Set within the fictional city of New Bordeaux (based on New Orleans) in 1968, the story follows former criminal and Vietnam veteran Lincoln Clay, who is forced to return to a life of crime to help his adoptive family settle problems with the local branch of the Mafia.

After deciding on recreating New Orleans in 1968, the development team drew influence from the series' previous projects, and designed the game around Clay to replicate the core structure of its predecessors.

Upon release, the game received mixed reviews, with praise directed at its story, characters, darker themes, and soundtrack.

Mafia III is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective, in which the player assume control of Lincoln Clay, a Vietnam War veteran on a quest to seek revenge for his adopted family, who are murdered by local mobs.

Mafia III's map is made up of ten districts: Bayou Fantom, Delray Hollow, Barclay Mills, Frisco Fields, Pointe Verdun, Tickfaw Harbor, Southdowns, River Row, Downtown, and the French Ward.

[4] Players can interrogate non-playable characters after defeating them in order to gain more information on their objectives, like scaring them while driving a car.

[5] Players can attack and overrun locations owned by the Italian mob, and assign one of their lieutenants to operate around the local area.

Situated within America's southern states and coastline, the city is composed of island districts, industrial complexes and ports, high-rise offices and apartments, slums, suburban housing, and historical districts, interconnected by railroads and an extensive road network, with a large swampland separating the city from the coast.

Although Lincoln declines his suggestion to take over the Black Mob from Sammy, Marcano nonetheless recruits him and Ellis to help his son Giorgi rob the city's branch of the Federal Reserve during the local Mardi Gras celebrations.

Lincoln proceeds to attack Marcano's three capos who were tasked with obtaining real estate, counterfeiting money to cover mounting expenses, and getting politicians to legalize gambling.

Accepting his fate, he shares a drink with Lincoln while explaining that, although he doesn't regret his actions, he had only tried to improve New Bordeaux and get himself and his family out of the life of crime before anything bad happened to them.

Satisfied that Lincoln's vendetta is over, Galante informs him that he can take over the New Bordeaux underworld provided the Commission receives a cut of the profits.

The meeting ends with Donovan revealing he had helped Lincoln because he wanted to investigate Marcano's link as one of the conspirators behind John F. Kennedy's assassination, and shooting a senator who was named in Marcano's files as a co-conspirator, while promising to track down and kill everyone else responsible for President Kennedy's death.

[10] However, the company was later restructured on January 10, 2014, and the main studio in Prague was shuttered,[11] with resources being allocated to a new headquarters in Novato, California.

[16] The development team were interested in creating a world based on New Orleans, and eventually decided on setting the game in 1968.

Various alterations to the world were made to suit the narrative: the bayou and the city have been positioned at close proximity, despite being at a further distance in real Louisiana; the Superdome stadium was being constructed in 1968, but is excluded from the game.

The team also wanted to move away from the stereotypical Italian mafia scene and represent a different side of gang-related crime scenarios.

[18] American rapper Ice Cube collaborated with producer DJ Shadow to create the song "Nobody Wants to Die" for the game's promotion.

[24] A free demo of Mafia III was released on March 28, 2017, the same day as the first downloadable content pack of the game.

"[42] Marty Sliva for IGN gave the game a score of 7.5 out of 10, summarizing his review with: "Mafia 3's strong characters and confident storytelling kept me engaged, even if the gameplay rarely delivered anything but bog-standard and repetitive open-world action.

"[38] Brian Mazique of Forbes gave the game an 8.1/10, saying, "This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you love a good character study and aren't in search of gameplay mechanics that break new ground in innovation and control, this is one you should own.

[57] The game, titled Mafia: The Old Country, was officially announced in August 2024, when it was revealed that it would be a prequel to the series, set in Sicily during the 1900s.