5 things we would like to see from Mafia The Old Country

Gamescom fulfilled the wishes of many fans with the announcement of Mafia The Old Country for the next-gen consoles. For years, players have been looking forward to the release of the next entry in the Mafia franchise, and this announcement has reignited the gaming community's love for the series. The reveal was through a short teaser that unveiled the game's title and mentioned that more information would follow in December 2024.

As we wait, this article will discuss five things we would like to see from Mafia The Old Country.

Note: This article solely reflects the writer's opinions. The entries are arranged in no particular order.

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These are things we would like to see from Mafia The Old Country

1) A polished launch

Mafia 3 launched in a buggy state (Image via 2K)

Mafia 3's release in 2017 was received poorly due to its buggy launch. The game was unplayable, with bugs that crashed the title and locked players out of their progress. Even the AI in Mafia 3 was faulty and ruined the players' experience - an issue that was never properly fixed. The game is still broken, even after multiple patches over all these years.

The broken state of Mafia 3 led to many players never trying the game since nobody wants to get locked out of progression or have their save files deleted due to technical glitches. Therefore, we expect Mafia the Old Country to learn from the issues of its predecessor and launch in a polished state for consoles and PC.

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2) A 60 FPS performance mode

Mafia games can feel smoother with a performance mode (Image via 2K)

Every Mafia title has been known to run at 30 FPS on consoles. Even on the current-gen systems, there are no next-gen patches to run the games at 60 FPS. This is extremely disappointing, considering both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series boast hardware performance capable of running the existing Mafia titles at higher framerates. With Mafia The Old Country coming out soon, we want to see the game touch 60 FPS.

Now the 60 FPS target can be part of a performance mode which players can select from the options menu, along with a quality mode that targets 30 FPS while maximizing the graphical fidelity. The option for a performance mode can breathe new life into Mafia The Old Country, allowing players to experience the open world with smoother framerates.

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3) Open-world activities

Mafia II: Definitive Edition featured a beautiful open world (Image via 2K)

The previous Mafia games featured rich open worlds to explore through free-roam mode and story missions. The city in each entry was detailed with hoardings, cars, and buildings as they accurately reflected the game's era. However, even with a massive open world the games never featured any interesting side activities around the city, except for gathering collectibles such as magazines and posters.

This led to a poor open-world experience with no real reason to explore the city since there were no side missions or activities to partake in. In Mafia The Old Country, we would like to see the inclusion of side missions and jobs littered across town. This will give players a reason to stay and explore the open world after finishing the main campaign.

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4) A love story

Mafia The Old Country should feature a romance story (Image via 2K)

Previous Mafia games have dipped their toes into the romantic side by exploring the love angle through short cutscenes between the protagonist and a side character. However, this plot point has not been a significant part of the franchise as much as it was in Mafia Definitive Edition.

The romantic angle has a lot of potential in the world of crime, and can breathe life into Mafia The Old Country if done correctly. This can connect players to the protagonist's warmer side and show us how he treats his lover compared to the gang, giving us a clearer understanding of his true disposition.

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5) Less driving, more shooting

Mafia The Old Country needs reduced driving sections (Image via 2K)

Mafia titles have been criticized for featuring long driving segments in almost every mission. These sections are included to reach the objective and to inform them about extra lore and mission details through the NPC traveling with them. While the driving is part of the gameplay, it overshadows the shooting, making you feel more like a driver than an actual member of the Mafia.

In Mafia The Old Country, we would like reduced or shorter driving sections to let the shooting sections breathe more. Driving is part of the fun in chase sequences or to build up the tension during the drive as we approach the final mission. However, it shouldn't be a gameplay element that overshadows the game's main objective, making you feel like you are mafia.