I have three separate sources confirming this. Two of them former developers for Hangar 13, one of them being a journalist. They are very reputable, obviously I can't reveal who they are, nor shall I, as I wish not to hurt their career or cause any legal issues. If that makes my credibility lower, then so be it.
Anyway, let's get into it.
As some of you may already know - MAFIA IV started prototyping stages of development right after MAFIA III wrapped up its DLC season, however as it was reported, the project was "cancelled" or "passed on" by Hangar 13 management in favour of an original IP (all reported and confirmed).
After development on their "original project" wasn't gaining any traction, they decided to assemble a small unit which then became Hangar 13 in Brighton, UK. This team, according to my two developer sources, picked up their original MAFIA IV pitches and prototypes and hit the ground running. After a good 5-6 months of internal struggles, they decided that the project was ambitious and something they wished to pursue, now, every branch (aside from the Czech Republic, I'll get to that) are working on MAFIA IV.
The game, according to my two developer sources and journalist, will indeed be set in 70s Vegas and continue on from where MAFIA III left off. You will play as a new protagonist and it will return to you playing as the Italian Mob in Vegas' golden years of organised crime. Said to be very "Scorsese-esque" whatever that means.
The game will feature a huge map to traverse of course, the story will span a decade according to one of my developer sources, the other developer claims that this was initially not the case as they wanted to continue the documentary style of MAFIA III's storytelling at first, but instead will be a more traditional "now" story with no flashbacks or interviews ahead of the events.
I'm not sure if any characters will return - I never asked this, unfortunately, although I would expect Vito to make an appearance at the very least.
Gone are the repetitive missions from MAFIA III. They know they fucked up there. Apparently the story behind that is a bit murky. The game (MAFIA III) originally allowed you to go straight for the racket bosses, each with unique encounters and deaths, and not have to do the repetitive filler stuff, but as the release date loomed over the developers, the producers were pressuring them to get it shipped and had to make some quality drawbacks.
Many planned mechanics for MAFIA III have made their way into MAFIA IV, one of which being an empire building system, far more in depth than anything I've heard of in any game before. It's insane the stuff they plan with this. One of my sources was telling me of how you can literally build, buy out, and expand casinos, you can take a rundown building and turn it into a metropolis.
It'll be on a new version of the MAFIA II/III engine, massively overhauled, many of the technical issues that plagued M3 should now be mostly non-existent apparently.
Motion capture began on the game about 8-9 months ago. Expected to be revealed next year, with a 2021 release, next gen obviously.
Now then, MAFIA II Remaster - yes, this is a thing and it's coming sooner than you think. Not sure when, but they said "SOON" (TM) - Hangar 13's Czech branch is working on this, it's a complete overhaul and uses the MAFIA IV engine. Think RE2 Remake levels.
Maybe jschreier has more info?
But i was talking about Vegas as perfect setting for Mafia game since Mafia III was announced/released.
Also tnx lashman
