‘The Old Country’ is the reset the open-world series needs

Mafia, the story-driven open-world crime series, is expected to return to consoles and PC in 2025. Early comments from developer Hanger 13 suggest that the fourth game in the franchise will wisely focus on what the series is best known for: well-written storytelling and presentation.

The world premiere of Mafia: The Old Country Gamescom’s Opening Day Live wrapped up Tuesday, revealing that the series will be heading to Italy for the first time. Clearly inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s classic sequel The Godfather Part IIthe game will likely tell the story of one of the franchise’s many crime families that operated overseas.

“A thrilling story set in 1900s Sicily, during the origins of the Mafia,” said Nick Baynes, president of Hanger 13, following the reveal. “We’re going back to the roots of what fans love about the Mafia franchise by creating a deep linear story, with that classic mafia movie feel.”

Sicily is an inspired choice for the setting of the next game, as it will be a big change from the American concrete jungles of the first three games in the series. But it won’t be the first time Sicily has been featured in the Mafia series. In fact, “The Old Country” is the namesake of Mafia 2’s Chapter One. During this introductory mission, protagonist Vito Scaletta, a Sicilian-born American immigrant drafted into World War II, fights alongside Italian resistance fighters.

During the deadly battle, Vito witnesses the power of the Mafia. Just before he is shot to death, a Sicilian Mafia boss named Don Calo convinces an entire garrison of Mussolini’s army to stop fighting. Calo’s show of force convinces Vito to return to a life of crime when he returns to America two years later.

The trailer tells us little about what Mafia: The Old Country game is about. But knowing that the game will be a return to form is a huge relief. The last game in the series, 2016’s Mafia 3, made some pretty major deviations from the series formula, resulting in the only misstep in the 22-year-old franchise.

After Grand Theft Auto 3 changed the industry, the Mafia series was one of the first open-world franchises to follow, and it has always been compared to its contemporaries. In reality, though, Mafia has always represented a completely different take on the genre, one that is almost entirely focused on telling a great story. The open worlds are always beautifully realized, but function more as a giant immersive level than a playground for players.

Of Mafia 3Hanger 13 decided to address these criticisms head-on. They replaced Mafia’s carefully crafted story missions and setpieces with a small pool of extremely repetitive missions that players could tackle at their leisure. The result was a game that retained all of the franchise’s best elements and locked them behind boring progression, all in a futile attempt to give players more variety.

Mafia 3’s stumbles are still heartbreaking even eight years later. The fictional version of 1968 New Orleans is easily one of the most interesting and believable settings not just for the series, but in any game. Exploring Louisiana in the 1960s as a black man was one of the few examples of a game daring to tackle a subject as serious as America’s racist history. The fact that it did so with tact and teeth, and clearly presented the systemic realities that affected black Americans then and now, is a milestone in the medium that should never be forgotten.

Mafia 3 also features excellent voice performances from the cast, the best story in the series, and one of the best licensed soundtracks of all time. It’s a great game ruined by a desire to chase industry trends.

While it’s a shame that the next Mafia game won’t be as subversive as Mafia 3It’s reassuring to know that Hanger 13 is looking to avoid the same mistakes in terms of gameplay. Its recreation of 1900s Italy will also set it apart from most of the other open-world games planned for next year, including Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6.

For players new to Mafia, there’s never been a better time to jump into the franchise. Earlier this month, Xbox Game Pass added the fantastic 2021 remake of the first game in the series.