Mafia: The Old Country News

[p]Hello Mafiosos,

We know the family runs on loyalty and trust - and we’ve seen so many great conversations about Mafia: The Old Country. With the launch coming up on August 8th, we wanted to take a moment to answer some of the most common questions we’ve noticed from the community![/p][p]

Is Mafia: The Old Country an open world game?[/p][p]No, Mafia: The Old Country is not an open-world game. Enzo’s story unfolds in a structured, cinematic way, rather than choosing mission orders across a sandbox map. If you’re a longtime fan of the franchise, Mafia: The Old Country is structured similarly to Mafia and Mafia II, meaning that there will still be moments when players can leisurely take in the sights and sounds of early 1900's Sicily, and maybe even discover a few collectibles on the way.[/p][p]

Why did you choose to create a linear story game?
To quote Nick Baynes, President of Hangar 13, who shared this during the developer panel at PAX East: “With this title, we drew a lot of inspiration from the structure of Mafia: Definitive Edition and Mafia II—particularly how their focused, linear storytelling resonated with players.” Our goal with Mafia: The Old Country is to deliver that same kind of narrative experience that feels distinctly Mafia, while introducing a brand-new story and setting.

With Mafia: The Old Country, we want you to feel like you’re playing through a classic mob movie. Your journey throughout the game follows Enzo’s descent into the dark criminal underworld of 1900s Sicily, with each tightly paced mission and cutscene conveying the weight of a gritty gangster drama. We can't wait for you to experience all the carefully crafted moments that tell Enzo's story.[/p][p]

What inspired the combat mechanics and design in Mafia: The Old Country?
Our vision for combat was to immerse players deeply in the brutal, often desperate reality of the criminal underworld in 1900s Sicily. This isn’t an era of advanced weaponry or easy brawls—it’s a time where every confrontation has weight, and survival often comes down to your will to live. The firearms of the early 1900s, for instance, are less forgiving than their modern counterparts. They demand a more deliberate use of cover, careful resource management, and knowing how to make every single shot count.

Knife fights are at the heart of combat in Mafia: The Old Country. In an era when many didn’t have easy access to guns, disputes were often settled the traditional way: with a blade. In 1900s Sicily, fights were personal, up close, and vicious; that historical reality shaped how we designed our combat system.[/p][p]

Do I need to play the previous Mafia games to understand Mafia: The Old Country?
No. Mafia: The Old Country is something of an origin story for the Mafia series, plunging you into the turn-of-the-century Sicilian underworld where it all began. It's a brand-new story with new characters; a standalone narrative designed to enrich you in the origins of organized crime.[/p][p]Whether you’re new to the series or have been with us for a long time, you’ll be able to experience Enzo's storyline from a fresh perspective. No prior knowledge is needed to navigate Enzo’s world. However, if you've experienced the sagas of Tommy, Vito, and Lincoln, you might just catch a few subtle nods to the wider timeline of Mafia. What will those nods be? You’ll have to play through the Mafia franchise to find out.[/p][p]
What makes Enzo a unique protagonist compared to Vito, Lincoln, and Tommy?[/p][p]Tommy Angelo, Vito Scaletta, and Lincoln Clay are all men who were irrevocably shaped by American cities while navigating different eras of organized crime in the United States. Each of our protagonists in the Mafia franchise found their way into organized crime through a different dark path. Lincoln Clay, for example, was fueled by an all-consuming need for revenge, while Vito Scarletta was enticed by the promise of wealth and power. When we forged Enzo Favara’s story for Mafia: The Old Country, we returned to the birthplace of the Mafia to explore a motivation that is far more fundamental: Freedom.

