Will *Mafia* release two titles back-to-back? Longtime fans are really in for a thrill this time!

It’s blowing up! As soon as this news dropped, longtime Mafia fans probably couldn’t sit still anymore. According to multiple industry leaks cited by foreign outlet Shazoo, the Mafia series may be preparing to serve up several new titles in one go. The scale of it really feels like the developers are pushing all their chips onto the table. More importantly, Hangar 13 is said to be simultaneously working on a remake of Mafia 2 and a sequel to Mafia: The Old Country, and the momentum has suddenly heated up.

Here’s the key point: when it comes to the Mafia 2 remake, it’s no longer just empty rumor. The development team was recently spotted recording weapon sound effects for Mafia 2, and once that kind of work starts, it usually means the project has at least entered a fairly defined stage of production. For longtime players, that’s a huge signal, because Mafia 2 has always been one of the most beloved entries in the series. As long as this remake isn’t just a superficial visual filter slapped on top, I’m more than willing to give it some early hype points.

But! What really makes me feel like this series is about to take off is the Mafia: The Old Country side of things. The game director previously described Mafia: The Old Country as a “soft reboot,” and said it was “the starting point of a brand-new chapter for the series.” That’s already pretty clear—it’s not about testing the waters with a single game, but about rebuilding the entire narrative line from the ground up. On top of that, Take-Two’s CEO has publicly praised the commercial performance of Mafia: The Old Country, and even Karina Conti, the actress voicing Isabella Torrisi, revealed that Take-Two has officially approved Hangar 13 to develop new entries in the series. Looking at this combination of signals, it all feels very legit.

What remains now is to see where the new title goes. Leaker TCMFGames claims that this new game will be a direct sequel to Mafia: The Old Country, set in the classic city of Empire Bay, with the story taking place in the 1920s to 1930s. It’s a very interesting setup, because it could neatly form a prequel relationship with the timeline of Mafia 2, meaning the series universe would start filling in both its earlier and later ends at the same time. Don’t underestimate this arrangement—gangster stories suffer most when they have shootouts but no real sense of the era. Empire Bay combined with that period instantly sets the stage with suits, vintage cars, street factions, and the atmosphere of Prohibition.

From an industry-timing perspective, this leak isn’t entirely baseless either. The report says that, based on a standard three-year development cycle, the new series title could arrive on cross-generation platforms in 2028, while the Mafia 2 remake may launch at the end of 2027, possibly even six months earlier than originally planned. If that really is the release order, it would look very much like a strategy of reviving a classic and then handing the baton to a new chapter—using the remake to bring veteran players back first, then using the sequel to firmly establish the next phase. That’s far more reliable than releasing a sequel on its own.

My view is pretty straightforward: what this series needs most right now isn’t simply brighter visuals, but a full upgrade to its storytelling, city atmosphere, and sense of period immersion. What has always set Mafia apart from many open-world games is not “how big the map is,” but whether, once players step into that world, it truly feels like living in that era. If Hangar 13 can give Mafia 2 a remake with real texture and quality, and then let the Old Country sequel play the Empire Bay card beautifully, then the table for gangster-themed games might really become lively again.