Mafia: Definitive Edition

Mafia: Definitive Edition is an upcoming action-adventure video game developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games. A remake of the 2002 video game Mafia, it was announced in May 2020 and is scheduled for release in September 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game is set within a redesigned version of the fictional city of Lost Heaven (based on Chicago) in the 1930s, and follows the rise and fall of taxi driver-turned-mobster Tommy Angelo within the Salieri crime family.

Mafia: Definitive Edition
Developer(s)Hangar 13[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)2K Games
Director(s)Haden Blackman
Alex Cox
Producer(s)Nicole Sandoval
Composer(s)Jesse Harlin
Matt Bauer
SeriesMafia
Platform(s)
ReleaseSeptember 25, 2020
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Conceived as a full remake of the original, Mafia: Definitive Edition was built from the ground up with new assets and an expanded story, although missions and arcs from the original game are carried over. As with the 2002 game, players control Tommy Angelo throughout the game's single-player campaign, and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. New to the remake is the introduction of motorcycles, a first in the series.[1] Mafia: Definitive Edition's gameplay mechanics are based on those of Mafia III.

Plot
Main article: Mafia (video game) § Plot

In 1930, after being strong-armed into helping two members of the Salieri family - Paulie and Sam - escape an ambush by the rival Morello family, impoverished taxi driver Thomas "Tommy" Angelo is assaulted by members of the Morello family in an act of revenge. While he is rescued by the Salieri family after calling in a favor Don Ennio Salieri promised him, Tommy loses his job after his employers learn about his involvement with the Mafia. With a lack of job opportunities due to the ongoing Great Depression, Tommy is forced to accept Salieri's offer to join his organization, and soon befriends Paulie and Sam as they complete various jobs together.

Over the following years, the Salieri and Morello families engage in an all-out war for control of Lost Heaven, while Tommy starts a family and becomes disillusioned by the violent and decadent lifestyle he is now living. Tommy's life as a family man leads him to question his morals and go against his orders when it comes to murdering certain people. When Salieri eventually learns about this, Tommy finds himself betrayed by his former allies and, fearing for his family's safety, arranges for witness protection with Detective Norman in exchange for testifying against the Salieri family. The entire game is told as a flashback, as Tommy explains to Norman his rise to prominence and eventual fall within Salieri's organization.

Development

On May 13, 2020, a remake of Mafia was announced by 2K Games titled Mafia: Definitive Edition, as a part of the Mafia: Trilogy — an effort to remake Mafia, remaster Mafia II and update Mafia III. It is being developed by Hangar 13 and will feature an "expanded story, gameplay, and original score".[2][3][4] Over 200 people work on the game in Prague and Brno offices of Hangar 13 and unknown number in Brighton and Novato offices.[5] According to the gameplay trailer, the game uses Hangar 13's proprietary game engine, which has been updated since Mafia III. It is slated to release on September 25, 2020 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows.[6] It was previously set to release on August 28, but was delayed to September 25 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]

The English-language soundtrack for the game was recorded with a different cast, with Italian-Australian actor Andrew Bongiorno lending his voice, likeness and motion capture performance to Tommy Angelo. Hangar 13 president Haden Blackman stated "since our cinematics rely heavily on motion capture data, it was essential that we have both voice and physical performances," and they wanted to ensure that the actors not only "looked the part" but could also perform well on both motion capture and voice-over booths.[8] Conversely, the Czech dub has most of the surviving cast from the 2002 game reprise their roles for the remake, namely Marek Vašut who returned to voice Tommy.[9]

Another major change in the remake was a complete redesign of the game's original setting. To help with the redesign, the development team focused on reviewing the style of American cities around the 1920s and 1930s following World War I, and improving on the atmosphere and aesthetic designs of the city's various districts, revamping several and, in some cases, renaming them completely - as an example, the original setting's district of Chinatown was revamped to make it more recognizable as a district inhabited by Chinese immigrants with the style of buildings and decorations. Street layouts were also modified to include changes in corners and intersections to allow for smoother driving mechanics, the addition of new shortcuts and alleys into the map, and relocating various buildings and landmarks to new sites, thus ensuring players did not travel down the same route to reach them as they did in the original game - developers at Hanger 13 used specialized data-mapping systems, "heatmaps", to view the driving patterns of players when travelling from one location to another in missions, in order to assess how to change this for the remake.[10]

Notes
  1. Original game developed by 2K Czech.

References
  1. Yin-Poole, Wesley (13 June 2020). "Mafia: Definitive Edition looks great". Eurogamer. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  2. Brown, Fraser (2020-05-13). "Mafia Trilogy announcement coming on May 19". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  3. Phillips, Tom (2020-05-13). "The Mafia series is getting a trilogy re-release". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  4. Bailey, Dustin (2020-05-13). "Mafia: Definitive Edition leaks via store page, and it's a full remake – not a remaster". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  5. Doskocil, Jan (11 July 2020). "Na Mafia 1 remake dělá v Brně a Praze až 200 lidí". Eurogamer.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  6. Gach, Ethan (2020-05-19). "Mafia Remake Is A 'Complete Overhaul' Of The Original Game". Kotaku. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  7. "A development update for Mafia: Definitive Edition". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  8. O'Connor, James. "Mafia: Definitive Edition: Here's How And Why They Recast Tommy Angelo For The Remake". GameSpot. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  9. "Recasting Tommy Angelo for Mafia: Definitive Edition". Mafia - Official Website. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  10. "REBUILDING LOST HEAVEN FOR MAFIA: DEFINITIVE EDITION". mafiagame.com/. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
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