Mafia 3 is better than Grand Theft Auto 5. It’s smarter, more vicious, boasts a much, much more powerful social commentary, and it has better dialogue, car chases, and gunfights. The historical crime game series is less a GTA rival than it once was, but they’re both open-world gangster games – if I had to choose between the two, I would pick Mafia The Old Country, just announced at Gamescom, over GTA 6. Nevertheless, after Hangar 13 revealed its new crime sequel, questions arose about the in-game language settings, which seemed to offer subtitles or fully recorded dialogue for French, German, Russian, Czech – but not Italian, despite Mafia The Old Country’s setting. Now, however, Hangar 13 makes a statement, clarifying the language options in its upcoming epic.
Mafia The Old Country takes the open-world game series back to its thematic roots. Set in Sicily during the 1920s, it follows the historical beginnings of the modern mob, far removed from the Americanized version of the Cosa Nostra that Hangar 13, 2K, and Gathering of Developers have otherwise focused on until now. We don’t know an enormous amount about the new Mafia game yet, but after it was announced at Gamescom, fans and reporters noticed a seeming oddity on its Steam page – under the list of languages that were available through both subtitling and full audio, while Russian, Spanish, and others were checked, Italian was not.
It seemed unusual, given the game’s apparent focus on the beginnings and culture of the Sicilian mafia, but now Hangar 13 has issued an encouraging clarification. “Authenticity is at the heart of the Mafia franchise,” the developer says, “and Mafia: The Old Country will offer voice acting in Sicilian, inline with the game’s setting in 1900s Sicily. Additionally, Italian language localization will be available for both in-game UI and via subtitles.”
So, you will be able to play Mafia The Old Country with authentic Sicilian language and dialect. As someone who always plays the Metro games in Russian, since it’s considerably more befitting the atmosphere, the world, and the locale, I’ll definitely be picking this option when Mafia The Old Country arrives in 2025.
Until then, check out some of the other best crime games, or maybe get the latest on the GTA 6 release date, which Rockstar continues to tease.
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