Hangar 13 transformed an obvious statement into a developer diary, since it’s pretty much a given this will be the franchise’s best-looking episode yet…

Mafia: The Old Country is less than two months away, and before launch, developer Hangar 13 is making every effort to show how much the prequel has evolved since we last saw the Mafia franchise. The latest step in their marketing is the new developer diary video, “Art Meets Technology,” embedded below, which details how Unreal Engine 5’s new technologies make Mafia: The Old Country look far better than the previous entries in the series.

“It allows us to tell that story in a way that we just wouldn’t be able to with other technologies. From Metahuman to Nanite to Lumen. These are all different technologies we’re honestly pushing to the max. They let us capture the intricacies of a performance and automate certain parts of the process so we get to the point where we can really leave our human thumbprint on these assets,” said art director Steve Noake.

Lead character artist Ivan Rylka added that Unreal Engine 5 represents a significant improvement over what Hangar 13 could do before using Epic Games’ latest engine, confidently stating there’s no doubt this will be the best-looking Mafia game in the franchise. Since Mafia 3 was released on the previous console generation and Mafia 2 even earlier, it’s an obvious point that doesn’t need much discussion…

It’s clear that Hangar 13 is doing everything they can to make Mafia: The Old Country look and feel as good as possible. It’ll be interesting to see if the game has substance beyond just visual appeal when it finally releases. Mafia: The Old Country launches on August 8, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.

Source: WCCFTech