Among the many, many things that were showcased at yesterday’s Keighleyfest – The Game Awards – there were a few things that I’m really excited about. Sure, The Witcher 4 was a massive deal, but there were others, and two of them have more in common than you might expect from a few games literally miles apart. It’s Project Century and Mafia: The Old Country and they both look like they’re going to surprise me with fights that took place during my great-grandfather’s lifetime.
Of the two, Mafia is probably playing Robin to Project Century’s Batman. After all, we already knew something like this was happening before last night, but it lost a little more of its mystery when a freshly narrowed release window was leaked ahead of the show.
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We still have a fresh trailer, though, and I really liked how the story about gangsters in Sicily in the 20th century unfolded. It may not be an absolute hit that redefines the way we all view gaming, but it looks like it’s just a good, fun title that’s the bread and butter of every great year in gaming.
As with Star Wars Outlaws this year, I’ll probably fire up The Old Country, spend as much time as it takes to beat it, and just have fun. After all, look at all the potential for fucking around in a historical setting, committing crimes, and having venerable school fights that it has. I wasn’t kidnapped and replaced by Jim Trinca, I swear, these are the things that often make people joyful in games.
Plus there are venerable cars and plenty of Cosa Nostra-esque stories that I’ll probably enjoy at least as much as the previous Mafia games, even if it’s not to the level of The Sopranos Godfather.
Although – given how its predecessors were and what we’ve seen so far – Mafia may not have juicei.e. something that takes a game from good to great, Project Century looks like it could definitely do that. Announced last night, this is a rather mysterious modern game being worked on by the creators of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series and the creators of the pirate studio Majima RGG. The action takes place in Japan in 1915, and the trailer showed quite brutal – i.e. slightly bloodier than the average Kiryu brawl – street fights between the nameless hero and ordinary street bullies.
So, as with the Mafia, there is a historical background and a chance to beat up people before the invention of penicillin, but there also seems to be a bit more bubbling under the surface. In the main promotional photo, the hero’s eyes glow and at one point he fights a huge, powerful bald figure that can probably take more of a monster than a human. Maybe a little sci-fi or alternative history to spice things up?
On the other hand, Kazuma Kiryu once had a fist fight with two tigers and it was considered a normal thing that would happen to a guy living in 2006, so who knows.
Ultimately, both of these games have the potential to be great things as they still exist in the pre-release netherworld, and I’m definitely eager to try them out when they do release, even if it’s just to beat up some historical boys.
