Gaming | With whip and fist

In psychology, sublimation refers to the realization of unacceptable or difficult-to-realize desires and needs. Want to beat up Nazis? In a new video game, it's mandatory: "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle" has a whole bunch of black eyes waiting for Aryan master races.

The action-adventure from Swedish developers Machine Games writes a new chapter in the "Indiana Jones" epic. Perhaps the most famous grave robber in 1980s pop culture was created by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for 1980s cinema, which then spawned a video game series. In the latest installment, "Indy" must follow the trail of a stolen cat mummy. In the Vatican, the Egyptian pyramids, the Himalayas, Shanghai during the Japanese invasion, and the Ziggurat of Ur, he must contend with countless Nazi henchmen – with both whip and fist. The game takes 15 to 20 hours of total gameplay. Fans and critics alike are unanimously enthusiastic.

Those who prefer a more delicate approach can turn to "The Darkest Files." In March, the Berlin-based company Paintbucket Games released a detective drama set in 1950s West Germany. Players assume the role of a young public prosecutor working for the Hessian Attorney General, Fritz Bauer , a famous anti-fascist. Through clever research and combination of facts, the goal is to bring the crimes of the Nazi era to justice. In this puzzle adventure, destroyed evidence must be reconstructed and potential perpetrators interrogated in order to ultimately break the leaden silence of post-fascist society. The reviews on the Steam distribution platform are extremely positive at 93 percent, but unfortunately, there is no German voice-over yet. However, the text version is available in German. The game's developer, Jörg Friedrich, who also teaches game and narrative design at the Technical Art Academy Berlin, explained this to the trade magazine "Gamestar" by saying that the majority of buyers do not come from Germany.

Nevertheless, with "Commandos: Origins," a classic from anti-fascist video game history is returning to screens after more than 17 years. The real-time tactics series "Commandos" also serves a genre that is barely represented in the mass market anymore. But the Darmstadt-based development team at Claymore Game Studio has dared to create a new edition. The game offers ten missions in which six members of an Allied special unit fight against the Nazis. Whether sabotage, ambushes, infiltration, or a delicate rescue operation, the task is to use the different skills of the team members tactically and judiciously. The respective tasks can be implemented variably, depending on who is assigned to carry them out: engineer, sniper, or spy. The areas of operation extend across almost all theaters of the Second World War: from Africa to the Soviet Union.

Many buyers criticize the game's bugginess, especially in multiplayer mode. Nevertheless, reviews on Steam are largely positive. Perhaps out of nostalgia, but perhaps also because the game satisfies a very specific need: the liberation of the world from National Socialism.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, €69.99 (Machine Games); The Darkest Files, €19.99 (Paintbucket Games); Commandos: Origin, €49.99 (Claymore Game Studios)