Mafia Prequel

[RedDeadRus]

1) Kotaku sources: a new MAFIA game is in development at Hangar 13, expected to be a prequel to the trilogy, running on UE5.

 

So far, little can be assumed what will happen in this game, because it is at an early stage of development. Considering that this will be a chronological prequel to the first Mafia, it will be the 20s or even earlier. The story of Don Peppone and his henchmen Morello and Salieri comes to mind most of all, but other stories can also be put in, for example, Louie Romeo and his rule in the west, and Los Ondas will be the main setting. However, it cannot be ruled out that Mafia Prequel will be a major spin-off of the Mafia series and not a number part, while Mafia IV itself will be dedicated to the 70s, and Los Ondas also fits into this here, however, it will be then very, very soon. Is maybe the 20s like LA Noire or something else, like it's not prequel in chronology at all?

 

1.5) MAFIA: PRIMORDIAL?

 

2) XboxEra sources[FAKE/SELF-TRUE]: a new MAFIA should take up Don Salieri’s life and play in Sicily. Chronologically, the game will therefore focus on the late 1910s and early 1920s and will accompany Salieri’s rise to power.

 

Dubious leak, but no less interesting. It looks like in this case we will not be playing as Salieri himself, but as one of the so far unknown henchmen, in Sicilia.

 

Edited August 10 by RedDeadRus

[The Artist]

Sounds intereseting. I would prefer the 70s vegas setting with the casino stuff though. This could be great too;

[Zello]

Happy that Haden Blackman is gone. Not happy that it's going to be a prequel. Would prefer 1970s Las Vegas. Hope they just misspoke. 

[Mister Pink]

Yeah the 70's Vegas theme really was a goer for me. I don't need anything related to the trilogy at this stage. I would actually prefer a new universe, new characters, new stories, new settings. 

 

A trilogy like this would be nice for me. Make them link up in a new universe. 

• Early 70's Vegas
• Late 70's New York
• Mid to late 80's Boston

 

[Zello]

Prequel makes it seem like it's a Boardwalk empire thing. Which could do alright still not a fan of that setting because I prefer 1970s Vegas instead. But prequel could also mean the Blackhand 1900s-1910s and I really really don't want that.

[Mister Pink]

Just now, Zello said:

Prequel makes it seem like it's a Boardwalk empire thing. Which could do alright still not a fan of that setting because I prefer 1970s Vegas instead. But prequel could also mean the Blackhand 1900s-1910s and I really really don't want that.

Yeah if it's anything like Boardwalk Empire, then nice, I can accept that as I love the show and it spans decades. We will probably see some prohibition stuff. But.. that's kind of done to death. 

 

I can't think of any games that has done Las Vegas in the 70's. I mean you could almost do a 1:1 scale job of Vegas as I'm sure it was much smaller 50 years ago. You could make many casino interiors. Also, the films to draw inspiration from like Godfather Part II, Casino and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas could be great. 

[Zello]

I'm guessing they saw the response people had to Salieri in definitive edition and thought that meant that people wanted a Salieri prequel 

[The Tracker]

Whether it's set in 1910's-1920's or the 1970's, let's just hope Take Two doesn't f*ck everything up this time around. 

 

At this point I just want it to be an actual open world. 

Edited May 5 by The Tracker

[VenusianDream]

I'm hype but also pretty bummed since it's gonna be a prequel, I was also really looking forward to 70s Vegas as well. The Mafia 1 remake was really well received so I guess it's no surprise that they would do a prequel set around a similar time. I'd prefer it to take place in Empire Bay instead of New Heaven, I'm more interested in Leo Galante and the Vinci-Moretti war than Don Peppone and his boys. Regardless of what Hangar 13 plans to do, I just hope it's done right.

 

28 minutes ago, The Tracker said:

At this point I just want it to be an actual open world. 

The Mafia series isn't really good with open world though, they tried to implement this with Mafia 3 and it didn't turn out so well.

Edited May 5 by VenusianDream

[Commander S]

Prequel is intriguing, shame to see Blackman go, as I enjoyed a lot of things he headed up (going back to the LucasArts days). Wonder if he's sticking with games - after all, he's also done TV, comicbooks, etc. (come to think of it, I could easily see him going back to work on Star Wars stuff, which'd be a natural fit).

 

Also mixed feelings about the move to Unreal 5 - it's no doubt easier for them to work with than the convoluted turducken they made out of Mafia II's engine (even with the issues from III being resolved with DE), but like with the same kind of trade-off with CDPR and RedEngine, it's yet another engine with some interesting qualities resigned to the scrapyard of gamedev history, and yet more of the industry consolidating around Epic Games and Unreal.

