Don’t worry, the lack of Italian voice actors in Mafia: The Old Country isn’t a strange oversight, 2K is going all Sicilian for added Cosa Nostra authenticity

Mafia: The Old Country doesn’t feature any Italian voices, but 2K has now revealed the reason behind what initially seemed like a rather confusing omission: Hangar 13 has opted to go with Sicilian voices instead.

In case you missed it, The Old Country was revealed at the end of Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024, with a teaser trailer confirming a 2025 release date and teasing how the game will depict the mod underworld in 1900s Sicily.

Not long after that showing, fans checking out the game’s Steam Store listing noticed that full audio for Italian wasn’t checked in the list of supported languages, while English, French, German, Spanish, Czech, and Russian all had that box checked. Given that it’s set in Italy, people were a little confused, but it’s okay, 2K’s now stepped in to clarify the situation.

“Authenticity is key to the Mafia franchise and Mafia: The Old Country will feature Sicilian-language voice acting, fitting the game’s setting in 1900s Sicily,” the publisher tweeted. “In addition, Italian localization will be available for both in-game UI and via subtitles.”

So there you have it, no bizarre blunder, it’s just that the developers wanted to use Sicilian, a regional dialect with enough of its own idiosyncrasies, words and pronunciations to be considered a separate language from what we consider standard Italian. It’s a bit tricky to fully explain why the two are so vastly different without giving you a complete history of modern Italy, but it’s worth looking that up if you’re interested. Tell Giuseppe Garibaldi I said ciao.

Are you excited to play Mafia: The Old Country in full Sicilian for maximum crowd immersion when it releases in 2025? Let us know below!