Mafia III

Mafia III is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective, in which the player assumes control of Lincoln Clay, a Vietnam War veteran on a quest to seek revenge for his adopted family, who are murdered by the local mob. The game is set in 1968 New Bordeaux, a re-imagined version of New Orleans, with the game world being larger than the Mafia and Mafia II maps combined. Mafia III'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. The player can complete objectives using a variety of approaches. For example, they can use the weapons provided in the game, like shotguns and revolvers, to eliminate enemies, or call for allies, who arrive in a van and assist them.

Alternatively, they can make use of stealth tactics throughout the entire mission without being noticed by enemies. The core gameplay revolves around gunplay. In addition, the player can also perform executing moves and engage in melee-combat. The game features a cover system, allowing them to take cover behind objects to avoid enemy gunfire or detection.

Set nearly two decades after its predecessor, Mafia III takes place during the late 1960s, within the fictional U.S. city of New Bordeaux. Situated within America's southern states and coastline, the city is composed of island districts, industrial complexes and ports, high-rise offices and apartments, slums, suburban housing, and historical districts, interconnected by railroads and an extensive road network, with a large swampland separating the city from the coast. The city consists of a mixture of cultures including African Americans, Irish, Italians and Haitians, and is mostly controlled by one Mafia crime family – the Marcano family – alongside smaller organizations like the Irish Mob, the Haitian Mob, the Black Mob, and the Southern Union, a group of white supremacists.

The city's design, including its architectural styles, cultures and lifestyles, were influenced by the real-life aspects of the southern United States during the time period, primarily the city of New Orleans. The game's story focuses primarily within this setting, while its downloadable content expands the setting with additional locations around New Bordeaux.

The game was first rumored in August 2011. In November 2012, 2K Czech, the developer of the original Mafia and Mafia II, announced that the company was working on a "top secret, AAA game". However, the company was later restructured on January 10, 2014, and the main studio in Prague was shuttered, with resources being allocated to a new headquarters in Novato, California. A new studio called Hangar 13 was established by 2K Games in Novato in the same year.

Rod Fergusson, who had just left 2K's Irrational Games after completing BioShock Infinite, had originally been in charge of Hangar 13, but later left as a result of creative differences with how he wanted to take the game. Instead, Haden Blackman, who had previously worked with LucasArts, was named as the lead to oversee the project.

Mafia III received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator platform Metacritic. Critics praised the story, characters, and darker themes, but criticized the repetitive gameplay and the presence of numerous technical issues.

Alex Donaldson of VG247 gave the game a mixed review, writing, "Mafia III features one of my [favorite] video game stories of the year, some gorgeous presentation, an amazing soundtrack and an interesting world. Sadly it also has by-the-numbers mission design and dubious performance." In his 2/5 star review, Sam White of The Guardian wrote, "To say Mafia III is a disappointment is an understatement. It has all of the surface components to form a great game: the writing and acting are superb, its direction and style are great, but its mechanical underpinnings are archaic and desperately unimaginative."

In 2017, development at Hangar 13 reportedly split into two groups, one focused on downloadable content for Mafia III, and one building the concepts for Mafia IV. Early ideas set the game in 1970s Las Vegas, with the "glitz and glamour of mob-controlled Sin City." Plans for Mafia IV did not last long as Hangar 13 chose to create their own original video game instead, though Hangar 13 reassured fans that they still owned the series and would not forget about it.

In August 2019, Take-Two Interactive, parent company of 2K and Hangar 13, registered three trademarks in relation to the Mafia franchise. Two of the trademarks were for "Mafia" and their respective text-based logos only differ in typography. The first one was identical to the font used for the first two installments in the franchise. The second one was different and without any description. The third trademark directly mentioned Mafia 2 and featured the same silhouette logo from 2010.