Enzo’s journey begins not with a choice, but with a primal fight for survival. Having been sold into the brutal forced labor of the Sicilian sulfur mines as a boy, he endured a stolen childhood until a path opened to salvation. To him, the path into the Torrisi crime family doesn't represent greed or vengeance; it offers the one thing he's never had—a chance to shape his own destiny. The sacrifices he'll face, and the kind of honor he might find or forfeit, will be uniquely his own, born from an entirely new struggle far removed from the motivations of our previous protagonists.[/p][p][/p][p]
Will there be an "Online" mode or a Multiplayer mode?
Mafia: The Old Country is focused on delivering a cinematic, single-player story experience. At this time, there are no plans for multiplayer or online modes. [/p][p]

Will the game have DLC?[/p][p]For those who want to descend into Sicily's criminal underworld in style, the Deluxe Edition offers a variety of bonus items for your collection. As for Story DLC, we are currently focused on making Mafia: The Old Country a complete and gripping narrative experience from start to finish, one that feels like a full, satisfying saga on its own. That said, we're always listening to what resonates with you, looking toward your thoughts and suggestions for what you’d love to see in the world of Mafia. [/p][p]

How is it similar/different to other games in the genre?[/p][p]Every Mafia title is about becoming a gangster within distinct periods of organized crime. It’s a focus that carves its own path in the narrative genre. With Mafia: The Old Country, we continue that tradition and game direction, and we curated a story where you play through the most foundational period of all: 1900s Sicily, the birthplace of organized crime itself. Playing Mafia: The Old Country is like playing through a classic mob movie, featuring high-stakes chases, brutal gunplay and knifeplay, tense life-or-death situations, and more. We're immersing you not only in a setting of historical authenticity, but also in a compelling story about loyalty, betrayal, and sacrifice.[/p][p]

What is the purpose/reason behind burning the Mary card?[/p][p]The burning Saint card is inspired by an initiation ritual, believed to have been used by the Sicilian Mafia. The burning of a holy image—often of the Virgin Mary—was a way to pledge an oath of loyalty. This act symbolized cutting ties with one’s old life and making a full commitment to the Mafia. It also served as a warning that breaking the oath would come with serious consequences. We recreated this ritual during Enzo’s initiation as a nod to that history and to highlight the weight of the choice he’s making.[/p][p]

Who is making a return?[/p][p]During our live Developer Panel at PAX East, Game Director Alex Cox hinted that four characters might appear in the gameplay of Mafia: The Old Country. While we can’t disclose any specifics, be sure to let us know down below who you think they are![/p][p][/p][p]Will you show us more gameplay footage before launch?
Yes, there will be more opportunities to get a glimpse of Mafia: The Old Country’s gameplay as we approach launch! To stay up to date on the development of Mafia: The Old Country, make sure to follow our social channels for the latest updates.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]We'll share more about Mafia: The Old Country in the lead-up to launch on August 8, so be sure to stay tuned. The loyalty you've shown the Mafia legacy is not taken lightly, and we appreciate you joining us on this journey. [/p][p]We've poured our hearts and souls into crafting an experience that honors the franchise while carving out Mafia: The Old Country's own path. We truly cannot wait for all of you to experience it.[/p][p]Thank you, and remember: Family Takes Sacrifice.

[/p][p]The Mafia Community Team[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][/p]

[p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]When creating a grounded, ambitiously cinematic game like Mafia: The Old Country, getting great performance capture isn't just important—it's absolutely essential. That's why the team at Hangar 13 approached the process with the same care and vigilance as an auteur making a classic mob movie. By leveraging the development team's decades of storytelling and game-development experience, Mafia: The Old Country delivers a gritty crime drama worthy of both its genre inspirations and past entries in the franchise.[/p][p][/p][h2]Casting the Family[/h2][p]Of course, before there could be performances to capture, the team had to find the perfect actors to fill out their cast. And as Game Director Alex Cox puts it in the Dev Diary video above, the game's central characters "all just popped out from the screen as soon as we saw them."[/p][p]Riccardo Frascari—the actor behind Enzo's likeness and performance—stood out immediately, even if his take on the character differed slightly from the more naive protagonist some of the developers had originally envisioned during pre-production. It quickly became clear that this type of creative collaboration would only enrich the material, and soon the team was ready to begin shooting on the 2K performance-capture stages in Northern California and the Czech Republic.[/p][p][/p][p]During the production of Mafia: The Old Country, the stage in Brno, Czech Republic was where Hangar 13 captured the game's systemic animations, like player and NPC movements, along with the many non-speaking performances. For cinematics and other spoken, narrative-centric elements, the team used the stage in Petaluma, CA.[/p][p][/p][h2]Taking the Stage[/h2][p]Despite the challenges inherent to working in head-to-toe mocap suits and uncannily empty stages, the actors all delivered silver-screen-worthy performances that bring the humanity and brutality of Enzo's story into sharp focus. With the help of props, advanced motion capture technology, and equally talented directors and crew, the cast brought the story to life by way of the same skills they would've used on a traditional stage or film set.

