So, Hangar 13 has made us an offer that we couldn’t refuse, but now we are heading to where it all begins. Mafia: The Old Country takes us back to the turn of the 20th century Sicily, where we see the birth of the Mafia, and in this review, you’ll see how much I love this game.
Telling the story of the almost slave mine worker Enzo, you go from a lowly sulphur miner to a made man in a relatively short but powerful story that will have you hooked from start to finish.
Story
As mentioned, you play as Enzo Favara at the beginning of the 20th century, and it is a rags-to-riches story.
You start the game as a sulphur miner and learn that it was his father who sold him into this dangerous occupation. However, Enzo and his friend, Gaetano, have dreams of escaping this life. The game picks up as there is a massive accident at the mine, and Enzo uses this as his chance to get away.
However, escaping isn’t as easy as he’d like as the mine is owned by Don Ruggero Spadaro and run by the Bastoni brothers. This leads to a tense scene as you try to escape their clutches, but unfortunately, you get caught.
Thankfully, you are saved by Don Bernardo Torrisi as you have accidentally walked into his territory. Torrisi takes you in, and the following chapters show you how the Mafia works and Enzo’s developing relationships with those in the family, as well as his secret relationship with the Don’s daughter, Isabella.
The game is very much a slow burn. As each chapter goes by, you feel that you are being rewarded as you are given more responsibility in the family. It is genuinely another fantastic chapter in the Mafia franchise.
Gameplay
There are two key parts to the gameplay: gunplay and hand-to-hand combat. The hand-to-hand combat is more knife-to-knife combat. You will have a number of scripted fights with enemies throughout the world. In these fights, there are three types of attacks that you can use and also two types of defence: parry and dodge. This style of combat, especially on hard mode, can have some real nail-biting moments of tension as you have to get that last strike in before the enemy gets you.
The other side of the gameplay are the gunfights. Most games will give you a gun and all pretty much aim and shoot the same, barring the fact that some are long-distance weapons and some are for close encounters.
In Mafia: The Old Country, every time you bring up the reticle to aim, it takes a few seconds to aim in and become steady. Again, on higher difficulties, this makes gunfights tense as you don’t know whether to peek your head out from cover and aim or keep hidden until you have the best shot.
Aside from the combat, there are a few other parts of the game that warrant discussion. Your main method of traversing the world is initially by horse and then by car. Horse-riding is pretty responsive, and the limited sprint function is a welcome addition.
Cars are, as you’d expect, a bit more temperamental. Given that the car wasn’t so advanced in the early 20th century, there are some issues, and the handling can be iffy at times, but it’s nothing unexpected.
The only part of the gameplay that I grew to hate during my time playing was the finding of collectibles. In a game that is roughly 10-12 hours long, there are so many things to collect that it got tedious to go for the platinum. It is made worse by the fact that some are chapter-specific, so you have to know when you have to get either a newspaper or a Saint card, etc. The worst part is that there is no way to set a waypoint to them, so you’ll end up running around an area for quite a while before finding them. The worst are the foxes, which have no marker on the map, so you have to use a guide.
Conclusion
Mafia: The Old Country is a return to form from the polarising Mafia III and the bug-riddled mess of Mafia II Definitive Edition. The story is tighter and more engaging, with gameplay that fits the time period superbly.
Yes, this is not the longest game in the world, and if you are just here for the main story, it will be done over a weekend. However, the developers have compensated for this with the lower price point, and I can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend than with Enzo and the birthings of the Mafia.
Collectibles aside, this game is truly fantastic and will definitely be in the running for my Game of the Year when it comes time to pick in December.
Developer: Hangar 13
Publisher: 2K Games
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: 8th August 2025
