Mafia III is not just a violent video game; it sends a message told through the eyes of a mixed race protagonist named Lincoln Clay. According to Pew Research, majority of the gamers in America are no longer white; they are either African-American or of Hispanic descent. But the diversity of gaming heroes remain bland with most of the protagonists, if not all, are white.
"Mafia III": What's Inside
Lincoln Clay is a War Veteran who served years during the Vietnam War. He comes home only to find out that his father was killed by the Italian mafia. So Clay starts to put justice in his hands and went John Wick on those who betrayed his father.
It's a story of revenge. It's an action adventure game in a third-person perspective. But it's really more than just that as it won "Game of the Year" for being a bombastic action game with a real approach on the issue of racism, Geek reported.
Why "Mafia III" is a Fresh Narrative
While Clay plays the hero, he is also a victim. His character often struggles to survive not from gunshots from the enemies but from racial profiling in a Jim Crow era. What's worse is he lives in a fictional New Orleans' Bayou, which is way down south and where racism is too strong, The New York Times reported.
The game was developed by Hanger 13 during the time when young black men were getting gunned down by the police. Although the developers admitted that they never aimed for the game to be talking about race, it's the people around them that pointed out that it is.
Mafia III is 2K's highest grossing film and the reason for that may be is players get to experience the difficulty of being a colored man in the US through Clay's eyes. It's the game of the decade because it's poignant and the message is right in your face, says Shareef Jackson from the "Spawn on Me" podcast.
