The 2016 open world crime epic, Mafia III was no stranger to heavy subject matter with Vietnam, racism in the 50’s American south, and of course, organized crime, being major topics that it tackles. While Hangar 13 isn’t going to shy away from telling authentic stories in the future, they revealed in an interview with Eurogamer that one scene in the very beginning was too hot for the final print.
Executive Producer Andrew Wilson describes the cold open scene as a “really violent prologue” that shows protagonist Lincoln and friends ambushed by the mob and having to fight their way out. Circumstance has Lincoln accidentally killing a cop, which is why he flees to the Vietnam conflict to begin with. “That whole cold-open has been burned from our servers. It literally does not exist. Because if ever that had come out without any context in any form it would have looked terrible, because disconnected from the game it’s obviously even more shocking,” said Wilson.
According to Wilson, in addition to how extreme it was, because the event was never really referenced in game, it lessened the impact and felt tacked on. Said Wilson on the choice to remove the scene, “It felt exploitative instead of something that really grabbed you and put you in Lincoln’s shoes and made you afraid for him and want to help him, so we ended up cutting it because of the feedback.”
Mafia 3 is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Read our review here, if you’re deciding on whether or not to pick it up.
