Developer Hangar 13 has offered up new information off the back of today’s Mafia 3 unveiling, including the sequel’s estimated length and why settling on New Orleans was considered a “no-brainer.”
Word comes by way of GameSpot, where Studio Director Haden Blackman promised “hours and hours and hours of content,” though stopped short of quantifying that statement with a firm number.
“We’re not talking about the exact hours yet, I’m a completionist too,” Blackman told GameSpot. “It is hours and hours and hours of content. I hope that people are encouraged to replay and see things that they didn’t see before. Hopefully people go back and look for those little hidden gems.
Set against the New Orleans of the late ’60s, Mafia 3 follows a Vietnam war veteran known as Lincoln Clay, who returns on home soil only to find his beloved town in ruin — poisoned by the tentacles of the Italian mob.
Selecting the correct time period and city fast become a priority early on in development, according to Blackman. In a separate GameSpot piece, the executive gushed about the swinging ’60s in general not only for its music and style, but also how 1968 in particular was “such a tumultuous year in American history.”
For me, it was a no-brainer to pick New Orleans as our inspiration. The harder thing, I think, was narrowing down the year, because we could have set it at any time after Mafia II [Editor’s note: Mafia II was set in an era drawing from the 1940s/early 1950s]. I think 1968 really came from the personal note for… [laughs] Well, I looked at what music was out at that time, and said “we can’t have this track if it’s not in 1968 or beyond, right?” But just the fact that that’s the year my dad returned from Vietnam, that became the year that we really settled on. And then obviously it’s such a tumultuous year in American history, it was again kind of a no-brainer.
In light of today’s unveiling, Mafia 3 is on course to hit PS4 on October 7.
