than the one that shipped with the title. According to a ''Eurogamer'' (2018) report, the scene in question depicted the game's protagonist, Lincoln Clay, killing a police officer and murdering numerous others. "We went back at the eleventh hour and added a cold-open to the game that was a really violent prologue which basically shows Lincoln and a couple of his friends getting ambushed by the mob," the game's director, Haden Blackman, said. "It's super-violent and Lincoln has to resort to violence to escape. However, Blackman said, "it felt exploitative...so we ended up cutting it," despite having championed its "sensitive" subject matter: race, police brutality, and crime. The section was so violent, so "controversial" and "shocking", that Hangar 13 even erased it from its servers. It no longer exists.  

than the one that shipped with the title. According to a ''Eurogamer'' (2018) report, the scene in question depicted the game's protagonist, Lincoln Clay, killing a police officer and murdering numerous others. "We went back at the eleventh hour and added a cold-open to the game that was a really violent prologue which basically shows Lincoln and a couple of his friends getting ambushed by the mob," the game's director, Haden Blackman, said. "It's super-violent and Lincoln has to resort to violence to escape. However, Blackman said, "it felt exploitative...so we ended up cutting it," despite having championed its "sensitive" subject matter: race, police brutality, and crime. The section was so violent, so "controversial" and "shocking", that Hangar 13 even erased it from its servers. It no longer exists.  

This last-minute change to the game adds yet another layer to ''Mafia III''’s intriguing depiction of racism and American history. ''Mafia III'' places players in the shoes of Clay, a biracial, Black-presenting Vietnam veteran, as he builds a mafia empire in late-1960s New Bordeaux, a recreation of New Orleans, all the while tackling racism and the legacy of colonialism and slavery. ''Mafia III'''s honest and detailed representation of a racist, postcolonial or colonial society opens it to many angles of cultural analysis. Following Brock's (2011) treatise on race in games and Mukherjee's (2016) writings on postcolonial games, this production will examine how ''Mafia III'' interacts with these theories. It will argue that, although the game's narrative and diegesis does encourage players to confront racism and see the world as a subaltern subject, its design positions Black men as violent criminals and complies with commonly held stereotypes, all the while reinforcing colonial attitudes towards land and domination.

This last-minute change to the game adds yet another layer to ''Mafia III''’s intriguing depiction of racism and American history. ''Mafia III'' places players in the shoes of Clay, a biracial, Black-presenting Vietnam veteran, as takes control of late-1960s New Bordeaux, a recreation of New Orleans, all the while tackling racism and the legacy of colonialism and slavery. ''Mafia III'''s honest and detailed representation of a racist, postcolonial or colonial society opens it to many angles of cultural analysis. Following Brock's (2011) treatise on race in games and Mukherjee's (2018) writings on postcolonial games, this production will examine how ''Mafia III'' interacts with these theories. It will argue that, although the game's narrative and diegesis does encourage players to confront racism and see the world as a subaltern subject, its design positions Black men as violent criminals and complies with commonly held stereotypes, all the while reinforcing colonial attitudes towards land and domination.

'''Perspectives and Stereotypes'''

'''Perspectives and Stereotypes'''

''Mafia III'' remains highly unique. Situating players in the Deep South at the height of the civil rights movement, New Bordeaux is remarkably detailed and, by extension, flush with inequalities. White and Black areas of the map are highly segregated, with Black families mostly living in the poorer neighborhood and swamps of the city's south-side, while White elites dominate the pristine downtown and the mansions of the north-end. The police are complicit in this issue. As a Black man, Lincoln is continually harassed by the police: if spotted when driving a car, the police will suspect him of a crime, and sometimes can be called if he steps foot in a Whites-only area. Likewise, the game's mechanics reinforce this dichotomy. When someone calls the police to a White area, they respond immediately. But when they one summons them to a Black area, they respond sluggishly or do not appear at all. Put differently, ''Mafia III'' is flush with reflections on the legacy of racism and segregation.

''Mafia III'' remains highly unique in the AAA game space. Situating players in the Deep South at the height of the civil rights movement, New Bordeaux is remarkably detailed and, by extension, flush with inequalities. White and Black areas of the map are highly segregated, with Black families mostly living in the poorer neighborhood and swamps of the city's south-side, while White elites dominate the pristine downtown and the mansions of the north-end. The police are complicit in this issue. As a Black man, Lincoln is continually harassed by the police: if spotted when driving a car, the police will suspect him of a crime, and sometimes can be called if he steps foot in a Whites-only area. Likewise, the game's mechanics reinforce this dichotomy. When someone calls the police to a White area, they respond immediately. But when they one summons them to a Black area, they respond sluggishly or do not appear at all. Put differently, ''Mafia III'' is flush with reflections on the legacy of racism and segregation.