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During the Mafia: The Old Country panel presented at PAX East 2025, moderator and host of the Kinda Funny Podcast Greg Miller put the game developer panelists to the test. "Are you prepared," he asked, "to go on record and say that this is the best looking Mafia game of all time?"

The game's cinematic director, Tomáš Hřebíček, was quick to speak up.

"Oh fuck yeah," he said, to thunderous applause.

Once that died down, Hřebíček explained his answer. "We wanted the player to feel like they are stepping into a classic mob movie," said the director, who has been with the Mafia franchise since the early '00s. "We created an incredibly detailed environment that is Sicily. [Context - the upcoming Mafia prequel is set in 1905 Sicily, hence the name] From the beautiful landscapes down to the super detailed architecture."

But making the game feel like "a classic mob movie" came down to more than just the detailed imagery. In this game, part of that effect is achieved by how that imagery is experienced.

"One more feature we are bringing to Mafia: The Old Country," said Hřebíček, "Is the seamless transition. We are going seamlessly from the gameplay to the cinematics, so the experience is flowing throughout the whole game. [...] Unreal Engine 5 opens new possibilities we were unable to reach before; the details you are getting now are incredible. [...] You're losing the sense of the presence of the polygons."

Mafia: The Old Country comes to consoles August 8.

You don't need to beat the game to prepare for the next one—here are all the major new and upcoming games coming our way.