’re fighting for. —Alice Jovanée

Fallout: New Vegas begins with the protagonist betrayed, bound, and shot in the head. Being pulled out of a shallow grave is just the start of their revenge quest, and tracking down the gunman is just the start. Playing a pacifist is possible, but tough, especially when confronted with the brutal expansionism of Caesar’s Legion or the machinations of Mr. House and the Vegas Strip.

Your first introduction to Caesar’s Legion is probably the Lottery, a mass slaughter on an unassuming town with just one deeply traumatized survivor. You can confront the perpetrators in an optional, tough boss fight — and I always do. Every time I play New Vegas, I raze the Legion from the Mojave, enjoying every time a head pops off or a guy gets turned into giblets. New Vegas confronts you with some of the worst indignities man can inflict on man, but then the game gives you a shotgun. The narrative built around each faction and the final choice makes playing as the Courier so satisfying, especially when you’re pulling a big risk by assassinating Caesar in his camp or, with one pivotal choice with Mr. House, literally eating the rich. —Cass Marshall

The fight-the-power theming applies just as much to the original version of FF7, but not everyone has the patience for ’90s-era RPGs. (If you do, the Nintendo Switch port of the 1997 classic is pretty decent.) There’s a reason why so many people quote the character Barret from this video game when he says, “The planet’s dyin’, Cloud.” It’s not just a throwaway line; it’s the point of the whole game, and it becomes not just Barret’s motivation but everyone else’s, too — even the skeptical and emotionally distant Cloud. This is a game in which the ecoterrorists are the heroes, and they must fight against an evil, authoritarian corporation that’s sucking the planet dry to satisfy the myopic purposes of its immoral higher-ups. It’s cathartic as hell, and it still holds up after all these years — which is why Remake (and its sequel, Rebirth) have been so popular in the modern day. —Maddy Myers

Quite possibly the most satisfying action game of the previous decade, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance gives players control of the cyborg Raiden in a hardcore action game that’s all about slicing his enemies to bits. It certainly helps that the people you purée with Raiden’s superpowered katana are members of a private military corporation bent on destabilizing the world to fuel the military-industrial complex in the name of endless war and profiteering.

But the most satisfying death and destruction you’ll deal in Revengeance is against the corrupt government official Senator Armstrong. In the game’s ultimate battle, a grueling 30-minute showdown between Raiden, the giant Metal Gear Excelsus machine, and the nanomachine-powered Armstrong, you’re subjected to his make-America-great-again doublespeak, in which he pledges to fuel the war of all wars so he “can end war as a business.”

If you’ve ever wanted to slay a greedy, toxic politician with confused, libertarian, dipshit ideals — and do it as a cybernetically enhanced child soldier who rightly points out that millions will suffer under Armstrong’s plan — play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It’s cathartic in a way that calling your local elected official rarely is. —Michael McWhertor

This is more a game about fighting zombies and doing cool parkour stunts as opposed to facing off against fascists, but I did take great personal pride in refusing to join up with the Peacekeepers, the cop-like faction in the game. You only have two choices — Peacekeepers or Survivors — and they both have advantages and disadvantages. The story of this game isn’t really deep enough to bother providing you with much motivation either way, so most players will be looking at the mechanical advantages to each side. It’s true that if you join the Peacekeepers you do get a crossbow, but is that really worth selling your soul? I’d say not. —M. Myers

There are precious few games where the endgame boss is your actual boss. Hardspace: Shipbreaker not only nails the “Working Joe in space” vibe, it accurately depicts the struggles associated with forming a union. As an indentured employee of the dystopian Lynx corporation, your body is literally company property. You spend endless shifts breaking down spaceships for parts as you and your fellow employees realize that collective action is the only way to free yourselves from the shackles of debt. Methodically stripping ships for parts can be fulfilling, but nothing satisfies quite like telling your boss where to stick their performance review. —AJ

This lengthy RPG isn’t so much about fighting the power as realizing that everything is a lot more complicated than you thought it was, so it’s not exactly the cathartic, Nazi-punching experience that, say, Wolfenstein might provide. And yet this game is very much about fighting against bigots, of which there are many in this fantasy world. You have to do your fighting in a literal combat sense, of course, but you also get opportunities to fight with words as well and convince people they’re wrong, which… let’s all admit, that’s also an enjoyable fantasy, eh? —M. Myers