The Old Country Doesn’t Have Swimming And That’s Great

Mafia: The Old Country is about on the island of Sicily. Regardless of your proximity to the Mediterranean, nevertheless, there’s no swimming within the newest, not-quite-open-world gangster sport. A clip exhibiting the brand new blockbuster’s lack of “swimming physics” shortly blew up on social media, spurring a debate about whether or not The Outdated Nation cuts corners. In reality, I want extra video games had been effective with chopping junk that doesn’t matter.

Swimming is among the methods an open-world sport proves simply how premium and costly it’s. Falling in water meant instantaneous loss of life in Notorious 1 and 2, whereas in Second Son it merely returned you to the final arduous floor you had been standing on. However in Ghost of Tsushima, gentle swimming mechanics turned a part of exploring the world. You couldn’t swim in Grand Theft Auto till San Andreas. One of many extra controversial facets of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom video games is that, whilst you can swim on the floor of the water, you possibly can’t dive beneath like in earlier video games.

In case you had been questioning, Mafia: The Outdated Nation does not have swimming physics similar to earlier Mafia Video games pic.twitter.com/oUA13X64Q1

— NikTek (@NikTekOfficial) August 8, 2025

Swimming was by no means a factor within the Mafia video games until Mafia 3, which happened in a canal- and swamp-filled model of New Orleans known as New Bordeaux. So it may need made sense to anticipate that to stay a part of the characteristic set in The Outdated Nation. However the brand new sport can also be extra streamlined, specializing in its characters, missions, and world fairly than on the sort of sandbox bloat that may be enjoyable to fiddle with however in the end doesn’t add a ton to the general expertise. The Outdated Nation is $50 and solely 12 hours lengthy. To some that’s a uncooked deal. However for advocates of faster, cheaper, extra sustainable sport improvement, it looks like the proper antidote to a lot of the big-budget excess that weighs down so many different initiatives. So, as an alternative of letting you spear fish or dive for treasure, The Outdated Nation warps you again to land anytime you fall in deep water.

“This jogs my memory of once we confirmed BG3 to somebody (exec or no matter)–a wealth of mechanics–and with zero emotion he simply goes ‘are you able to swim within the sport?’ Like bro this isn’t mechanical whack-a-mole, endlessly layering on mechanics maketh a great sport not,” Larian Studios publishing director Michael “Cromwelp” Douse wrote on X in response to the controversy over Outdated Nation‘s old-school swimming band-aid. “The realities of sport design are such that every characteristic has a value. Manpower-> time-> price range. ‘Why not simply[…]’ can set a producer on fireplace. Attempt it, its humorous. Higher to not swim in the event you’re not going to do something with it, than so as to add it merely to have it.”

Engagement baiters present invisible partitions and “no swimming” however conveniently they forgot to indicate areas the place the necessity to swim was considered, and really clearly determined towards. Many different video games teleport you again to the shore and nobody is complaining. pic.twitter.com/HRfJiU5ARE

— Silent (@__silent_) August 10, 2025

Douse pointed to day-and-night cycles as one other instance. Whereas sometimes fairly and immersive, most video games don’t really do a lot with them, like change how characters act at evening or what enemies you may face. It’s a type of back-of-the-box bullet factors that may get wheeled out in pitch conferences to impress a writer however can find yourself resulting in extra complications and a much less centered sport in the long term.

“I really feel like I’m ageing out of the gaming sphere as a result of I see this and ask myself ‘Does this sport even want a swimming? Ought to dev time be dedicated to it’ and folks within the feedback are saying ‘That is unacceptable for a 2025 sport’ Idk I simply don’t assume video games want each mechanic,” learn one viral response to the swimming debate from X person ActuallyTina. “I might a lot fairly devs spend time on mechanics that truly engagement the participant loads then a giant empty world with nothing in it or swimming that’s simply there as a result of idk its 2025 and also you want swimming.”