It looks like Mafia: The Old Country will be leaving behind the open-world design of its predecessor, Mafia 3, and will instead focus on more linear level design that focuses on telling a story and offering unique gameplay moments. According to a preview by IGN, the upcoming title’s overall structure will be closer to the original Mafia and Mafia 2 than it will be to Mafia 3.
In the preview, IGN noted that developer Hangar 13, according to president Nick Baynes, had similar opinions about Mafia 3 as the players did in hindsight, namely the fact that an open-world game in the vein of the Grand Theft Auto franchise didn’t suit the Mafia franchise. Baynes also suggested that the positive reception of the more linear Mafia: Definitive Edition might have led Hangar 13 to making Mafia: The Old Country a linear title as well.
The preview played by IGN involved three chapters of Mafia: The Old Country – chapters 3, 4 and 5. According to the publication, Hangar 13 has been seemingly quite successful at recapturing the general mission design structure that made the original Mafia and its first sequel beloved. The game focuses a lot more on its narrative rather than saddling players with side-quests and collection missions in an open world.
Earlier this month, Hangar 13 had also released a new trailer for Mafia: The Old Country, giving us an extensive look at its gameplay. The trailer involved protagonist Enzo Favara having a meeting with Ton Torrisi before heading out on a mission. However, before leaving for the mission, Enzo also has to prepare by picking out his ideal gear in order to infiltrate a villa. The trailer gave us a look at both stealth-based gameplay, as well as some more action-oriented segments.
Before this, Mafia: The Old Country had also gotten a trailer during Summer Game Fest 2025 back in June. The trailer gave us a look at some of the upcoming title’s story scenes, as well as some gameplay. According to the trailer, a core theme of Mafia: The Old Country will be the idea of revenge, and how it “can only come from someone else”.
According to Hangar 13, authenticity has been a major priority for the studio when it comes to portraying early-1900s Sicily in Mafia: The Old Country. A developer diary from back in May featured quite a few of the developers, including game director Alex Cox, lead writer Matthew Aitken, and art director Steve Noakes, among others.
“When it comes to something like the knives in the game, there’s very little reference that’s available for that. Right?” said Noakes. “And so really we had to dig very deep. We went into some tiny little backwater of a machine shop where this guy and his son were still crafting knives by hand, imbuing them with their particular regional styles, known for their thumbprints, if you like, of their particular approach to building knives. We just wouldn’t really experienced that any other way.”
Mafia: The Old Country is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 8.
