10 Horrifying Video Game Truths You Never Noticed
4. The Police Are Even More Racist Than You Think - Mafia III
It's no secret at all that one of Mafia III's primary themes is racism, casting players in the role of black protagonist Lincoln Clay, who resides in the New Orleans-esque New Bordeaux in the midst of the Civil Rights upheaval of the late '60s.
Though anyone who's played the game will note how quick the police are to pull their guns on you if they "suspect" you're doing something untoward, systemic racism within the police is also depicted in an altogether subtler fashion.
For starters, police response times are actually coded to be different depending on the area of the game your "crime" takes place in.
In an affluent, predominantly white area, the cops will swarm your location in record time, while in poorer, generally black neighbourhoods the fuzz will take a more casual approach to tracking you down.
Worse still, the cops will respond more aggressively when crimes are committed against white people, whereas with black victims they'll be a lot less enthusiastic to see justice done.
The game as a whole depicts an enormous amount of racism, both "casual" and not, committed against Lincoln, but some of the most egregious are also some of the most subtle.