Mafia 3 E3 trailer is a tale of wrongdoing and revenge

The E3 trailer for Mafia 3 has a little bit of everything: shooting, driving, fighting, chopping off a man's digits, and spectacular music from Delta Rae. It sets the table for Vietnam veteran Lincoln Clay's war of revenge against the Marcano family in New Orleans—whoops, sorry, I mean New Bordeaux—and while we don't see much in the way of gameplay, I'll say this: I'm a lot more interested in Mafia 3 now than I was yesterday. 

Maybe the most interesting part of the trailer is the very brief flash of a Klan cross burning, with a Confederate flag hanging in the background. Lincoln Clay is African American, and Mafia 3 is set in the 60s, a tumultuous time to say the least. It's a risky subject for a videogame to take on, but the trailer at least implies that 2K isn't going to simply pretend that the racial strains of the era didn't happen. It will be very interesting to see how it ultimately confronts them, and how players react to it. 

Mafia 3 will be out on October 7. Find out more at mafiagame.com.
 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.