14 DAY TRIAL // Mantle is an application programming interface that Advanced Micro Devices created to enable smoother gameplay on its graphics core next GPUs, like the Radeon HD 7000 series and everything that came after. Crytek has now decided it is worth looking into.
Crytek has chosen to implement Mantle support in the CRYENGINE game engine, which has yielded many games like the FarCry series, Crysis and its sequels, etc.
The engine itself has been evolving, gaining sequels of its own as it were. Currently, it's at its fourth incarnation. The first one emerged back in 2004, almost 10 years ago, so there's a lot of history here.
Presumably, the one with Mantle support will be called CryEngine 5, though it's not altogether certain.
Mantle manages to let a computer's GPU and GPU divide tasks amongst themselves far more easily.
That way, overall game performance improves by up to 30-40%, or so AMD claims. It will ultimately depend on how well the Game company includes support in its engine's code.
There is no ETA for when the new game engine surfaces, nor does anyone know when the first CryEngine game with support for AMD Mantle will come out. It will probably take at least a year though, unless Crytek is really determined to work fast.