Update: 2K has confirmed there's no Italian voice acting - instead, Mafia: The Old Country will feature a far more authentic Sicilian voiceover.
Original story: Mafia: The Old Country - a game about the Italian Mafia, set in Italy, featuring Italian accents - seemingly won't have Italian voice acting.
At last night's Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase, developer Hangar 13 announced that Mafia: The Old Country would be reeling things back to 1900s Sicily to take a look at the origins of the bloody shootouts and criminal rivalries that eventually spawn in the main Mafia trilogy.
When it comes out next year, the Mafia prequel will apparently go "back to the roots of what fans love about the Mafia franchise" with a "deep linear narrative," according to studio president Nick Baynes.
The reveal trailer only features a brief view of Sicily and a very Italian voiceover discussing the importance of family, loyalty, and other things that are really important to mob bosses.
Despite the heavy accents, some series fans have noted an odd omission on Mafia: The Old Country's Steam page. The storefront's 'Language' graph seems to indicate that the prequel will apparently only have 'Full Audio' in English, French, German, Spanish, Czech, and Russian - not Italian.
Italian-speaking players can at least toggle subtitles and a localized interface, but that's about it, which is disappointing for anyone who would like to play the game with more authentic language options (I doubt 1900s Sicilians were speaking to each other in broken English).
Mafia: The Old Country is currently set to come out sometime in 2025 - joining Borderlands 4, Civilization 7, and GTA 6 in publisher Take-Two's growing slate of heavy hitters - so there's plenty of time for Hangar 13 to talk more about the game's language options.
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