 

...and yeah, even if it means the game is more niche and less 'maximalist "AAA" box-ticking exercise', I'd prefer the open world design to be more like Mafia II, where it's just about the sense of time and place, and how you navigate the world, rather than a big theme park full of Content™ to 100%.

[Zello]

13 minutes ago, VenusianDream said:

The Mafia series isn't really good with open world though, they tried to implement this with Mafia 3 and it didn't turn out so well.

That’s because of Haden Blackman who had no experience with open worlds. The entire team really Bill Harms his co-writer worked on Infamous before they didn’t really know how to make an open world crime game.

 

The Mafia and crime games in general work better when they are open worlds.

Edited May 5 by Zello

[Commander S]

13 minutes ago, Zello said:

That’s because of Haden Blackman who had no experience with open worlds. The entire team really Bill Harms his co-writer worked on Infamous before they didn’t really know how to make an open world crime game.

 

 

I'd point the blame higher up - according to the post-mortem by Jason Schreier, Blackman and Harms wanted a more direct revenge story, similar in scope and character focus to the previous Mafia games. It was 2K head Christoph Hartmann who insisted on the big, bloated open-world design, with a huge map, empire-building, etc., in order to rival GTA and let 2K compete with Rockstar (particularly considering how Mafia had always been somewhat in GTA's shadow, and 2K in Rockstar's). And so you wound up with the creative team wanting to make something tighter and narrative-driven, while also a big "AAA" open-world content muncher, and those aren't really compatible goals.

Edited May 5 by Commander S

[The Tracker]

45 minutes ago, VenusianDream said:

The Mafia series isn't really good with open world though, they tried to implement this with Mafia 3 and it didn't turn out so well.

 

It didn't turn out well or they SCREWED things up? Things "didn't turn out well" because the game itself was poorly designed, not because "Hurr durr, Mafia doesn't work as an open world" That's just a low-common sense stigma that is also being dishonest with all the reasons people actually disliked Mafia 3, with all respect. A proper main gameplay loop mixed with more story driven content, would've made Mafia III a very solid open world game. It was the repetitiveness what f*cked Mafia 3, not it being trademarked as "Mafia"

 

(Anyway, I actually liked Mafia III, thought it could've been a way, waaay better game).

Edited May 5 by The Tracker

[Zello]

7 hours ago, Commander S said:

 

 

I'd point the blame higher up - according to the post-mortem by Jason Schreier, Blackman and Harms wanted a more direct revenge story, similar in scope and character focus to the previous Mafia games. It was 2K head Christoph Hartmann who insisted on the big, bloated open-world design, with a huge map, empire-building, etc., in order to rival GTA and let 2K compete with Rockstar (particularly considering how Mafia had always been somewhat in GTA's shadow, and 2K in Rockstar's). And so you wound up with the creative team wanting to make something tighter and narrative-driven, while also a big "AAA" open-world content muncher, and those aren't really compatible goals.

Either way they weren’t the right people for the job. Mafia was never really “theirs” they wanted to create their own IP which is why Blackman chose to work on Rhapsody and Bolt (which both ended up cancelled) instead of a Mafia 4 after given numerous opportunities to do so. 2K needed a Mafia game to fill the wait in between GTAs and he needed work after leaving LucasArts and that other studio he created in 2012 went nowhere. 2K Czech was uncertain what they were doing after Mafia II made worse because they were Czech and it’s hard to communicate with them and a majority English speaking publisher. After Mafia III they should have given the IP to another studio not Hangar 13.

 

Since the Star Wars license has apparently become open again I was hoping that 2K could have negotiated hard and gotten them the rights to finish Star Wars 1313.

Edited May 6 by Zello

[Creed Bratton]

2 hours ago, Mister Pink said:

Yeah the 70's Vegas theme really was a goer for me. I don't need anything related to the trilogy at this stage. I would actually prefer a new universe, new characters, new stories, new settings.

And a new developer.

 

These guys have shown what they're about and what they can do. Personally, I'm not a fan. I like their writing style, but I hate their gameplay design.

[Jabalous]

I'm interested. Hopefully they keep the focus on a linear, cinematics-driven story like the first two games (I liked the remake), but I'd also like side activities and stories to flesh out the open world and make it more explorable and alive.

Edited May 5 by Jabalous

[Tacymist]

Seeing others saying they want a 70s Vegas setting makes me happy, been hoping for one since before V was announced.

