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There's something about the Deep South - its sticky nights, those dense bayous and that subtle undertone of violence carried on the hot breeze - that seems so well suited to video games, so it's a surprise not more have taken up the city of New Orleans as a backdrop. Mafia 3, 2K's open world gangster epic developed by new studio Hangar 13, demonstrates just how great it can be. In a short, hands-off demo in 2K's Gamescom booth, expensively adorned in late 60s period dressing, it's the city that's the real star. This open world might not be as breathtaking as The Witcher 3's wind-swept expanses, and it doesn't quite seem the measure of Grand Theft Auto 5's Los Santos, but what it has in excess is atmosphere: as our anti-hero Lincoln Clay walks the outskirts of the French Quarter at night, you can feel the heat dripping up off the streets.
It's a delight, and packed with real detail: the flag of New Orleans flutters in the thick, muggy night off of exquisitely rendered Creole townhouses, their intricate iron balconies spidering out into the sidewalk. There are cute incidentals that sell the 1968 setting - stoned buskers sit in doorways strumming out hazy folk, while the windows of a local club shake to the sound of The Kinks - as well as some less cute ones. On one intersection, a policeman dusts down a young black man, having seemingly stopped him just for the colour of his skin.
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