Mafia: The Old Country developer Hangar 13 dug into plenty of behind-the-scenes details about making The Old Country during a PAX East panel. The team discussed their approach to making The Old Country, a few more details about the game's narrative, and also revealed a few core members of the cast. The panel was hosted by Greg Miller from Kinda Funny Games, with Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes, game director Alex Cox, and cinematic director Tomas Hrebick representing the development team for Mafia: The Old Country. There's a lot we already know about The Old Country, some of which we learned more about during the gameplay trailer that was revealed ahead of the panel. One aspect fans were happy to hear was that The Old Country would be closer in style to the first two Mafia games in that The Old Country is a more linear experience, and not necessarily an open-world game. Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes did however clarify this point, that while the game will have you on a golden path through the story, you're still free to roam the new setting of 1900's Sicily and explore the world that the team has meticulously created in Unreal Engine 5. In terms of the gameplay, Baynes called it "familiar, but better," while Cox elaborated that there are elements to the gameplay and scenarios that are unique to The Old Country due to the new setting for the series, since each previous Mafia game has been set in an American city. Some of the missions and things you'll do in The Old Country however, are purposeful callbacks to activities veterans of the series will recognize that have been re-tooled to fit The Old Country. Knife dueling, for example, is one of the new additions to gameplay that we get a short look at in the trailer, that will play a significant role in The Old Country's combat. That's not to say you won't be using a gun every now and then, as the trailer also showed a fair bit of gunplay that Cox and the panel likened more to the first Mafia game, than Mafia III, which was a more bombastic experience. In terms of the narrative, we were introduced to three cast members who are playing three main roles in the story. Enzo Favara, the lead character in The Old Country and the person you play as in the game, is played by Riccardo Frascari. The Don of the Torrisi family, Bernado Torrisi is played by Johnny Santiago, and Torrisi's daughter, Isabella Torrisi is played by Carina Conti. Speaking of characters, towards the end of the panel, Cox did confirm that there will be as many as four returning characters from previous Mafia games making an appearance in Mafia: The Old Country, though he did not reveal who it would be and how, to avoid spoiling the surprise for players. One interesting bit about the studio's work to make Mafia: The Old Country as authentic as possible, relates to the cars we see Enzo drive in the game. They're some of the world's earliest vehicles, and Hangar 13 was able to find a collector in the Czech Republic who let the studio photograph, and even drive these cars and record them, to be as accurate as possible with how these old cars would have sounded. Overall, it's clear that Hangar 13 put in a lot of work to make Mafia: The Old Country as detailed as possible. The game will arrive on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC this coming August 8, 2025. Products mentioned Mafia: The Old Country USD 49.99 Buy from Amazon Deal of the Day