Wolfenstein has been around longer than I’ve been alive. What began as two innovative anti-Nazi stealth video games for the Apple II and Commodore 64 became id Software’s famous first-person anti-Nazi shooter. The game popularised the first-person shooter, giving rise to household names like Doom and Call of Duty. The latest iteration is released this week and, for the first time, some people are offended by its opposition to Nazis. How on earth have we got here?

Creators are increasingly crafting deeper, political stories, confronting issues of race, gender and sexuality in big budget games. Yet it’s hard to imagine anyone using Nazis as villains to intentionally make a political point. That’s not to downplay the importance of observing politics in art, but I find it hard to believe that id Software or MachineGames, or the original creator, Silas Warner, rubbed their hands in anticipation of upsetting white supremacists. Nazis are – or rather were – as bland a villain as demons or zombies when the first game came out.

There was nothing controversial about making Nazis bad guys – they’re the default. No one questioned who Indiana Jones was punching, and whether film should target some of the greatest villains in history.

But now we’ve witnessed the rise of white grievance across the world, dressing itself as political concern for injustice and “national security”. From Charlottesville and Trumpism in America to Le Pen in France, and other parties throughout Europe. They may not all be actual Nazis, but they march alongside men with swastikas, making Hitler salutes, echoing their chants. Many are more concerned at this perception of being labelled a Nazi than that actual Nazis feel invigorated to march in public.

And it’s in America that the latest game, The New Colossus, is set. In response to the US president, Wolfenstein’s marketing used his own words to market the game: “Make America Nazi Free Again”, “There is only one side”, “These are not ‘fine people’”, and so on. Many of his supporters have taken exception to this, decrying the notion that Nazis support the current occupant of the Oval Office. Unfortunately, the fact that white supremacists and actual Nazis support Trump and march openly in America doesn’t help their claims.

What’s more interesting is the lack of discomfort with actual Nazi-sympathising Americans in power, eroding freedom and targeting minorities. Attorney general Jeff Sessions, a man long accused of racism, has made actual policy out of the skewed morality of “racism against white people”. The president seems to spends his days targeting black women for pointing out his lies and hating black men for silently protesting about cops murdering their sons.

Steve Bannon, a man who provides a big, digital platform for the alt-right, was the president’s senior adviser. And to justify hating immigrants, White House policy adviser Stephen Miller denigrated the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty. The poem, by the way, by Emma Lazarus, is called “The New Colossus”, the name of the new Wolfenstein game. As if it could be any more on the nose.

Looking at the current state of things in America, is it any wonder, then, that Wolfenstein –a game about confronting and opposing Nazi mindsets – is discomforting for so many?

There have been calls for the game to “stay away from politics”. But the Nazis didn’t emerge from nowhere. They weren’t some tiny group no one listened to. They controlled a nation, attempted to conquer Europe and murdered millions. We feel their effects today. So even if for years it was simply a default to use Nazis as villains, it is vital we reinforce our opposition to them.

There is no room for complacency: you might think that, “of course you should oppose Nazis, that’s as obvious as breathing” – but as well-intentioned as that is, it could result in not actually doing anything.

As someone who’s been targeted by Nazis, I can tell you they don’t want people like me around and are active in campaigning and voting so that their views become policy around the world. A reminder: there’s an American Nazi party distinct from Donald Trump – they even have a Twitter account.

This is political. There’s no American Zombies party or Concerned Werewolf Citizens party. There aren’t reddit threads, websites and blogs dedicated to proliferating the Goblin King’s vision of the world (even though there should be). Nazis were real, are real and a stance on them, either way, is political. Telling Wolfenstein “not to be political” is asking them to stop being Wolfenstein.

While the franchise may have begun by thumbing its nose at Nazis because Nazis were easy and mostly dead, continuing to do so while the US president pats the heads of sympathisers is worth celebrating.

• Tauriq Moosa is a South African writer, focusing on ethics, justice, tech and pop culture