Mafia: The Old Country not only takes players back in time to the early 1900s, but also to a new place in Sicily. Game director Alex Cox recently talked about why the team at Hangar 13 chose that setting and time for the new Mafia game after the latest entries were set in later time periods of mob history.
Cox said in an interview with Xbox that while the first three Mafia games explored different eras of the American mafia, the team “loved the idea of heading to Sicily and exploring the early years of this fearsome crime organization.”
For comparison, the original Mafia took place in the 1930s, with Mafia II picking up in the 1940s. Mafia III, meanwhile, was set in the late 1960s.
Cox went on to say that making The Old Country has been a “refreshing departure” for Hangar 13, as its staffers got to work on elements of the “rugged Sicilian countryside” as opposed to the busy cities of the other Mafia games.
“Building this story has been a great experience for everyone at Hangar 13–first learning about Sicilian history and the origins of the Mafia, then adapting that into an exciting criminal adventure,” Cox said.
In particular, though, Cox said he’s excited about elements of the time period, including horses, vintage vehicles, and knife duels. Taking place in the early 1900s means cars with hand-crank engines will appear in The Old Country, he said. “We’ve never had the player riding on horseback before! Galloping across the Sicilian countryside feels incredibly freeing and is unlike anything we’ve done in the past,” Cox explained.
While no entry in the Mafia series has been set completely in Sicily, the first mission in Mafia II, titled The Old Country, takes players to Sicily in 1943.
Developers from Hangar 13 visited Sicily to get a firsthand look and feel for the island and its culture. Cox went on to say that Hangar 13 has been working with a “local Sicilian partner” that gave the studio “invaluable guidance.” The team also consulted Sicilian history experts to help the developers nail down things like era-appropriate bricks, music, and even swear words.
Because The Old Country is set in the early 1900s, players won’t have access to modern weapons, so the game aims to make combat feel “more tactical and deliberate.”
“We’ve leaned heavily into the ‘tools of the trade’ of a Sicilian Mafioso, from lupara shotguns to stiletto blades. There’s real grit to these older, more traditional weapons,” Cox said.
Finally, although The Old Country features a new main cast of characters and aims to appeal to newcomers to the series, Cox said existing fans “will get a kick out of how Mafia: The Old Country connects to the rest [of the franchise].”
The Old Country releases Summer 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.