Mafia III

It is 1968 and New Bordeaux, a fictional stand-in for New Orleans, is a city of jazz, corruption, and deep racial divides. You step into the shoes of Lincoln Clay, a biracial Vietnam veteran who returns home to find his adoptive family, the black mob led by Sammy Robinson, caught in a deadly power struggle. After a heist on the Federal Reserve goes sideways, Don Sal Marcano betrays and murders the Robinsons, leaving Lincoln for dead with a bullet in his head. He survives, and from that moment, the game becomes a bloody, methodical campaign of revenge.

Hangar 13, a studio founded by former LucasArts creative director Haden Blackman, built the game on a heavily modified version of the Illusion Engine, the same tech that powered Mafia II. The result is a richly detailed open world split into ten districts, each controlled by a different criminal faction. To take over a district, you dismantle its rackets, assassinate lieutenants, and destroy property. Once a district is yours, you assign it to one of your three underbosses, each granting a unique bonus. Cassandra, a voodoo priestess, gives you a cut of the district's income. Burke, an Irish mobster, provides vehicle drops. Vito Scaletta, the protagonist of Mafia II, sends backup in firefights. The choices you make about who gets what territory directly influence the ending.

Combat offers flexibility. You can go in loud with shotguns and assault rifles, using a cover system to survive firefights, or you can stick to the shadows, using Lincoln's whistle to lure enemies into melee takedowns. Driving is a huge part of the experience, with over 50 period-authentic cars like the 1964 Chevrolet Impala and the 1969 Dodge Charger. The radio stations are a highlight, featuring more than 100 licensed tracks from artists like Aretha Franklin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The Rolling Stones. The game launched on October 7, 2016, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It sold over seven million copies by 2020, making it the fastest-selling game in 2K's history at the time. A Definitive Edition, which includes all three story DLCs, came out on May 19, 2020, and the game was later bundled in the Mafia: Trilogy collection.[edit]

The core loop of Mafia III is about building a criminal empire from the ground up. You start with nothing but a burning need for revenge, and you slowly take over New Bordeaux by systematically dismantling the Marcano crime family's operations. Each of the ten districts has a set of rackets, which are side activities like smuggling rings, gambling dens, and prostitution houses. You can approach these missions in any order. The game tracks your progress with a percentage bar for each district. Once you have cleared enough rackets, a district boss mission unlocks. Kill the boss, and the district is yours.

Lincoln has a few unique tools. The Whistle lets you lure enemies into ambushes, which is great for stealth runs. The Focus ability highlights enemies and objectives, making it easier to plan your approach. You can also call in favors from your underbosses. For example, Burke can drop off a vehicle at your location, and Vito can send thugs to help in a fight. The game encourages you to switch between stealth and guns-blazing tactics. The cover system is solid, though the AI can be predictable. Driving feels weighty and realistic, with cars handling differently based on their make and model. The bayou area, introduced in the Faster, Baby! DLC, adds off-road driving and swamp boats.

One of the most praised features is the soundtrack. The radio plays songs from the 1960s, and the game dynamically changes the music based on your actions. Chase scenes get intense rock tracks, while cruising through the French Ward might bring up soulful ballads. The game also has a day-night cycle and dynamic weather, though these are more cosmetic than gameplay-changing. The Definitive Edition added HDR support and improved textures, making the world look even better. But the mission structure remains repetitive. You will find yourself doing similar tasks in each district, which can feel like a grind. Still, the variety in weaponry and the ability to choose your underboss keep things interesting.[edit]

Lincoln Clay returns from Vietnam to a hero's welcome, but the streets of New Bordeaux still treat him as a second-class citizen. His adoptive father, Sammy Robinson, runs a modest black mob, and Lincoln agrees to help with one last job: robbing the Federal Reserve with the help of the Italian mafia. The heist goes smoothly, but Don Sal Marcano has no intention of sharing. He murders Sammy and most of the crew in a brutal attack at a church, leaving Lincoln for dead with a bullet to the head. Lincoln survives, rescued by a priest, and spends weeks recovering. When he is back on his feet, he sets out to burn Marcano's empire to the ground.

Lincoln builds his own family from three unlikely allies. Cassandra is a Haitian voodoo priestess who controls the city's drug trade and wants revenge for Marcano's encroachment on her territory. Burke is an Irish mobster whose son was killed by Marcano's men. Vito Scaletta, the protagonist of Mafia II, is now a capo in the Marcano family but was betrayed by the Don and is looking for a way out. Each underboss has their own motivations and will betray you if you do not give them enough territory. The story is framed by a documentary interview in 1976, where Lincoln recounts his actions to a journalist named John Donovan, a CIA agent who also appears in the Stones Unturned DLC. This framing device adds a layer of historical reflection, as Lincoln looks back on the violence and its consequences.

The game has multiple endings, depending on how you distribute territory and whether you choose to kill or spare Marcano. In one ending, Lincoln takes over the city and becomes the new crime lord. In another, he walks away and leaves New Bordeaux behind. There is also an ending where his underbosses turn on him and kill him. The narrative is one of the strongest aspects of Mafia III, tackling themes of systemic racism, the cost of revenge, and the meaning of family. The voice acting, particularly from Alex Hernandez as Lincoln, is top-notch. The DLCs expand the story further. Faster, Baby! has Lincoln rescuing a civil rights activist from a corrupt sheriff in the bayou. Stones Unturned teams him with Donovan to hunt a Vietnamese war criminal. Sign of the Times involves a satanic cult and a mysterious drug called Mandrake.[edit]