Mafia: Definitive Edition put forth a lot of effort to bring the 2002 crime narrative up to date. What it didn’t do, and arguably should have done, was provide a fully realized model of the H.M.S. Titanic for Tommy Angelo to investigate.
Eurogamer reported earlier today that modder Robin Bongaarts had been working on the mod on and off since 2006. Starting with the modest objective of integrating the ship as a 3D model to Mafia’s universe, Bongaarts was pushed by the discovery of better modeling tools such as Sketchup and Cinema4D to recreate the Titanic in its entirety.
“There weren’t any Titanic games out there that enabled you to freely walk about the ship just before this mod started,” Bongaarts told Eurogamer. “Sure, there were Ship Simulators and Adventure Out of Time, but they all had flaws in some manner.”
“When I discovered Mafia’s’moddability,’ I figured it would be a wonderful location for me to try building my own virtual Titanic. Back then, engines like Unreal Engine and Unity were considerably less accessible to enthusiasts than they are now. Using an established game, such as Mafia, would make the whole process a lot easier because I’d simply have to model the boat and drop it in there. How difficult can it really be?”
While Bongaarts first estimated that the mod would take “approximately 3 months,” the project’s expanding breadth has eventually contributed to its improvement. There is currently a core team of modders working with dozens of volunteers to fill out the ship while adding new features like swimming and ladder-climbing to aid with navigation. According to a May update picture, the team has already included a significant section of the ship’s passenger decks in the game.
Beyond simply providing a new setting for mafiosos to explore, Bongaarts has also written a new tale that will follow the Titanic from its departure to its final sinking, locking you within the fast-sinking vessel. All of this appears to be extremely early in development, with the mod’s initial release slated to merely provide day/night choices for touring both the ship and the docks.
Part One of the mod was supposed to be released by the end of this month, but delays and testing have pushed it back. On ModDB, you can follow the mod’s progress and view additional images of the meticulously detailed ship.
