Mafia III

Did You Know?

• The game's map is made up of ten districts: Bayou Fantom, Delray Hollow, Barclay Mills, Frisco Fields, Pointe Verdun, Tickfaw Harbor, Southdowns, River Row, Downtown, and the French Ward.
• Players can call for allies who arrive in a van to assist them during missions.
• Early concepts for a Mafia IV set in 1970s Las Vegas were explored but did not last.

Synopsis

Set nearly two decades after its predecessor, Mafia III takes place in the fictional U.S. city of New Bordeaux during the late 1960s. The city is composed of island districts, industrial complexes, ports, high-rise buildings, slums, suburban housing, and historical districts, interconnected by railroads and roads, with a large swampland separating it from the coast. New Bordeaux is home to African Americans, Irish, Italians, and Haitians, and is mostly controlled by the Marcano crime family alongside smaller groups like the Irish Mob, the Haitian Mob, the Black Mob, and the Southern Union. In 1968, Vietnam veteran Lincoln Clay returns home and reunites with his surrogate father Sammy Robinson, his adoptive brother Ellis, and his friend Father James Ballard. Lincoln agrees to help Sammy, who is indebted to mob boss Sal Marcano. After ending a conflict with the Haitian Mob, Lincoln and Ellis are recruited by Marcano to help his son Giorgi rob the Federal Reserve during Mardi Gras. The group carries out the heist, but the Marcanos betray them, killing Sammy, Ellis, and Danny Burke, and setting Sammy's bar on fire. Lincoln is shot but rescued by Father James.

Development

The game was first rumored in August 2011. In November 2012, 2K Czech announced work on a top-secret AAA game, but the studio was restructured in January 2014, with resources moved to a new headquarters in Novato, California. Hangar 13 was established by 2K Games in Novato that year. Rod Fergusson initially led the studio but left due to creative differences, and Haden Blackman, formerly of LucasArts, took over as lead. The game uses the Fusion Engine, an updated version of the Illusion Engine from Mafia II, along with the graphics software Simplygon. The team decided to set the game in 1968 New Orleans, using old photographs to recreate the world. They aimed to move away from stereotypical Italian mafia scenarios and represent different gang-related crime. Licensed music from the sixties was chosen to set the tone. Rapper Ice Cube collaborated with producer DJ Shadow on the promotional song "Nobody Wants to Die."

Release

Mafia III was officially teased by 2K on July 28, 2015, and formally revealed at Gamescom 2015. It was released on October 7, 2016, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Pre-orders included the "Family Kick-Back Pack" DLC with new weapons and vehicles. Limited Deluxe and Collector's Editions were also available. A mobile game, Mafia III: Rivals, developed by Cat Daddy Games, was released for Android and iOS. A free demo launched on March 28, 2017, the same day as the first DLC pack. Three story-based DLCs were released, each adding new locations, vehicle upgrades, weapons, and gameplay mechanics. The first DLC, Faster, Baby!, added the town of Sinclair Parish and focused on helping civil rights activist Charles Laveau and his daughter Roxy retrieve evidence against racist sheriff Walter Beaumont.

Reception

Mafia III received mixed or average reviews from critics according to Metacritic. Critics praised the story, characters, darker themes, and soundtrack, but criticized repetitive gameplay and technical issues. Alex Donaldson of VG247 wrote that the game had one of the year's best stories and an amazing soundtrack, but suffered from by-the-numbers mission design and dubious performance. Sam White of The Guardian gave it 2/5 stars, stating the writing and acting were superb but the mechanical underpinnings were archaic. Marty Sliva of IGN scored it 7.5/10, noting strong characters and storytelling but bog-standard open-world action. Brian Mazique of Forbes gave it 8.1/10, recommending it for those who enjoy character studies. The game was the second best-selling retail game in the UK in its release week, behind FIFA 17, and sold 58.7% more than Mafia II in the UK. It debuted at number 9 in Japan with 15,838 copies. Take-Two Interactive announced 4.5 million copies shipped in the first week, a 2K Games record, and 5 million by February 2017. By March 2020, sales exceeded 7 million copies. The PC version initially had a 30 FPS cap, later patched.