It's 1968. You're a Vietnam veteran named Lincoln Clay that has returned to his hometown of New Orleans hell-bent on taking out Italian mob boss Sal Marcano.
That's the cliff notes version of the plot behind Mafia III, the highly anticipated next chapter in the popular franchise. Developed by 2K Games new studio, Hangar 13, the game continues the trend of moving Mafia forward in time, says creative director Haden Blackman.
Rather than tell another story based solely on the Italian mob, the developers opted to take a different approach. The game's protagonist is of mixed race in the south during a period when race relations were quite volatile. Blackman said the game won't shy away from that truth but they're also not going to be getting up on a soapbox.
He added that race is one of the things that define Clay's identity but it's not the only thing that defines him.
The first installment in the Mafia franchise, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, arrived way back in 2002. Its follow-up, the aptly-titled Mafia II, made its debut in 2010 and if everything goes according to plan, the third title in the series will launch next year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
The Mafia III game trailer embedded here debuted earlier today at Gamescom 2015. While it looks incredibly gritty, it's also entirely CGI-based which doesn't exactly give us any indication of true gameplay.