Video games have had a long history of alternative impressions of historical fiction with regards to the fall of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II. Much like Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, video games have long envisioned a rollicking, ultra-violent telling of the tale where Nazis are taken down in droves. A course correction on the daunting, evil death toll created by them during The Holocaust and that transpired in the many battles that ensued before the Nazi defeat. The classic Wolfenstein 3D and in modern generations Wolfenstein: The New Order and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus are centered on the narrative of a Nazi worldwide takeover and the effort to wrest them from control of the globe. Call of Duty and BloodRayne also had their own takes on putting players in a position to have a direct showdown with Nazi soldiers. We got to sit with a new take on mowing down Nazi soldiers in Nekome: Nazi Hunter.

Nekome is the Yiddish word for revenge, and that pretty perfectly fits the template of this game. You play as Vano Nastasu, an orphaned young man who had both his birth parents and his adopted father in New York City killed by Nazi soldiers. After a brief vignette where Vano takes out a ballroom of Nazi leaders somewhere in Germany, our demo was centered immediately after the death of his adopted father, right as Vano essentially goes on a rampage and murders every Nazi he can find close by in New York City. Our slice of this demo focused on punching, kicking and slashing via knife any opponent Vano encountered.

You can have an easier time stealthing in and painstakingly taking out the foes or just go mad melee and Batman: Arkham City-style take on a whole crew at once. The mechanics are well dialed in, and Vano has a variety of impressive kill combinations, yet even though the game aims for a colorful, Spaghetti Western-style of blood drenched violence, this one hits in an unusual way. There was no lack of crazy violent games in our weekend of Summer Game Fest Play Days, but somehow even this lighter design touch and the gleeful carnage of it all landed darker than stories about infected zombies, dungeons filled with monsters and giant alien terrors. There’s something almost unnervingly personal about seeing someone cut to ribbons face-to-face with a sharp knife. That fury and anger is immensely evident in a belligerent quest to bring vengeance to heinous opponents, and even though righteous in pursuit, this one may land differently depending on the player.