There have been many takes on the “crime genre” over the years. Of course, you likely know of the more famous ones like Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row, but there was another that tried to make a name for itself via the more “traditional” kind of crime. No, we’re not talking about Jet Set Radio. We’re talking about the Mafia franchise! These games put you in various crime families around the United States in key periods and let you build yourself up into the big boss/Don you were destined to be.
The franchise hasn’t been around (outside of a remaster) since Mafia 3, which many felt was a big step forward for the franchise in certain areas. Now, the team at Hangar 13 has confirmed that a new game in the series is coming from them. Though there is a bit of a caveat:
“While it’s a few years away and we can’t share anything more right now, we’re really excited to keep working on this beloved franchise and to entertain our players with new stories.”
While there aren’t a lot of details outside of their statement, the common belief is that the game will be a prequel in the franchise. That will allow them to “be on fresh ground” as they build the franchise again.
Hangar 13 hasn’t had the best of times recently, including losing one of their key developers and having one of their projects canceled on them by 2K. A title that they had been working on for about five years. That’s never an easy thing to recover from.
Of course, the irony of all this is that the two “rivals” in the crime genre that we mentioned earlier are going through some interesting times themselves, and not all of them are good. The Saints Row reboot that just recently came out hasn’t been getting the best of praise from fans or critics. The least is because of all the game’s bugs and the lackluster gameplay and story. Which at one time was what the franchise was known for.
As for Grand Theft Auto, they’ve been making bank off their fifth and online titles for so long that they didn’t even confirm a sixth mainline game was in the works until very recently. As such, they’ll continue making bank off of what they have right now until the new releases, which might also be one that is “years down the line.”
Can the Mafia franchise come back and make a big splash? Sure, it’s possible. It’ll depend on how Hangar 13 does things and whether they try to push the game’s direction forward. We’ll have to wait and see.
Source: VGC
