Mafia III

The United States was founded on high ideals and untold bloodshed. From colonial genocide to chattel slavery to global hegemony, it’s always been a land of radical promise stalked by incredible cruelty. Mafia III occupies that deadly nexus in a couple of ways. Its anti-hero, Lincoln Clay, is a returning Vietnam veteran thrust into a war with the Italian mob. And its open-world systems revolve around fighting for control of territory and influence in a fictional version of 1960s New Orleans, the birthplace of the court case that legalized segregation. As the player you feel like you have the power to do almost anything in this world, while the game itself slowly dismantles those possibilities as you grind through one firefight after another.

Like most open-world shooters, it’s a game about violence, but unlike most open-world shooters, it situates that violence in a historical context that provides clear stakes and a more poignant catharsis. Lincoln’s quest for revenge is rooted in a criminal underworld that provides those denied equal participation in the American Dream with the opportunity to create their own outside of it. Mafia III’s sprawling world and janky systems just add to the chaos, eventually setting up Lincoln for a final showdown, pitting the man he wants to be against the one Louisiana would turn him into. It’s brutal and absurdly violent at times without being condescending about it, confident in the knowledge that even when violence is inescapable, it’s never all-defining.—Ethan Gach