Of the many things showcased at last night's Keighleyfest Game Awards, there wasn't anything that I was really excited about. Sure, The Witcher 4 is a masterpiece, but there are other games out there, and two of them have more in common than you might think with several games separated by miles. They are Project Century and Mafia: Old Country, both of which seem to satisfy my strange craving for the battles that took place during my great-grandfather's lifetime.
Now, of the two, Mafia is probably the one who plays Robin in Project Batman of the Century. After all, we already knew this was a thing before last night, and it lost even more of its mystery when its newly narrowed release window leaked ahead of the show.
iGamesNews
Still, we got a new trailer for it, and I'm excited to see how its plot about 1900s Sicilian gangsters develops. It might not be an absolute blockbuster game that redefines how we think about gaming, but it looks like exactly the kind of simple, fun game that's the bread and butter of any great year in gaming.
Like I did with Star Wars: Outlaws this year, I'll probably light up the flames of Hometown, take however long it takes to play it through, and then have a generally good time. After all, look at all the potential for messing around, committing crimes, and having some old-school fighting against a historical backdrop. I'm not kidnapped and replaced by Jim Trinca, I swear, these are just things I get in games too.
Watch on YouTube
Plus, there's old cars and plenty of mafia storytelling stuff, and I'm bound to enjoy them at least as much as I did the previous Mafia games, even if it doesn't end up on the level of The Godfather.
Although – based on its predecessor and the little we've seen so far – Mafia may not juice“Project Century” definitely looks like it can take games from good to great. Announced last night, it's a rather mysterious new game from the makers of Yakuza series and Pirates Majima RGG Studio. The film is set in Japan in 1915, and the trailer shows off some pretty brutal scenes, namely a street fight between an unnamed protagonist and the usual street thugs that's bloodier than your average Kiryu brawl.
Watch on YouTube
So, like the Mafia, there's a historical context and the opportunity to beat up people before penicillin was invented, but there also seems to be more bubbles beneath the surface. In the main promotional image, the main character has glowing eyes, and at one point he fights a giant, hulking, bald figure who arguably attacks monsters more than humans. Maybe some science fiction or alternative history to spice things up?
Then again, Kazuma Kiryu once fought two tigers, which was thought to be a normal thing for someone living in 2006, so who knows.
At the end of the day, both games have the potential to be great titles, and since they're still out there in the pre-release hellish world right now, I'll definitely be keen to try them out when they do release, if only to beat up some history lads.
