Mafia: The Old Country and GTA VI, an offer we can’t refuse?! Fuhgeddaboudit!

Posted on by Vaseline

Take-Two Interactive is taking a big step into the gaming world, much like Michael Corleone did at the end of The Godfather (1972) when he “crushed” every enemy he had in one fell swoop. We already know that Grand Theft Auto VI will take over the world when it comes out in Fall 2025, but with Mafia: The Old Country also gearing up for a 2025 launch, Take-Two will soon be shouting: “We did it, Mom! Top of the world!” (White Heat, 1949).

The “One More Thing” Gamescom trailer for Mafia: The Old Country, unofficially Mafia 4, blew everyone away, though the showcase was pretty strong overall. We’d all heard the rumors that the next iteration would be set in Sicily, so expectations were already high.

Fortunately, the Hangar 13 trailer for the upcoming “timey mob simulator” did not disappoint, but exceeded expectations. As soon as it started rolling, there were some heavy words: “This thing of ours. It’s a brotherhood.“The fans knew at that moment what was happening before their eyes.

The sacred Omerta ritual was depicted with a knife next to Santa Rosalia, the patron saint of Palermo (the capital of Sicily). The voice from the video also asks an unknown person, probably the player character, “Do you want to dedicate yourself and your life to this family?“

The last thing we see is a twin-towered cathedral that could be a custom-made rendering of the Palermo Cathedral, inspired by the Cefalù Cathedral. Whatever the case, it’s clear that the developers are taking creative liberties with the architecture, much like Ubisoft developers do with Assassin’s Creed, and this can’t be anything but good news.Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,” as Mark Twain once said.

Mafia\: The Old Country

Photo: 2K

And now back to our regularly scheduled tinfoil hat conspiracy program! The trailer doesn’t give away too much, but the Steam page has a pretty interesting collection of in-game “photos.”

Sure, they look great, but one in particular raises more questions than the rest: the era-appropriate vehicle parked in a field at night with a shotgun leaning against it, its headlights illuminating what looks like dug-up dirt and, more importantly, a shovel poking out of the ground.

Anyone who’s ever seen a mafia movie understood the premise immediately. Does this mean there’s going to be a gameplay feature where we drive around with dead bodies in the trunks of our cars, waiting until nightfall, and then unceremoniously dumping them six feet underground? That could be it, but it could also mean it’s a one-off event during a story mission or something.

The vehicle is not immediately recognizable because it is so dark. However, observant eye-spotters claim that the grille comes from an Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (1924-1931), while the fenders look like those of an Alfa Romeo. You could say that there is a resemblance to the ALFA 24 from 1910-1914 PK with a 4.1-liter inline-four engine.

Jay Leno drove a 1928 Isotta Fraschini Landaulet Type 8A about two years ago, and it is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. The luxury bus was specially designed for the wealthy residents of Wall Street and Hollywood.

Mafia\: The Old Country

Photo: 2K

The 96-year-old gem wasn’t messing around, packing a 7.3-liter straight-eight mill mated to a 3-speed manual transmission. According to local legend, it was the most powerful mass-produced inline-8 cylinder engine at the time, producing 113-158 horsepower.

The game will likely start in the early 1900s, when we’re only driving horses or carriages. However, it’s not unthinkable that we’ll see more vehicles as the decades go by. Maybe a “20 years later” screen will appear after a job goes horribly wrong, and the streets will be filled with motorized vehicles.

There’s currently no information on gameplay, story, or anything else, other than that it’s a gritty mafia story set in a brutal underworld. But we do know that it will feature Sicilian voice acting. For many fans, that means they’ll have to play through the game at least twice, once in Sicilian and then in English. Italian localization will also be available, but only in the form of in-game UI and subtitles, with no dubbing.

The official website says it’s coming to current-gen consoles and PC in 2025. Thankfully, we’ll be seeing more of the game soon at Geoff Keighley’s “The Game Awards” on December 12, 2024. Delays aren’t out of the question, but if it does make its release date, we’ll be getting Mafia: The Old Country and Grand Theft Auto VI in the same year, which is mind-boggling. Take-Two really is after our money (pun intended) next year.

If you grew up with gangster movies, then you may have gone beyond just watching and picked up video games like the Mafia trilogy, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Saints Row, The Getaway, Empire of Sin and even Scarface: The World is Yours (2006), The Godfather (2006) or The Sopranos: Road to Respect (2006) along the way. Well, Mafia 4 of The Old Country seems like a great contender for any fan of historical games, although we’ll have to wait a little longer for more info from TGA. Fingers crossed for an eight-minute gameplay trailer.

Mafia\: The Old Country

Photo: 2K

In the meantime, note that Mafia Definitive Edition is free to play on Xbox or PC Game Pass. The remake is a great experience with beautifully rendered vehicles that fit the era, modeled after the 1937 Cadillac V16, the 1934 Chrysler Airflow, the 1926 Ford Model T, the 1929 Stutz Blackhawk, the bizarre but charming 1938 Phantom Corsair or the stunning 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow.

You can also bribe cops when they try to give you a speeding ticket, if that helps move the needle. But all joking aside, Mafia: Definitive Edition is one of the best-looking third-person action games out there, and it depicts the 1930s like nobody’s business.

While it’s free on Game Pass, there’s one unfortunate bit of news about the console version: it only runs at 30fps because it never got a proper “next-gen” performance patch. As always, the best place to enjoy a buttery smooth gaming experience is on your old PC, bluescreen or not.

It’s also not all that demanding. The recommended specs call for at least 16GB of RAM, 50GB of storage, and an Intel Core-i7 3770 or AMD FX-8350 CPU paired with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 or AMD Radeon RX 5700 GPU.

Mafia 4 is only available on current-gen, and based on the official images it seems we can expect some seriously beefed-up PC specs to be able to run the game at 4K Ultra settings at a minimum of 60fps. And that’s without even mentioning global lighting with ray tracing, shadows, reflections and all that ‘nonsense’. Perhaps the game will benefit from the elusive PS5 Pro.

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