ProbablyMonsters’ Nekome: Nazi Hunter was easily one of the favorites that I saw from GDC in March 2026. When I played the hands-on Alpha demo at Summer Game Fest, it was definitely shown to the public too early, but it still had promise. And that’s why I wanted to speak with Nekome: Nazi Hunter‘s developers at GamesCom 2026 in Cologne. Only, it didn’t go as planned.
During GamesCom 2026, we spoke with Kay Willis, Senior Producer on Nekome: Nazi Hunter, about the game’s inspirations, its approach to storytelling, the intimacy of violence—oh, and how, despite the catharsis it brings people, it’s still not trying to send a political message. Yeah, you read that correctly.
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Throughout my conversation with Willis, the game’s focus was clear. Deeply inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Nekome: Nazi Hunter places players into the role of Vano, a Romani man whose entire family has been murdered by the Nazis.
Nekome: Nazi Hunters is in development, and it’s bringing action cinema to games.
“The idea was formed around watching Inglourious Basterds, and that kind of then spurred on the idea of a Nazi hunting game, and it’s evolved from there. So we’ve taken a lot of inspiration from things like that, too. It’s interesting that you mentioned John Wick, but we’re more looking at like Nobody,” Willis noted, with Nobody’s writer-director Derek Kolstad having been the writer on John Wick. “That one’s been really great for that environmental mentality and that unapologetic kind of anger just bursting out,” she finished.
Nekome: Nazi Hunter isn’t trying to replicate anything, but it wears its inspirations on its sleeve. It picks up on the storytelling and violence that made films like Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Jalmari Helander’s Sisu hits with audiences. And much like Inglourious Basterds, it isn’t just the violence that is the important part of Nekome: Nazi Hunter; it’s the backstory. It’s why these characters are hunting Nazis; it’s why they’re seeking revenge.
Willis explained, “We were very keen to make sure that our main protagonists had that backstory, and when we onboarded the narrative team into the concept phase of this project, there were suggestions around having him be Romani, which was one of the first persecuted and absolutely terrorized groups in the 1930s and 40s by the Nazi Party.”
In the game, you play as Vano, a Romani man whose entire family has been killed by the Nazis, and in that way, Nekome: Nazi Hunter puts a spotlight on a group often forgotten in conversations about World War II. As Vano, players turn the “hunter into the hunted” and claim their revenge.
On a path of revenge, his story unfolds across North Africa and Europe as he hunts down Nazi leaders, physically destroys Hitler’s propaganda (and action that is very satisfying in the game), and aims to leave a pile of humiliated or murdered Nazis in his wake.
When asked what one small detail she loved in Nekome: Nazi Hunter, Kay Willis answered: “The knife. The knife is a key character within this game.” In the game, Vano uses a knife to kill his enemies. You can use firearms you find throughout the world, but at the same time, they come with downsides. They have very limited ammo, often misfire, and alert everyone to your location. Instead, the violence and action in Nekome is all about the intimacy of vengeance.
Vengeance is at the heart of Nekome: Nazi Hunter.
Willis referenced a social media post that ProbablyMonsters had shared about the game’s gunplay. She said, quoting the game’s Lead Designer, “You don’t see a Nazi soul leave his body with a gun because you’re not close enough. So I’m misquoting him all over the place now, but I would say like it’s that personal touch, and when you understand the true backstory of what Vano is, you’ll understand why he wants [it] to be so personal.”
That personal element is what grounds Nekome: Nazi Hunters. It’s what gives the game its cathartic edge in a current time of rising fascist policies and movements across the globe. That personal piece of Vano’s story translates well to the frustration many, including myself, feel as we see growing DHS ads using Neo-Nazi slogans.
Outside of just Nazi hunting, the game also allows players to burn and desecrate Nazi propaganda throughout the environment. On that element, Willis explained, “It was a really good mechanic that developed naturally with the creation of this game of being able to destroy that symbolism and that use of catharsis—I’ve heard that over and over this week, which is great. You know, just that ability to [give people catharsis]. I think it’s very powerful being able to have those symbols in there that the player can destroy.”
Even with this direct interaction with destroying Nazi symbolism, killing Nazis, and seeking revenge for a marginalized and terrorized ethnic minority in Nazi Germany, politics isn’t something that Willis believes the game is doing.
On the topic of catharsis, I offered Willis my own connection with the game. When I saw the game at GDC in March and subsequently played it at SGF in June, it started to offer a pathway for catharsis. As a Latina in the United States, as someone watching her community be targeted, kidnapped off the streets only to be murdered in detention or disappeared, the game offers a stance.
One that showcases that even today, when it all feels difficult to see a path forward, the world isn’t a kind place to Nazis, nor should it be. Vano’s story, unfortunately, isn’t a relic of history; it’s still being experienced. Vano’s story in and of itself is a political statement, especially as Neo-Nazis and their sympathizers rise to power.
But Kay Willis’ responses took me off guard. To her, ProbablyMonsters isn’t making a political game with Nekome: Nazi Hunter. In response to the cathartic release that Nekome offers, and my story, Willis responded, “There’s something really interesting about the psychology behind cathartic games and things like that. Now, we’re not making a political game or anything.”
She continued, “We’re making a statement here, but it’s that gaming to escape, right? Gaming is for catharsis, and if you’re gaming for that sort of frustration outlet, or whatever it is, there’s loads of reasons to game. And I think that’s what’s powerful is that, no matter what’s going on in your life, there is a game out there for you that you can go: This is going to suit me in this moment. And if this game brings somebody catharsis for whatever reason it is, then that’s wonderful.”
Nekome: Nazi Hunter developers assert that the game isn’t political.
As the interview ended, I noted that J.R.R. Tolkien saw escapism as necessary and real for exploring the world’s problems. We can escape our current circumstances by leaning on fiction, but that doesn’t mean that escapism is devoid of the context of the world that we’re escaping.
While I noted that Willis and the interaction made me think back to his stance, something felt awkward about it. And it is that, to look at a Nazi-hunting game in any era, there is a political statement backed into it. And to make a Nazi-hunting game within today’s climate as anything other than tapping into the politics of the moment seems misguided.
This assertion feels disingenuous when you also take a look at the lead trailer on the game’s Steam page. Historically, we all know how much Nazi Germany looked to put its tendrils into American politics and culture. And the trailer uses that, with the character on screen praising Hitler’s Hyenas and calling Americans to join Germany and the Nazi Party with an American flag at his back. To use the loaded imagery in this current moment and then to assert no political message, well, that’s a choice.
All of this raises the question: Can a game where you hunt Nazis as you seek vengeance for your family being murdered by the state and burn their propaganda at every turn truly not have a political message? ProbablyMonsters has shared their perspective, and when the game releases, audiences will have the chance to make theirs. For me, an apolitical Nazi hunting game is devoid of backbone, and that’s something I’m not sure that more demos will cure.
Nekome: Nazi Hunter is set to release sometime in the first quarter of 2027.
