Mafia: The Old Country didn’t feature Italian voice acting, but 2K has now revealed the reasoning behind what initially seemed a rather puzzling omission – Hangar 13 opted to use Sicilian.
In case you missed it, Old Realm was unveiled at the end of the Gamescom 2024 Opening Night Live stream, with a trailer confirming the game will be released in 2025 and giving you a taste of the game’s depiction of the modern underworld in 20th century Sicily.
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Shortly after that showcase, fans checked out the game’s Steam store listing and noticed that Italian was missing from the list of supported languages, with English, French, German, Spanish, Czech, and Russian all ticked. Considering the game is set in Italy, people were a bit confused, but that’s okay, 2K has now stepped in to clear up the situation.
“Authenticity is at the heart of the Mafia series, and Mafia: The Old State will feature Sicilian voice-overs, in keeping with the game’s 20th century Sicily setting,” the publisher said on Twitter. “In addition, both the in-game UI and subtitles will be localized into Italian.”
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So, you see, there wasn’t some weird misstep, it was just that the developers wanted to use Sicilian, a regional dialect with enough unique quirks, words, and pronunciations to be considered a different language from what we classify as standard Italian. It’s hard to fully explain why the two are so different without giving you a full history of modern Italy, but it’s worth a look if you’re interested. Tell Giuseppe Garibaldi I say goodbye.
Will you be interested in experiencing the full Sicilian experience and achieving maximum gangster immersion when Mafia: The Old State launches in 2025? Let us know below!
