Summary
Gamescon 2024 had some interesting reveals, but one of the biggest and most exciting surprises for many was the announcement ofMafia: The Old Country. This is a series that hasn’t received much attention since 2016’sMafia III, but now it finally has a new entry.Mafia: The Old Countrypromises something new and different. This one’s a prequel to the other games, and changes settings entirely. Where the original game dealt with the Italian Mafia in the US,The Old Countrychronicles the early days of the mob back when it was located in Italy. The decision to move out of America and offer a perspective not seen as often is definitely something that has the potential to make an interestingMafiagame. Unfortunately, fans eager to play this new adventure are going to have to wait.Mafia: The Old Countrydoesn’t even have a firm release date, beyond being expectedsometimethis year.
Luckily, players eager to dip their toes into the world of organized crime have options for similarly-themed games to play while waiting. Gangsters have been a staple of Hollywood since the days of James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson,and, naturally, they’ve found their way into a lot of video games. Players eager to jump into the shoes of the mob have plenty of options for things to try while waiting forMafia: The Old Country.
TheAssassin’s Creedseries is no stranger to crime, but it reaches a new level inSyndicate. This one follows the twins Jacob and Evie Frye as they navigate Victorian London, a setting known to have a high crime rate thanks to heavy class division. And it just so happens the Templar Grand Master is using a gang called the Blighters to further his agenda. So what can Jacob and Evie do to break his iron grip and free London? Why, start their own gang, of course! This becomes a large part ofSyndicate’s format, as much of the game centers around Jacob and Evie lessening the Blighter’s power over various London districts so they can move in with their gang, the Rooks. This one is admittedly closer toGangs of New YorkthanThe Godfather, but it still features plenty of gang-related action for players to partake in, even if it’s more likely to involve bludgeoning the Blighters with a cane than pumping them full of lead.
9City of Gangsters
The Less Exciting Side of Crime
Often when people think of the mafia, they tend to imagine the violence that comes with it. Usually, people imagine an Edward G. Robinson-type smoking a big cigar and emptying a Tommy gun into a former ally. This is the image we see a lot in movies and what often becomes the focus of video games, but it’s not all just shootouts and fine dining. At the end of the day, the mafia is a business and needs a capable boss to run it. This is what makesCity of Gangstersunique. It effectively makes the player the Godfather, and foregoes the usual violence in favor of tasking the player with building up and managing a prohibition-era gang. That means generating revenue, overseeing production and distribution, employing staff, and setting up places to sell booze. And since this is prohibition and everything going on is totally illegal, it also means having to find ways to keep the authorities off their back. It turns out that being the Don isn’t as glamorous as it looks.
TheMafiaseries takes a lot of inspiration from iconic gangster movies, so what if there was a way players could explore one of the films that inspired it, but as a game? Well, turns out there is.The Godfather, easily one of the most iconic gangster movies and a huge influence on theMafiaseries, has its own video games. The 2006 adaptation and its sequel casts players as an original mobster whose story intertwines with the movies.
Developer Redwood Shores went as far as to get several of the original actors to reprise their roles from the films. They even managed toalmostget Marlon Brando to return as Vito Corleone, and only failed because his poor health made the audio unusable, not that it stopped his iconic character from returning in digital form. This one may show its age now, but at the time, seeingThe Godfatherreturn in video game form was a huge deal, and at a time when licensed games had a reputation for being terrible, it really managed to surprise a lot of players.
Though perhaps one of the most obvious choices, Rockstar’s controversial series is easily one of the biggest icons of crime in video games. There’s a reason it inspired so many other titles, includingMafia. Obviously, the big selling point of the games is, well, grand theft auto, the act of stealing a motorized vehicle (somethingMafiaplayers are undoubtedly familiar with), but of course, the real reason the series is so controversial is just the sheer range of crimes that can be committed. Each installment takes place in a thinly-veiled analog of a major American city which basically acts as a playground for those who want to indulge their inner criminal without worrying about little things like “ethics” or “collateral damage”. Nothing is off the table as far as crime is concerned. Kidnapping, murder, theft, vandalism, destruction of public property. Sure, the police might get called but there are ways to evade them.
But for those more interested in the story-driven format ofMafia,Grand Theft Autodoes offer a scathing commentary on American society. The destructive potential it offers is also used as a means of satirizing real-life issues like economic inequality, racism, organized crime, and corruption in business and government. A lot of these themes are at the heart of each game’s story.
