{"id":1195363,"date":"2026-02-18T02:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=598031"},"modified":"2026-02-18T02:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:36:40","slug":"mafia-the-old-country-promises-a-return-to-the-old-ways-and-less-open-world-bloat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/mafia-the-old-country-promises-a-return-to-the-old-ways-and-less-open-world-bloat\/","title":{"rendered":"Mafia: The Old Country promises a return to the old ways \u2014 and less open-world bloat"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/mafia-the-old-country-promises-a-return-to-the-old-ways-and-less-open-world-bloat.jpg\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">2K Games and developer Hangar 13 revealed a longer look at gameplay from <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/news\/442193\/mafia-the-old-country-is-a-return-to-the-series-after-at-least-8-years\">Mafia: The Old Country<\/a><\/em> on Thursday, showing how the origin story for the Mafia franchise stands apart from the open-world, organized crime competition. In fact, Hangar 13 is hinting strongly that it has no intentions to make <em>Mafia: The Old Country<\/em> your next \u201cforever game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Instead, the game\u2019s creators call <em>The Old Country<\/em> \u201ca focused, linear experience that combines quality storytelling, authentic era immersion and a refined take on the familiar Mafia gameplay.\u201d Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes said in a news release that the smaller, more linear approach \u201callows us to deliver a story that\u2019s gritty, grounded, brutal and emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Further reinforcing the smaller, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/reviews\/24078968\/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-review\">less-bloated design<\/a> of <em>Mafia: The Old Country<\/em> is this statement from the president of publisher 2K, David Ismalier, who said, \u201cWe think there\u2019s a large audience for compelling stories that don\u2019t require massive time commitments.\u201d Ismailer added that <em>The Old Country<\/em> \u201ccan easily complement the other more persistent games our players also love and engage with on a more consistent basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">The strongest evidence of <em>Mafia: The Old Country<\/em>\u2019s scope is its price: 2K is selling the base game for $49.99. There\u2019s a Deluxe Edition that costs $59.99 and includes a bunch of extras, naturally, but the asking price is certainly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/news\/581992\/xbox-price-increase-us\">atypical of AAA game releases in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">So if you\u2019re in for a leaner, more classic <em>Mafia<\/em> experience, check out the newly released gameplay video that shows protagonist Enzo Favara, as he takes the oath, works his way up Don Torrisi\u2019s crime family, and shoots up 1900s Sicily.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\"><em>Mafia: The Old Country<\/em> is coming to PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/news\/598031\/mafia-old-country-gameplay-trailer-release-date\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2K Games and developer Hangar 13 revealed a longer look at gameplay from Mafia: The Old Country on Thursday, showing how the origin story for the Mafia franchise stands apart from the open-world, organized crime competition. In fact, Hangar 13 is hinting strongly that it has no intentions to make Mafia: The Old Country your next \u201cforever game.\u201d Instead, the game\u2019s creators call The Old Country \u201ca focused, linear experience that combines quality storytelling, authentic era immersion and a refined take on the familiar Mafia gameplay.\u201d Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes said in a news release that the smaller, more linear approach \u201callows us to deliver a story that\u2019s gritty, grounded, brutal and emotional.\u201d Further reinforcing the smaller, less-bloated design of Mafia: The Old Country&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/mafia-the-old-country-promises-a-return-to-the-old-ways-and-less-open-world-bloat\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1195364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1195363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mafia: The Old Country promises a return to the old ways \u2014 and less open-world bloat | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"2K Games and developer Hangar 13 revealed a longer look at gameplay from Mafia: The Old Country on Thursday, showing how the origin story for the Mafia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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