8 Ways Mafia 3 Proves The Past Is Best For Video Games

4. Aesthetically, Everything Just Looks So Much Cooler

mafia 3
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I don't know about you, but there's something infinitely more enthralling about a virtual historical locale than there is about another modern day metropolis.

Hangar 13's research into '60s era New Bordeaux certainly seems to have paid off in this case, as even though it has drawn criticism for, well, not being all that interactive, it's still a damn fine thing to admire. Everything from the inner city to the bayou has been meticulously recreated and it all looks wonderful, particularly at night time when the bright lights of the French Ward illuminate the streets, adding the perfect backdrop for Lincoln to dismantle the mob's operations across town.

It makes for a change from the usual urban financial districts most open world titles find themselves in, and proves that you don't need high rise buildings to make an interesting environment.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.