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Published on August 7th, 2025 | by Lander Van Poucke

Mafia: The Old Country Review (PC)

Last Summer, Hangar 13 announced the return of the Mafia series — with a twist! This time it would be taking place away from the cities of Empire Bay, New Bordeaux or Lost Heaven and at the birthplace of the Mafia: Sicily, in the early 1900s. The earliest of any Mafia game. Marketed to be a smaller, more linear and grounded foray into the Mafia’s heritage — I don’t think this beautiful game could be understated more.

Let me get this out of the way first: Mafia: The Old Country is a full-fledged Mafia game. This is Mafia 4, if you’re looking for it. Despite the lower price point and what pre-release talk might have you believe, The Old Country is a complete Mafia package, with a story that took me a little longer to finish than other Mafia games, a fully explorable open world that’s not too shabby in size and the best production value when it comes to music and graphics of any Mafia game. Mafia: The Old Country is a celebration of the series, of Sicilian culture, and welcomes newcomers and series veterans alike to Sicily for a journey steeped in romance, revenge and blood — with perhaps a few familiar, younger faces to be spotted along the way.

The Sights & Sounds of Sicily

The first thing that hit me as soon as I started up the game, went into the main menu, and played through the opening hours, was the sound and the music. The audio quality and music in The Old Country is immaculate all throughout, from beginning to end. As the opening credits roll, you are hit by a TV-series quality intro with a beautiful soundtrack wrapped around it, and your travels around Sicily are never complete without a beautiful piece of music to accompany you on the journey. From a fantastic main theme, epic combat and riding themes, lavish travel themes and more — the soundtrack in The Old Country is an excellent character of its own.

Cutscenes are of a higher production value than ever as well. Back in Mafia: Definitive Edition, we already got a taste of the lifelike facial expressions and cutscenes we were privy to for a true mob movie experience, but The Old Country provides beautiful and realistic cutscenes for every step of the way. From minor disputes and money-making schemes to the big showdowns or meetings, cutscenes are beautiful, lifelike, more common than ever and extremely well done. Character’s facial expressions are captured down to the minute details, and every fiber of cloth can be seen on a character’s outfit. It’s a sharp-looking game with sharply dressed people.

A lot of love is poured into Sicily itself as well. From temples to mining towns, vineyards, churches and more, the story will take you to every place on the map to provide a full look at 1900s Sicily and the way the Mafia or its populace are ingrained into the land. Textures, lighting and models are lifelike, and as someone on a RTX 2080 (which is a little shy of the recommended settings), performance was pretty fantastic all around on a mixture of high and medium settings and with Unreal frame gen on. The game still looked gorgeous regardless.

I was able to play with the Day 0 patch during my preview, and in my personal experience, Mafia: The Old Country seems to be optimised pretty well for an Unreal Engine 5 game. This makes me cautiously optimistic about others’ experiences with the game come launch, performance-wise. Besides minor stuttering when transferring from gameplay to cutscenes, The Old Country was very forgiving with its framerate and performance for my older rig.

Besides that, I had a crash or two, but the game automatically saves any chance it gets so this never made me lose a major amount of progress. No annoying bugs that had me get stuck. No random car-flipping. No teleporting enemies or ones that froze in place, or other unintentional hiccups. None of that at all. Any flaws the game posed (and there are few to speak of) were part of its design, and not bugs. Unlike similar games, The Old Country might (hopefully) be set for a smooth launch.

Hangar 13 started the concept of this game with a passion for Sicily, and captured it immensely well. As someone who’s traveled to the country in real life multiple times and climbed its volcano, explored its temples, enjoyed its massive pizzas and is very much in love with it, The Old Country provides a faithful and beautiful setting for its familiar Mafia story. Sicily and its populace evolve over the years the game takes place, and is perhaps the game’s biggest and best character all on its own. The developers clearly did their homework and gained insight into the land through journeys the team made, and that experience is shown. Just like the main cast, the land itself evolves as Enzo’s journey into the Torrisi family goes on

Concept art and developer commentary like seen above is part of the Digital Artbook, included together with the Soundtrack in the Deluxe Edition — which I heavily recommend. Reading commentary and insights into the design decisions for locations, characters and more made my love for this game grow even stronger after I had finished the story.

Taking another stab at it

Gameplay has also gotten some love compared to Mafia: Definitive Edition. For anyone worried about this aspect of the game: shooting feels better and punchier than ever, taking cover and jumping over things looks and works better, the assortment of weapons feels larger than ever, with new additions being unlocked as the years progress. Driving cars or riding horses feels and sounds excellent.

Stealth mechanics are good, with the interesting aspect of bare-handed takedowns requiring some effort through button presses, or having the option to lethally end a life with your knife to avoid that effort altogether, at the cost of some of your knife’s durability. Knife durability is lost when lockpicking or doing a stealth takedown, making it blunt. A whetstone allows you to sharpen your knife back into good condition. You may also create distractions by throwing bottles or a coin.

Melee combat is also an option, and there was a varied assortment of animations and takedowns if you decide to take a stab at an opponent. You won’t be using your fists in the Sicilian underworld… It feels like this Mafia game plays the best so far.

Sometimes, at key points in the story, you’ll also enter a knife duel with notable opponents. These duels were cinematic and fun and didn’t overstay their welcome with their common appearances in this short game. Seemingly looking awkward in preview media, they couldn’t be executed in a more fun way in the game itself. Knife fighting is a highlight of the game, requiring some smart tactics with dodges, parries, blocks, breaking guards, unblockable attacks and more. Valuable skills that will be taught to you by the mentor who takes Enzo under his wing.

