Conquer the Streets of New Bordeaux With These Mafia III Author Tips

Mafia III is an open-world game that gives players a lot of freedom to explore the sprawling cityscape of New Bordeaux and its surrounding environs, including the gator-infested swampland of the Bayou Fantom. Here are some tips to help you guide Lincoln Clay more efficiently:

Wiretap Each District!

Each New Bordeaux district is divided into a number of distinct sectors—five in Delray Hollow, ten in Barclay Mills, and so on. Each of these sectors has one Junction Box that you can wiretap to reveal key intel. After wiretapping, the in-game map reveals all of the collectibles, shops, Medicine Cabinets, TL-49 Fuses, and other key items and locations in that sector. The game then marks each “Target of Opportunity” with an icon as well. These targets are the people, goods and operations that contribute to the racket’s Earn total.

After wiretapping, your Minimap reveals all enemies (red blips) within its radius. In addition, your Intel View reveals all nearby foes (highlighted red)—even through walls and around corners, including those you haven’t yet spotted directly.

TL-49 Counter

The graphic in the bottom left corner of the screen tracks how much money you have in your safe, how much money you are holding on your person, and the amount of fuses you are holding. Keep an eye on this before attempting a wiretap. You need three fuses to tap a Junction Box.

Road Arrows

Note that strategically placed road signs along the trip route include white directional arrows that point the way, corresponding to the map’s route. Watch for them as you drive! Following these arrows helps keep you on track without constantly checking your maps. A green arrow sign always marks the endpoint of each map route.

The Enemy’s Awareness Indicator

When an enemy sees or hears you, a white exclamation point icon appears over his head and a white Enemy Awareness Indicator (an arc with an arrow pointing toward the enemy) appears onscreen. The more the enemy sees and hears you, the more his white indicator arc expands. If the arc gets too big, the enemy comes to investigate, raising the chance you’ll get identified as a threat that triggers a full alert in the area. Take cover and keep low until he stops looking for you and the white indicator arc disappears. Alternately: if no witnesses are nearby, wait until the enemy approaches your hiding spot and the Melee button prompt appears. Then execute a silent takedown.

Whistling

Whistling lets you lure foes individually to where you’re hiding so you can perform silent takedowns without triggering a general alert. It’s also a great way to draw clumps of enemies apart. Just position yourself behind cover a good distance away from your targets. Whistle until one foe wanders over to investigate, and then take him down. (If no enemies register awareness when you whistle, move closer.) Repeat if more goons are in the area.

Holster Your Weapon

The number one action that gets you in trouble the most in Mafia III is forgetting to holster your weapon in public. It may take a few moments, but civilians react negatively when they see a gun in your hands. It won’t take them long to become a witness and try to rat on you. Holster your weapon when you are not using it!

Hostile Turf

When Lincoln Clay drives or walks into mob-controlled territory, he’s not a welcome guest. At first, mafia goons will politely suggest you move along. If you continue to trespass, however, they’ll resort to more forceful methods. Sometimes you can go into enemy turf with guns blazing, if their numbers are small and witnesses are few. Most times your best bet is to quietly infiltrate and stealthily thin out the enemy ranks one by one before you resort to gunplay.

Molotov Tossing

Molotov Cocktails can be very effective against clustered groups of enemies. You can nail foes even when they’re in cover, and take out multiple enemies with one throw!

Red & Blue Police Zones

As the game points out, cops in a red zone are “in a shoot-first, ask-questions-later state of mind.” Open your map and check the boundary of the flashing Active Police Zone then try to get outside of it while losing the pursuit, or else try hiding until the Police Awareness level drops to from red to blue. Cops within a Blue Police Zone (also displayed on your map) still search for you, but less aggressively. You can move with stealth more easily, avoiding contact until you get outside the zone.

Stash Your Cash Safely

Whenever Lincoln acquires cash out in the field, it gets stored automatically in his wallet. You can return to Sammy’s basement at any time and stash the wallet cash in the safe. Do this regularly, because if Lincoln falls in battle, you lose half of the money in his wallet. Later in the game, you’ll be able to call a courier to your location and transfer your wallet cash to the safe.

Spot Cash with Intel View

Intel View is useful for more than just spotting enemies. Use it to pinpoint the locations of money stashed in each area. Stacks of cash are highlighted in yellow.

Blip It Using Objectives Panel

When searching for Burke’s vehicles, there’s a much greater chance of finding the vehicle at a tool icon marked position if you access the map and bring up the Objectives Panel for the mission and select the objective (for example, “Find 3 Orange Samson Richmond-Luxes”). This draws a route to a marked location that has a very high percentage of containing the vehicle you are looking for.