
Mafia: The Old Country director spoke to the media over the past few days, and said that the game will feature a semi-linear design style, with some movement in the world, but the main focus is the story. So the game will not feature side content, it seems.
The developer said that the game is similar in design to the first and second parts, and moves away from the design of the missions of the first part, as the story missions themselves are linear.