Dev Hangar 13 has divulged some of the concepts that would heighten the next game in the Mafia series before settling with what would suit Mafia III.
Creative director Haden Blackman told the PlayStation Blog that Hangar 13 deliberately returning to Mafia II's Empire Bay, an imaginary city inspired by Chicago and New York. Hangar 13 also considering "a number of smaller areas rather than a single, more extensive city," Blackman said. Furthermore, the team considered holding the game start in 1952, not long after the happenings in Mafia II.
The other idea would have a told story of across the totality of the '60s. Ideas for the main character involved a "fixer" (someone who might manage any mafia problem), a dishonest police officer, and a low-level gangster who got in way over his head.
"Any of our early ideas would have likely ceded a solid hard-boiled felony drama with compelling gameplay, but we didn't feel that blending was quite right," Blackman said.
"We knew we needed a city that could be treated as the main character; we desired a city that was symbolic," he said. "A city that had a lot of logs to it, but also felt very different from Empire Bay."
New Orleans was perfect because it "checked off all those boxes," Blackman said.
Mafia III is set in 1968 and you play as Lincoln Clay, a cross-cultural Vietnam veterans; the game's story will tackle racism and that war.
In addition, a new Mafia III trailer was released today that discusses how Clay's under bosses work with him to help get vengeance on Sal Marcano. Watch it below.
Mafia III fires this Friday, October 7, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A spinoff for mobile devices also launches that day.
