After confirming its existence just last week, publisher 2K Games has unveiled our first look at Mafia III, which brings organized crime and the franchise’s “immersive sense of time and place” to the underbelly of New Orleans.
In development at Hanger 13, Mafia III takes place in 1968, where one Lincoln Clay has his family butchered by the Italian mob. As a Vietnam veteran, Clay is a ruthless protagonist, and the reveal trailer above underlines his damaged, slightly unhinged psyche – set against the indelible tones of House of the Rising Sun.
Here’s 2K’s official description of your new favorite gangster.
Orphaned as a child, Lincoln at last achieves a semblance of family with the city’s black mob, finding the surrogate father and brother he has longed for. But when Lincoln’s new family is betrayed and slaughtered by the Italian mob, he becomes fixated on revenge and wages a brutal war against the Italians, disrupting the balance of power in the seedy underworld of New Orleans. As the story progresses, Lincoln allies himself with other criminals and builds an empire and a new family of his own that transforms the city.
Keeping it in the family, it’s clear that Mafia III will have players attempt to establish a criminal empire of their own in the Big Easy, a rise to power that will involve partnering with like-minded criminals. Expect double crossing and back-stabbing aplenty when the threequel launches at some point next year.
Now that the game is finally out in the open, 2K Games is set to bring Mafia III to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2016. For now, let us know your early impressions of the tone and late ’60s setting in the comments.