 

I never played the Mafia games, but I do find the possible setting of this one interesting. I liked Boardwalk Empire and the Godfather part II is my fav movie of the Godfather films, I loved the flashbacks to Vito Corleone's younger days. So this era sits right with me too.

 

Anyway, this one's on my radar. Maybe I'll make a move this time, we'll see.

[Zello]

The last British guy that Take Two had in charge of a crime franchise was Dan Houser. IDK who this new guy is but hope that he knows what to do and can help establish Mafia as one of the big successful franchises not named GTA for Take Two.

Edited May 6 by Zello

[Ivan1997GTA]

As much as I would love to see a Mafia game set in the 1970s, preferably the mid-70s (heck, I speculated the soundtrack in my own fanmade radio stations), a prequel to the Mafia series sounds pretty interesting too.

 

What if the next game turns out to have two time periods: one taking place in the 1920s or thereabouts, and then a time skip to the 1970s? I kinda doubt it, and I feel maybe they're saving the 1970s Mafia game for later.

[justinlynch3]

Mafia is alright but what somebody really need to do is revive the Godfather games, now that was a killer series.

[Craigsters]

I'm surprised  no-one mentioned  Cuba Before Castro era version  or Argentine  era that brought about  Che Guevara  revolution because of corruption etc in those two county's 

Edited May 6 by Craigsters

[SpaceBeagle]

It's this, the real Mafia prequel, Top hats & Axes!  

 

 

 

[Zello]

3 hours ago, justinlynch3 said:

Mafia is alright but what somebody really need to do is revive the Godfather games, now that was a killer series.

Licenses. Because it was a movie they need to renew those licenses and they ain't cheap and the Godfather II game flopped badly and left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. I wish EA would remaster the first game but that will never happen.

[Tycek]

After looking at Mafia timeline I am guessing we will get the game set around 1920 to show the death of Don Peppone and creation of Salieri's and Morello's families? It would make the most sense, since not much is known about Mafia timeline before that point and in 1930 Mafia starts. This may result in quite interesting setting, not explored too often by video games, other than the ones showing WW1. 

 

Imo it's worth following, because it may be quite a surprise, especially if it will be made as well as Mafia DE. 

[Shadowfennekin]

I'm intrigued. Mafia DE restored my interest in the series, I just hope there's a proper 'freeroam' aspect this time but without the repetitive bs that was Mafia 3

[Bigglo145]

I was hoping they kept going forward in time and have the next mafia after 3 to be in the 70s. If they are doing a prequel it should be in a atlantic city/chicago/nyc setting with country side

[Jabalous]

11 hours ago, Bigglo145 said:

I was hoping they kept going forward in time and have the next mafia after 3 to be in the 70s. If they are doing a prequel it should be in a atlantic city/chicago/nyc setting with country side

 

nyc/chicago is already over done in the game universe. maybe they really should move to somewhere else new, like san francisco or vegas. they can also explore other organized crime other than the italian mafia.

Edited May 7 by Jabalous

[justinlynch3]

On 5/6/2022 at 6:21 AM, Zello said:

Licenses. Because it was a movie they need to renew those licenses and they ain't cheap and the Godfather II game flopped badly and left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. I wish EA would remaster the first game but that will never happen.

Man how did Godfather II fail?    That was a amazing open world game.

 

I don't know or don't care if the game is true to the movies, I like the game for the game.    Both me and my buddy played the absolute heck out of that thing.

[Zello]

13 hours ago, justinlynch3 said:

Man how did Godfather II fail?    That was a amazing open world game.

 

I don't know or don't care if the game is true to the movies, I like the game for the game.    Both me and my buddy played the absolute heck out of that thing.

Dude it only sold 400k units and lost a lot of money. Compared to GTA IV and Saints Row 2 which were out at the time and competing against it, The Godfather II looked and played terribly. Also the game had a lot of bugs and glitches that made it worse. The gameplay felt very stiff. It may have had multiple cities but they looked nothing at all like the real ones the New York in Godfather II is a disappointment compared to the very detailed city in the first game.

 

The gameplay also got boring it was a very repetitive gameplay loop of taking over businesses and then defending them which got super annoying. There was barely any story missions at all. The only good part was being able to run a crew but even that had its issues. You had to kill a guy if you wanted to get rid of them which was dumb and we’re considered the “don” even though Michael is alive and is the boss of the family. We felt more like a Capo not a boss.

Edited May 8 by Zello

[Alex816]

kinda dissapointed that it won't be 70s vegas as that would be absolutely killer to play in.

 

i'll keep an open mind but how far can they go back? we're almost to RDR1 era if they go back to far.