Vlambeer Addresses Concerns over Nazi Pilots in Luftrausers

Indie game outfit Vlambeer took some criticism over the weekend for the aesthetics in its recently released arcade shooter, Luftrausers. The game seems to imply that players are controlling Nazi pilots and aircraft with aesthetics largely evocative of the German Luftwaffe during the era.

(Disclaimer: I personally brought the issue to Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail’s attention on Twitter. [link])

Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail has since addressed the issue on the company’s official blog.

Ismail says that the team at Vlambeer did not intentionally place players into the role of a Nazi pilot, and that the game itself takes place “in an alternative reality in the 10 to 15 years after the Second World War.”

The inspiration for the setting comes from the 80-year period "in which military intelligence was capable of determining whether an opposing military force was working on secret weapons, but not quite what those weapons were.”

"The player is part of an undefined enemy force that was not on 'our' side during the six or seven decades in which military intelligence was effectively telling us to prepare for a laser-equipped hoverboat assault," he continued.

Ismail added that he and studio partner Jan Willem Nijman are both natives to the Netherlands, which was invaded by the Nazis in 1940, and concluded his statement with an apology “to anybody who, through our game, is reminded of the cruelties that occurred during the war.”