Rockstar’s famous detective simulator uses a similar format toGrand Theft Autobut with a twist. Instead of playing as a crook, this one centered around being a cop and solving crimes rather than perpetrating them. Of course, one theme the game loves is exploring just how thin the line between cop and crook can get. It can be tough being a half-decent cop in a world so full of corruption and brutality. That does meana big part of the game involves conducting investigations and finding clues, but it also comes with plenty of action sequences and shootouts against various criminals. The perspective of a cop still allows the player to get caught up in all sorts of issues with criminal underworld-organized crime, petty crime, police corruption, and shady business dealings. Ironically, a lot of the very types of crimes that might be perpetrated in a typicalMafiagame.
Maybe some players aren’t overly concerned with the story. Maybe they just want the thrill of breaking into a place and making off with a huge pile of cash while outwitting the police. Well, then, there’sPayday. This series of multiplayer shooters (currently three installments) casts players as professional thieves who work together to pull off heists with big payouts. There are, of course, different ways of accomplishing that goal. More tactful players might try the stealthy approach of getting in undetected, disabling security systems, and avoiding guards, whereas less patient ones can jump straight to pulling out their guns. Either way, the game’s heists have a reputation for getting messy and explosive, and a big part of pulling off a successful heist is knowing what to do when the cops show up, whether that’s to open fire or try to buy time with hostages. It’s an intense experience but when done right the “heroes” (as much as they can be called that) get to escape witha lotof money.
Another one from Rockstar (notice a pattern here?),Red Dead Redemption 2follows the tragic story of an outlaw gang struggling to survive in the final days of the Wild West. While it might not be the organized crimeMafiaplayers are more accustomed to, it is still a harsh story about doomed protagonists trapped in a world that is slowly closing in on them, with much of the story concerning how they cope with their impending doom. This is actually something that fans ofMafiaor even just gangster movies should relate to, as it’s not too far off from the final act of most gangster plots. This is basically the part where everything the hero worked for comes crashing down and they meet their inevitable end. And of course, there is also the opportunity to commit plenty of crimes, with options for how honorably they’re committed. The player won’t be able to commit conventional grand theft auto here because of the setting, but they can steal horses, wagons, and eventrainsif they feel so inclined.
Interestingly, despiteRed Dead Redemption 2being more of a western,Mafiaplayers might find one particular plot point interesting. There’s a section involving a gangster named Angelo Bronte, who is running what could basically be described as a proto-mafia. Literally, a precursor to the one that would become so iconic during Prohibition.
Some people like gangster movies but aren’t a big fan ofThe Godfather. Let’s face it, it’s beautifully filmed, but it’s also a long, convoluted plot that can be very difficult to follow. Maybe they’d instead prefer something like the iconic 1983 Al Pacino filmScarface, which probably had a lot of influence on theMafiagames. Well, they would be in luck, because it just so happens that the infamous mobster Tony Montana is playable inScarface: The World is Yours. This 2006 sequel presents an alternate ending where Tony survives the film’s climactic shootout, thengoes on a quest to rebuild his criminal empireand get revenge on his nemesis.
This being the guy who’s famous for shouting “Say hello to my little friend” while brandishing an M16, that means committing a lot of murder and mayhem. But it has one other thing going for it that isn’t seen in a lot of crime games. After all, Tony Montana was the boss, so a big part of the game is alsorunningthe syndicate. This is actually something that doesn’t happen in a lot of crime games, many of which tend to put the player character in conflict with an existing boss.
United Front’s cult classic puts players in an interesting position, as they play an undercover cop trying to infiltrate a Triad organization in Hong Kong. This is an interesting way to blur the line between cop and crook since it involves a character ostensibly acting for the law while simultaneously having to commit crimes to maintain his identity. The Hong Kong settingalso allows for a very distinct environmentfrom theMafiaseries. After all, the Triads (the common name for mafias operating out of China) are a well-established form of organized crime in film, especially when it comes to their presence in Hong Kong. Hong Kong action movies are basically their own genre at this point. But weirdly, they haven’t been seen all that much in video games.Sleeping Dogsis a rare exception, one that offers a glimpse into a criminal underworld that hasn’t been explored in a lot of detail. Sure its gameplay might be a bit different. There’s more hand-to-hand than shooting, but it still allows for plenty of vehicular carnage and a morally ambiguous adventure through the world of organized crime.
Mafia: The Old Countrypromises to bring players into the early days of the Italian Mob, but some players may be a bit too eager to dive into the world of organized crime. Well, they might have to wait for the mafia, but for those who aren’t too picky about nationalities, they could try the Yakuza. And fittingly, there is an entire series ofYakuzagames. Now for sure, the gameplay is a bit different here,and things can sometimes get weird. There isn’t so much car theft, and players are more likely to beat up their enemies than fill them with lead, but it does follow a lot of very similar themes. The series follows various protagonists as they try to navigate the complicated and morally ambiguous world of organized crime in Japan, an environment that easily breeds corruption, betrayal, greed, and violence. A big part of the games is the struggle to do the right thing in a world that relentlessly tries to shatter your moral compass.