Cars, horses, weapons, clothes, buildings, character models all look immensely detailed… and for people who are in love with the world like myself, an explore option akin to Mafia: Definitive Edition lets you explore the world at your own pace and collect any missed collectibles on a leisurely stroll through the countryside with no story strings attached. More additions are planned for the Explore mode post-launch, as mentioned by the devs, so I’m curious what else they might add.

That leisurely stroll will not be annoying either. Both the recent invention of the automobile and the familiar steeds you can and will traverse the world in control well, with a vast array of different car models, horse breeds and customisation options like paint jobs to purchase. Too many for one playthrough and my continuously empty wallet! Most importantly, though: you can pet your horse.

Enzo himself can be customised as well, with different outfits, hairstyles, facial hair, hats and more, unlocked as the story progresses. From shirts and suspenders, to vests, full suits, caps, a trilby or fedora and more, you can create your very own Enzo to experience his story with.

A New Family

Playing as Enzo Favara, a young caruso sold into life as a miner by his father when he was just 5, circumstances have you end up at the vineyard of Don Torrisi and his family. Upon arriving at the vineyard, Enzo quickly grows close with the Don’s daughter, Isabella, but permission to be with her remains out of his reach due to his low standing.

Aiming to make an impression on the Don and to prove his worth, Enzo continuously steps up when the opportunity arises to gain his respect and favour so his dream may one day become a reality, growing bonds with the ones around him along the way. But on the path towards The Don’s respect, and to do right by the friends he has come to know and their codes, Enzo will become a part of a dark chapter of Sicily’s history and become one of them — The Mafia.

Isabella and Enzo are the heart of the story, around which the whole narrative revolves. Quickly taking an interest in Enzo as the only outsider amongst a family of tradition, Enzo and Isabella form a close connection. Afraid of her father’s opinion on being with Enzo, the pair keep their love a secret, hoping they may one day be allowed to be together.

Meanwhile, they remain patient as Enzo does his best to gain Isabella’s father’s respect. Though Enzo and Isabella may not always agree on everything…

Cesare welcomes Enzo to the vineyard in his own way, but after a few forays with him into the field he quickly warms up to him and the two form a bond of friendship ending up as an effective duo for the Torrisi family. Cesare is the main friend, your Joe from Mafia 2 or your Paulie from Mafia 1.

He is a great addition to the series’ “sidekick roster”, as you could call it, and a deep character on his own. Humorous but insecure, he also vies for his uncle, the Don’s, respect.

Coming across Enzo under interesting circumstances together with the Don, Luca is the one who takes Enzo under his wing. Teaching him the ways of the life, and bringing attention to valuable insights for survival in the harsh landscape that Sicily can be, Luca is an earnest family-oriented man.

Preferring diplomatic or smart solutions over blunt violence, Luca has earned his place at the Don’s side as his enforcer. Besides that, Luca’s family name is one fans familiar with the series may recognise.

Don Torrisi has built his empire on hard work and the right connections. Having worked his way up from the bottom with his share of losses along the way, he is insistent on keeping things where they feel they belong — under his control.

Protective of his daughter, he will go to great lengths to end anyone who would harm her. Seen or wanted as a friend by the valley’s community for his favour, a dangerous man lurks underneath.

Tino is the family’s trusted Consigliere. Gathering information, keeping tabs on things, and ensuring no unexpected threats arise, Tino is cunning and suspicious of anything that he feels does not belong. Which might include a certain caruso unexpectedly making it to the family’s vineyard, and getting to stay there…

Tino will go to great lengths to test Enzo’s loyalty and mettle, always ensuring to be in the Don’s ear.

The story is mostly a linear affair with a good narrative, but fans familiar with the series or genre will be able to predict where a story such as this may end up. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and it doesn’t need to. A strong cast, action setpieces, tested bonds, a struggle between love and duty and harsh realities paint this story much like a Mafia 1 or 2. Fans of those games will certainly find a home here. Mafia: The Old Country is also a perfect standalone game, no knowledge of previous Mafia games is required to enjoy this one. However, series veterans will be delighted to hear that familiar names, locations and faces will be present as easter eggs or part of the main story. On top of all that, cutscenes, performances and more have never been better, setting a new standard for the series. If you liked Mafia: Definitive Edition and its story, you will definitely like The Old Country.

Notably, despite what was advertised, this game does not quite dive into the origins of the Mafia as an organisation. It shows the story of a young caruso as he becomes a part of a family, not unlike Tommy Angelo in Mafia 1, but in a different setting and for different reasons, but does not show anything in terms of the Mafia themselves and how they came to be. It’s a plot of following orders, revenge, romance, moving crates, having a drunk night out and taking a piss, not unlike the other Mafia games — so fans of the series will feel right at home in this beautiful, early chapter of the Mafia’s history. For a true origin of the Mafia themselves? We’d have to go even further back in time to the 1800s. Perhaps there could be another prequel to this one.

Final Verdict

Mafia: The Old Country is a sublime experience and worthy entry to the Mafia series — on top of possibly being the best one yet. Whatever your relation to the series, be it a prequel, sequel or standalone game, The Old Country works as all three. With the highest production value yet when it comes to story, cutscenes, graphics, music, gameplay, customisation and more, Hangar 13 spared no expense to tell its Sicilian tale despite the game’s lower price point. If this is what Hangar 13 considers to be a smaller game, then I look forward to what a future “big” Mafia game looks like. Not held back by performance or technical issues in this reviewer’s case, this is a Mafia experience like any other, and I’m sure fans of the series will have to discuss where they’ll have this one end up in their rankings.

This one might top Mafia 1 or 2 for you. It did for me.

About the Author

Lander Van Poucke Lander is a passionate gamer from Belgium with a flair for the dramatic. Valuing storytelling & narrtive in games, he favours single-player games, RPG's & fighting games for their lore and vast character rosters.

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