"When we were casting the actors, I wasn't sure we would be able to capture all of the little details in their expressions," reflects Associate Design Director Josh Zammit. "But it really carries through. The entire team has done a phenomenal job capturing a lot more nuance from the performances than we could in previous titles."[/p][p]Executive Producer Devin Hitch shares that pride in how those subtleties come across in-game. "Everything we see on-screen is just so believable," says Hitch. "You feel every moment of each scene, and the facial expressions are incredibly detailed. The performances come through in a way that we've never seen before in a Mafia game."   

As Cox notes, the chemistry between the actors has been "amazing to watch," so players can expect to find no shortage of Hollywood-caliber performances when the game is finally in their hands later this summer. Mafia: The Old Country launches August 8, 2025, and is available for pre-purchase now. For now, stay tuned for one last forthcoming Dev Diary video digging even deeper into the making of this cinematic Sicilian epic.
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[p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Setting Mafia: The Old Country in 1900s Sicily is a bold creative choice that helps this narrative-driven crime drama stand out from its peers. For the team at Hangar 13, however, choosing such a famously stunning location demanded meticulous attention to detail in visual presentation and authenticity. More than just aiming to build environments few players have seen before, the developers also embraced new tools to bring that vision to life—and push it even further.[/p][p][/p][h2]Old Country, New Engine[/h2][p][/p][p]After more than two decades of developing games with proprietary technology, the studio saw Unreal Engine 5 as the ideal fit for Mafia: The Old Country. Once the switch was made, the team quickly began using the engine’s capabilities to push the visual boundaries of what a Mafia game could be.[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]"We wanted to make sure we exploit everything that these new technologies—which are particularly suited to this setting—have to offer," says Art Director Steven Noake. " I think in a more modern city, these breakthroughs would be less impactful than they are in Mafia: The Old Country, where we can take a crumbling Sicilian townhouse and render all of the plaster and layers of decay you would've seen there at the time." [/p][p][/p][p]In every screenshot and trailer, you can clearly see how the new tools empowered the art team to go far further in creating even the tiniest details. As Lead Environment Artist Michal Drimalka explains in the video above, "In past titles like Mafia III or Mafia: Definitive Edition, one building, for example, had around 20- to 30,000 triangles. One building in Mafia: The Old Country can have more than one million triangles." [/p][p][/p][h2]Upgraded Tools of the Trade[/h2][p][/p][p]In addition to empowering the team to craft breathtaking environments, the engine introduces advanced systems for rendering human characters and delivering realistic lighting. That raw power is immediately evident in the intricate facial details of every character in Mafia: The Old Country, enhancing the motion-capture performances that drive the game’s cinematic storytelling. Meanwhile, the new lighting technology allows artists to heighten the atmosphere and amplify the emotion in every scene.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]“Lighting is integral to our cinematic game experience—whether you're riding through the sun-drenched countryside, dueling against a stunning sunset, or creeping through the shadows of ancient crypts,” says Executive Producer Devin Hitch. “Being able to layer hyper-realistic lighting over our already incredible visuals adds tremendously to a player’s sense of immersion, no matter where they are in our world."[/p][p][/p][p]Taking the leap to chart a new technological course with Mafia: The Old Country's engine has already enabled Hangar 13 to create beautifully period-authentic Sicilian landscapes, and players will have plenty of jaw-dropping spectacle awaiting them when the game arrives later this summer. Mafia: The Old Country launches August 8, 2025, and is available for pre-purchase now. In the meantime, watch for more Dev Diary articles delving deeper into the making of this one-of-a-kind Sicilian crime drama.[/p][p]
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"It is binding. It is not forgiving. To betray one is to betray all."[/p][p]
Witness the moment Enzo Favara swears his loyalty and joins the Family in "The Initiation" the full cinematic scene from Mafia: The Old Country, revealed at the Future Games Show 2025.[/p][p]https://store.steampowered.com/franchise/mafia[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]