Mafia: The Old Country’s release is just about a month away, with it set to hit the market on August 8. For the fourth main installment, and second in the series developed by studio Hangar 13,Mafia: The Old Countrywill be covering a new chapter in the gritty crime series while also making some big changes from the previous entries. Most notably, the upcoming title will take players the furthest back into the past for the franchise so far, being set a number of years before even the 1930s Prohibition era of the first game.
Mafia: The Old Countrywill send fans to Old World Italyduring the early 1900s in a story about the formation and rise of the infamous Family. And given this shift, along with some of its other related designs,The Old Countrycould be well-suited for fans of Rockstar Games' renownedRed Dead Redemptionseries, and serve to provide a generally adjacent experience.
While previousMafiagames drew comparisons toGrand Theft Auto, they were never really quite the same. Admittedly, these two IPs do share some surface elements, but the differences between their designs are significant enough to prevent the former from being a straight-up “GTAclone”, as the term has sometimes been applied.Mafia: The Old Country, though, does look to contain many traits that resemble Rockstar Games' other massively popular franchise,Red Dead Redemption, in a variety of ways.
Similar to howRed Dead Redemption 2served as a prequel to the 2010 original, following the life and adventures of Arthur Morgan and John Marston with the Van der Linde gang before theevents of the firstRDR,Mafia: The Old Countrywill place fans in the shoes of protagonist Enzo Favara. Young and eager to prove himself, he will become involved with and be inducted into a budding version of the Family. Like John and Arthur, Enzo will then wrestle with this and have to deal with the consequences of his choice to turn to a life of crime.
Publisher 2K has highlighted thatMafia: The Old Countrywill be priced at $50for the base game, stating that this decision aligns with the game’s vision and running time.
Red Dead Redemptionhas become known as one of, if not the ultimate, Old Western gaming experiences. Many fans have thus been hoping for new content ever since its release in 2018. Despite this, though, Rockstar Games so far has not expressed much interest in doing so. The studio has since largely been focused on itshugely anticipatedGrand Theft Auto 6, which was delayed earlier in February this year and is currently slated to launch on June 29, 2025.
Footage in thetrailers forMafia: The Old Countryshows chase scenes and intense shootouts through the city of Sicily and the surrounding countryside. Characters are seen wielding period-appropriate weapons like revolvers, bolt-action rifles, and dynamite. Along with these gameplay aspects and the third-person perspective,The Old Countrywill feature a cinematic narrative approach with high production values, something bothRed Dead Redemptionsalso did incredibly well.
Fans should note, however, thatMafia: The Old Countrywill be a much more linear experienceversus a large open-world, and temper expectations in this regard compared to theRDRgames. Nevertheless, given that there likely won’t be moreRDRcoming any time soon,The Old Countrytouches on a lot of other aspects that set it up to potentially provide an experience that those looking for something along the lines ofRed Dead Redemptionwill enjoy.
