Mafia: The Old Country

Out August 8th for Xbox Series X and PS5, this prequel to the cult favorite Mafia series isn’t trying to be the next GTA. Instead, it’s playing the long game. Swapping sandbox chaos for slow burn storytelling, and trading in the neon drenched urban sprawl of Mafia III for cobblestone streets and blood oaths in a fictional Sicilian town named San Celeste.

A Made Man in the Making

You play as Enzo Favara, a nobody with nothing to lose, and everything to prove. He’s not driving sports cars through New Bordeaux or flipping rackets like Lincoln Clay. He’s riding horseback, learning the ropes from aging wiseguys, and making the kinds of choices that echo through generations. This is a game less about empire building and more about initiation. Both into the family, and into violence.

It’s linear. And it’s exactly the kind of pivot the series may have needed.

“We really wanted to return to what Mafia was always meant to be—a cinematic, character-driven experience,” Hangar 13 head Nick Baynes said during a press Q&A. “We’re going back to our roots. Literally.”

And he means that. The game features full voice acting in Sicilian (with subtitles, of course), lending it the kind of authenticity that most AAA historical games only gesture toward.

Fewer Maps, More Murders

The Old Country drops the open-world excess of its predecessor and doubles down on narrative design. Missions feel handcrafted, cutscenes flow directly into action, and the pacing leans closer to a prestige HBO drama than a traditional video game structure. It’s episodic, it’s moody, and yes, it’s violent.

Combat isn’t revolutionary. Expect classic third-person gunplay, a few satisfying stealth kill options, and a surprising amount of melee mechanics but it all serves the mood. You're not here to speedrun your way through missions; you're here to immerse. One minute you’re in a smoky tavern talking shop with the Don, the next you’re waist-deep in a wheat field shootout at sundown.

Period-Perfect… and Pretty Brutal

What The Old Country lacks in geographic sprawl, it makes up for in atmospheric weight. Sicily circa 1900 is dirty, dangerous, and deeply alive. You’ll travel by carriage, horse, or one of the few rickety automobiles of the era, and while it’s not an open world, the locations you visit, olive farms, crumbling churches, mountaintop villages, ooze with mood. San Celeste is more than just a backdrop; it’s the cradle of the mob. And if the trailers are any indication, it’s also going to be a bloody one.

A Strategic Hit Before the Blockbuster Arrives

With GTA VI bumped to 2026, the fall and winter gaming landscape just opened up a giant, city-sized hole. And 2K clearly sees an opportunity. Mafia: The Old Country may not be a sandbox epic, but it’s poised to be one of 2025’s most interesting titles—not because it’s the biggest game of the year, but because it's different. Call it the calm before the criminal storm. Or better yet, call it what it is: a mob story done right.