During PAX East 2025, Hangar 13 gave us a new look at the next entry in the Mafia franchise. Taking us back to the early 1900s, we’re going to a place that’s been referred to regularly in the series: Sicily, Italy. What makes this so substantial, beyond being the newest entry in the series in over ten years, is that Mafia The Old Country modernizes the series in many ways while respecting the player’s time.
The panel revealed that the game will be less open-world-based than past entries. But that doesn’t mean early 1900s Sicily won’t be explorable. This isn’t particularly new to the Mafia series, as both Mafia and Mafia II had open-world elements while being linear regarding the mission structure.
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Even after the credits rolled, you had to go back several chapters to explore their locales to find collectibles and complete achievements. The Old Country will be like that as well, with a clear “golden path” to follow. In an era where lots of games try to expand their world more and more, by adding lots of new distracting elements while you go from mission to mission, keeping Mafia simpler is a major breath of fresh air.
Mafia The Old Country promises to bring the beauty of Italy to life in Unreal 5.
That’s not to say that Hangar 13 isn’t trying to add a lot of new to an old world. The panel revealed that there will be lots of new gameplay elements players can use while progressing through this narrative experience. Being even further back in time than the first two Mafia games includes older ways to move through the world, like horseback riding and even older cars in a beautifully realized Italy in Unreal Engine 5.
Hopefully, these new modes of transportation will reflect their antiquity, being harder to control, requiring more care to get around the dirt roads, and with cars being sparse as they are slowly being phased into society.
A classic system is also getting a much-needed update, Stealth. There’s always a handful of chapters and missions that require you to be stealthy to make a difficult objective much easier. The thing is, stealth mechanics have always had jank to them. Either enemies can hear you a mile away or have eagle eyesight. Or, you can crouch walk right in front of a cop, or an enemy mobster, and they’d be none the wiser.
With over ten years since a new entry (five if you count the remake of the original game), the stealth is being updated to feel more modern. It will require more care and awareness of your surroundings to get through sections, as shown in the trailer. With these sections almost feeling like slogs at times in past games, this being a focus for refinement is a breath of fresh air, especially as a Mafia fan who loves stealth games.
Combat in Mafia The Old Country has gotten a massive overhaul.
Finally, combat, especially, is getting a massive overhaul. Combat has regularly been more gunplay-focused in older Mafia games, which hasn’t been great, as these games have shown their age and use older models of guns. Like, you wouldn’t expect a Tommy Gun to be pinpoint accurate. With The Old Country, there will be new hand-to-hand mechanics with knife fights. In past games, hand-to-hand combat was basically “counterattack to win.”
With knives in play to change things up, it will be interesting to see how the combat can be more intense with moves and countermoves. Maybe even disarming to get the upper hand? Guns will also be more reflective of the original game, where they are used in grander moments. Like shootouts, instead of going into situations with guns blazing as the first and only option in any scenario.
Mafia The Old Country‘s latest gameplay trailer and PAX East panel was a very impressive showing. For a series that felt dormant with lots to tell, given its historically important setting, is exciting to see so much TLC be added to make sure that its return isn’t just “bigger and grander”, like many other games nowadays. But a return to what made the Mafia series so memorable.
Fun missions, an intense story full of family and betrayal, and a fun 1900s world setting it all takes place in. Taking it back even further and out of America feels exactly like the way to keep the series alive and well. The Old Country has quickly jumped my anticipated games list for 2025, and today’s trailer has sold me that Hangar 13 has learned its lessons and is doing this series justice.
Mafia The Old Country is available August 8th, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
