I spent three hours wandering the sunbaked coastal towns of Mafia the Old Country last playthrough, repeatedly dying every time I tried to wade into the Mediterranean to escape a pursuing police squad. I assumed the game just didn’t let players swim, until a friend tipped me off that the mafia the old country swimming system is a hidden, unlockable mechanic most players never find. It’s not just a fun novelty either: unlocking swimming opens up dozens of hidden quests, rare collectibles, and easy cash-making routes that make the entire playthrough far smoother. I’ve put together all the tips I’ve learned across three full runs to help you skip the frustration I went through.
How to Unlock Mafia the Old Country Swimming Early in Your Playthrough
You don’t start the game with access to swimming, and trying to enter deep water before you unlock the skill will make you sink immediately, losing half your health and spawning back on the nearest shore. The unlock quest becomes available right as you enter chapter 3, when you gain access to the southern Salerno region of the map. Head to the farthest dock in the small fishing village on the southern edge of Salerno, and you’ll find an NPC named Tony the Fisher leaning against a weathered wooden boat. You can’t unlock swimming before chapter 3, so don’t waste time testing the waters in the first two acts. Tony will ask you to retrieve his lost fishing net from a sunken smuggling boat 20 meters off the shore. He’ll lend you a temporary life vest that lets you swim for the duration of the quest, and once you bring the net back, he’ll teach you the basic swimming skill and give you a permanent wetsuit that cuts your stamina drain by 20% for all future swims. The whole quest takes less than 10 minutes, and it’s one of the highest-value side activities you can complete early in chapter 3.
Core Swimming Mechanics You Need to Know to Avoid Wasting Stamina
If you’re used to swimming mechanics in other open world games, the Mafia the Old Country swimming system will feel a little restrictive at first, but you get used to it quickly. Your standard stamina bar controls all swimming actions, with different moves using different amounts of stamina per second. Slow, casual swimming uses 1 unit of stamina per second, fast sprint swimming uses 3 units per second, and diving under the surface uses 5 units per second. If you run out of stamina while you’re more than 10 meters from shore, you’ll black out, wake up on the nearest beach with 20% health, and lose all loose cash you were carrying. Always leave at least 30% of your stamina bar reserved for the swim back to shore when you’re exploring open water. Weather also impacts your swimming performance: heavy rain and rough seas make your stamina drain twice as fast, so save long swims for clear, sunny days if you can. You can also pull yourself onto small rocks, floating buoys, and the back of unoccupied boats to rest and refill your stamina bar without going all the way back to land.
Hidden Rewards You Can Only Access Via Swimming
Most players skip unlocking swimming because they assume it’s just a useless novelty, but it’s actually the only way to access some of the best rewards in the entire game. I’ve found that the money and rare items you get from swimming-related content make it far easier to afford high-end weapons and property upgrades later in the game, cutting down hours of grind for contraband runs. All sunken chest locations are marked on the map you get from Tony the Fisher once you complete his initial swimming tutorial quest, so you don’t have to waste time randomly searching the coastline for rewards. Some of the best rewards you can get only via swimming include:
- Sunken smuggler’s chests: There are 17 scattered across the map, each holding rare weapon skins, $500+ in cash, and unique crafting materials you can’t find anywhere else. Most are located 20-30 meters off the coast of small island outposts, and you’ll need to dive 5-10 meters below the surface to reach them.
- Secret smuggling routes: Once you find 5 sunken chests, Tony will reach out to you with a hidden side quest that gives you access to off-map smuggling runs. These runs let you move contraband between coastal towns without running into police roadblocks, earning you 2x more profit than standard land-based smuggling routes.
- Rare vintage car collectible: There’s a fully restored 1957 Ferrari Testarossa submerged in the deep lake north of Palermo. You can pull it out with a tow truck once you dive down and unlock the submerged garage door holding it, and it’s one of only 3 unique cars in the game that can’t be bought or stolen from NPCs.
I’ve also found small hidden camps on unmarked islands off the coast that have rare weapon crates and free health kits, so it’s worth exploring every small patch of land you can see from the shore.
Common Swimming Mistakes New Players Make (And How to Fix Them)
I made almost all of these mistakes during my first playthrough, so I’ve compiled the most common ones to help you avoid losing cash and progress unnecessarily. First, don’t try to swim while carrying heavy weapons like shotguns, rifles, or rocket launchers. Heavy weapons add extra weight that makes your stamina drain 4x faster than normal, so stash all heavy gear in your car before you head into the water. You only need a small pistol if you run into coast guard patrols, and you can even dive under water to avoid being seen entirely. Diving for more than 10 seconds without the upgraded stamina skill will cause you to take health damage, even if you have stamina left. You can unlock the upgraded stamina skill by completing the swimming training minigame at the Palermo gym three times, which boosts your total stamina capacity by 50% and lets you dive for up to 25 seconds without taking damage. Another common mistake is swimming too close to marked police docks. Coast guard boats will shoot on sight if you’re within 100 meters of a police dock, so stay far away from marked restricted areas when you’re in the water. You can pause your stamina drain temporarily by floating on your back, which you can activate by holding the crouch button while treading water. This is a lifesaver if you’re low on stamina and need to catch your breath before finishing your swim back to shore.
At the end of the day, mafia the old country swimming is far more than a throwaway cosmetic mechanic. Unlocking it takes less than 10 minutes, and it opens up dozens of hours of hidden content, easy cash, and rare collectibles that most players never get to experience. I never skip the swimming unlock quest on any of my playthroughs now, and it’s made every run far more fun and far less grind-heavy than my first attempt. Take a few minutes to track down Tony the Fisher when you hit chapter 3, and you won’t regret it.
