‘Mafia: The Old Country’ soon to hit the shelves, Czech developer promises throwback
The Mafia franchise is one of the most commercially successful Czech-made game series ever. ‘Mafia: The Old Country’ will be its fourth instalment, with a storyline going back to the roots of the Sicilian Mafia – a prequel to the first release 23 years ago. The brand new game is launching on August 8.
Czech video game developer 2K Czech, creators of the Mafia franchise, have finalized its soon-to-be newest release: ‘Mafia: The Old Country’. Whilst the studio was acquired by American company Hangar 13 in 2017, the existing branches in Brno, and a smaller one in Prague, have remained integral in bringing the new game to the market.
Work on the project was announced in August 2022 – the 20-year anniversary of the initial Mafia game which took the video game world by storm. Roman Hladík, General Manager of the Hangar 13’s Czech branch said at the time that the game was still “a few years away”.
Now, ‘Mafia: The Old Country’ is on the verge of dropping. Its protagonist will be a young man called Enzo Favara, an upcoming gangster, trying to make his way in the Sicilian Mafia. Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes describes his adventure, which players will be able to follow throughout the game:
“As a child he’s worked in the sulphur mines, sold there by his parents - a very horrible thing for a kid, which unfortunately happened in those days. So he doesn’t really know family, he doesn’t know love. He escapes, he falls in with the Torrisi crime family, and this game shows his rise through the ranks, as he goes from being this impoverished young man to a made man,” he tells the Future Games Show.
In the previous, third release titled ‘Mafia: Definitive Edition’, the Sicilian Mafia had already crossed the Atlantic and wreaked havoc in the fictional city of Lost Heaven, Illinois, with a story set in the 1930s. The upcoming storyline story rolls back the years of organized crime to 1900s Sicily, the origins of the Mafia.
According to Baynes, this goes “back to the roots of what fans love about the Mafia franchise”. A functional part of this rewind is also a return to a linear, narrative-driven story – similar to Mafia I and II. The third iteration opted for an open-world mechanic, which received underwhelming feedback.
Developers have also focused on advancing the game’s visual aspect. ‘Mafia: The Old Country’ was made using Unreal Engine 5, allowing for greater detail and a more cinematic feel. For Baynes, this is an integral part of what the franchise seeks to accomplish:
“Mafia has always been about pushing the technology of its day to do the best in cinematic storytelling and exciting narrative gameplay. It really makes what’s already an emotional story even more emotional and meaningful,” he says.
The prized graphics are one of the main contributions of the Czech branch of Hangar 13. Associate Art Director of the new game, Jakub Vavřík, as well as the lead executives for characters, environment, and technology are all Czech artists based in Brno. They too speak of an “ambition to create the best-looking game”.
The Czech video game industry has produced several notable successes in that regard. Game series such as Kingdome Come: Delivrance, Operation Flashpoint, or Truck Simulator join the Mafia franchise as some of the world’s most acclaimed titles.
‘Mafia: The Old Country’ is next to try and capture the hearts of video-game lovers. The release features full audio dubbing in Czech, English, French, German, Spanish, and Russian; some Italian and Sicilian will also appear throughout the gameplay. The action-adventure game will be available on August 8, on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.
Related
-
Infinite Universes
Mafia, Arma and Chuchel are just some of the Czech video games that have conquered the world. Take a look behind the scenes of the Czech gaming industry in our new series.
