The open-world genre dominates the current gaming landscape like few others. Every other game of note in the last decade has given players the ultimate freedom of exploring massive environments at their own pace. Even nontraditional open-world games, like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, incorporate design elements of the popular genre to help create a sense of scale and adventure. While many of these games are worth players’ time, there’s no denying the oversaturation of adventures that take dozens of hours to complete.
It’s why I was so surprised that two of the most eye-catching reveals coming out of this year’s Game Awards are not only open-world but open-world crime games, arguably the oldest, most iterated subgenre of the bunch. But both Hanger 13’s Mafia: The Old Country and Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Project Century break the mold in one important way: They aim to transport the player to a bygone era.
