DLC (downloadable content) add-ons for games are curious things to review. They rarely change the entire complexity of an already established game. They can add to it and extend its life, certainly, but drastically change it? That’s much rarer.
Most of the time, especially with story-based DLC, the cynic in me always wonders: Was this something that could, or should, have been part of the main game in the first place? Was it simply cut from the original game and sold separately for some extra cash?
I’m glad to say that with Man of Honor, the DLC for Mafia: The Old Country, I didn’t get that feeling.
The reason is that this DLC feels more like a separate piece of the Mafia story, helping to set up the events of the original Mafia rather than a missing piece of Mafia: The Old Country that should have been there from the beginning.
Man of Honor introduces a new character to Mafia: The Old Country but not a new character to the series: Ennio Salieri. Yes, that Ennio Salieri from the original Mafia.
This DLC gives you around two to three hours of additional gameplay and story, filling in some of the background surrounding how Salieri eventually makes his way from Sicily to America. It takes place during the earlier part of the main game’s story, following a meeting with Don Torrisi around 1905.
During that meeting, Ennio asks Don Torrisi for a favour, resulting in the Don sending two of his men to help him, one of whom is Enzo shortly after becoming a soldier for the family.
What follows is a simple and easy-to-understand story filled with the excellent cinematics, gameplay, and atmosphere that made the main game so enjoyable, leading to a satisfying conclusion.
The DLC also adds quite a lot more than just the story:
- New environments and areas
- New weapons
- New vehicles
- New Charms
- Additional Free Ride activities
- New extreme challenges
- New collectibles
- Previously unseen Free Ride locations
As someone who had just finished Mafia: The Old Country with the full intention of doing so just before this DLC arrived, the game was still very fresh in my mind when I started playing Man of Honor.
I personally loved the base game of Mafia: The Old Country to the point that if I could choose it as my Game of the Year 2025 over my original choice of Battlefield 6, I would. I won’t go into all the reasons why as that would be another review, but suffice to say that most of what I liked about the base game is here in the DLC.
Most of it, anyway.
The story aspect of Man of Honor didn’t quite sit right with me. Knowing the game and its characters as well as I now do, some of the things they do in this DLC didn’t feel like things those characters would actually have done. They felt a little out of character.
Was this done for the sake of creating a new DLC story? Probably.
Do I mind? Not really. In my opinion, any new Mafia: The Old Country content is welcome.
The DLC story itself is only okay, though, as you don’t really end up doing anything particularly different from what you’ve already done in the base game. It’s more of the same.
And while more of something I already enjoyed isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I would have liked a little more variety.
The biggest thing missing, however, is a proper boss fight.
There isn’t really one here, and I feel that is a bit of a letdown. A big, memorable boss encounter would have been a fantastic way to finish this particular slice of Salieri’s Sicilian story.
There is another slightly odd decision that I can’t quite understand.
One of the new Free Ride activities, which can only be accessed through the DLC, is fantastic — and it’s something that I don’t think should be hidden behind a paywall.
Admittedly, at £8.99/$10, this isn’t exactly an expensive paywall, but the activity in question is the stunt jumps.
Very simply, you can launch your cars from various locations around the map and attempt to complete stunt challenges. Yes, they’re silly. Yes, they’re completely unnecessary.
But they’re also bloody good fun.
This is exactly the kind of thing that should have been included as part of the game’s free updates, giving everyone something new to mess around with after completing the main story.
Those gripes aside, the price of Man of Honor isn’t bad at all considering how much you actually get.
And if buying this DLC means Hangar 13 gets the funds it needs to make another Mafia game — perhaps even the direct sequel that has reportedly been given the green light — then here is my cash.
Take it!
Conclusion
Overall, Man of Honor is a fun, gorgeous-looking and reasonably priced addition to Mafia: The Old Country. It features a couple of hours of new story content alongside new weapons, vehicles, challenges, collectibles, and additional Free Ride activities.
Fans who simply can’t get enough of Mafia: The Old Country and want more of that experience will be hugely impressed and delighted. It certainly stretches out the game’s playtime for those who want to keep exploring its world.
It’s not perfect. The story doesn’t quite reach the heights of the main game, some of the characters don’t act like you’d expect them to, and the lack of a proper boss fight is disappointing.
But these are relatively minor complaints.
This is a quality piece of DLC that gives fans more of what made Mafia: The Old Country so enjoyable in the first place.
Highly recommended for fans of the game.
Developer: Hangar 13
Publisher: 2K
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC (Steam)
Release Date: 14th August 2026
