Mafia: The Old Country Reviews

A clumsy and mechanically inert effort to capture the majesty and thrills of mob cinema, Mafia: The Old Country finds no promised land in either its routine tale of crime or its linear, hyper-focused gameplay. Impressive facial capture and a unique setting can’t sustain this poor, if well-intentioned, emulation of far greater works.

The Mafia franchise has had a rough journey. Whilst the first two were great games, they sadly underperformed in sales and unfortunately, Mafia III was a bit of a misstep for the franchise. Whilst maintaining a solid enough story and characters, its  gameplay suffered from repetitive open-world bloat and enough glitches to make Cyberpunk blush. Mafia: The Old Country revitalises the franchise by focusing on what it does best: crime family drama. It may not be the instant classic I was hoping...

Mafia: The Old Country had the potential to be a video game standout of 2025, but its dull gameplay, full of repetitive segments and weak design, brings down this crime family drama.

Sicily. Turn of the century. Old ways clash with new—horses and cars, knives and rifles. Across the sea, America beckons with promise. And you? You’re just a carusu, a mine boy, until fate delivers you to the Torrisi family. But is the path of a mafioso, the path of a killer, the path of sworn family, really a path to freedom?

A game with competent, generic gameplay and storytelling that doesn’t overstay its welcome, marred by the odd design choice and technical issues.

Mafia: The Old Country is a no-nonsense, back-to-basics experience, and its dedication to authenticity serves as its best attribute. By sticking to a tight, linear experience, The Old Country allows the performances and writing to do the heavy lifting without losing the allure of the Sicilian countryside. By bringing to light a specific place in time that few movies or games have gone before, there's a wealth of details you'll come to appreciate.

Mafia: The Old Country drastically improves on its predecessor, delivering a gripping mob tale that hits harder than a punch from Tony Montana. It’s just a shame that it’s a much better movie than it is a game.

Mafia: The Old Country is by no means bad, but lackluster gameplay and good but not great writing make it unremarkable. The atmospheric early hours and the lovingly detailed Sicilian valley it’s set in make for a world that feels immersive, but the latter half of the narrative can’t help but go through the motions of every trope of the Mafia genre, even when the gameplay offers potential story deviations. Instead, it sticks with the tropes, resulting in a flat ending you’ve been expecti...

The long-awaited return of an iconic story-based series is here and Mafia: The Old Country is a fitting follow-up so let's crack some heads.

Mafia: The Old Country is a familiar tale with simple gameplay, yet the excellent acting and gorgeous backdrop give enough reasons to check it out.

Mafia continues to feel a tad dated in its design trappings, but there's a fascinating mix of beauty, efficiency and nuanced performances here that are well worth your time.

A decent but cliched mob story and bland, frustrating gameplay make this the weakest Mafia yet.

Mafia: The Old Country is all killer and no filler, featuring a lean campaign with engaging characters, cinematic set pieces, impressive visuals and a solid mob story that can be guilty of being a touch too predictable at times.

While the gameplay throughout Mafia: The Old Country is nothing special, generally being a mix of basic stealth and action-packed shootouts, it has some highlights. It's the game's gripping story and sumptuous visuals which will really win most players over, making this one of the most enjoyable Mafia games yet.

I respect Hangar 13 for not feeling like they had to join in today’s arms race of ever-balooning open world/action things and sticking to their stated principles in doing so. Though, I think the manner in which they’ve executed that vision has its eyes too firmly glued to the rear view mirror. This isn't a game that pulls the best bits from how things were done back in the day and melds that with positive innovations developed since that point to create a middle ground that could represen...

Mafia: The Old Country is a refreshing story-driven adventure that delivers exactly what it sets out to achieve. Strong voice acting, stunning visuals, a cinematic score, and a well-paced plot come together to create a memorable experience that stands proudly alongside its predecessors. The gameplay doesn’t break new ground, but it executes its ideas expertly, even while staying firmly conventional. For anyone seeking a focused, story-driven gangster tale, it doesn’t get much better than this.

At a time when games take the best part of a decade to make, Mafia: The Old Country presents an antidote with a more streamlined, story-focused single player campaign. Unfortunately, it also demonstrates the potential pitfalls of a project like this, with a largely repetitive romp that somehow manages to outstay its welcome despite its 12 or so hour running time.

Mafia: The Old Country offers a compelling mob story, complete with great voice acting and beautiful cinematics, that’s undermined by some bizarre mechanics. Shoddy stealth segments, familiar set-pieces, and vanishingly few opportunities to explore its stunning world make for an entry that’s far from the worst in the series, but falls short of the best.

Mafia: The Old Country could’ve just been a movie—offering a great story but little else.

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A pretty prequel with a lot of betrayal and bullets that moves slowly, like a movie. But does it work?

After years of waiting, the Mafia franchise returns with The Old Country, taking players back to 1900s Sicily in what might be the series’ most focused entry yet. This prequel ditches the open-world approach of Mafia III and goes back to the linear, story-driven formula that made the first two games so memorable. Built on Unreal Engine 5, it promises a cinematic crime drama experience. In our Mafia: The Old Country review, we’ll dive into the story, gameplay mechanics, world design, and t...

Mafia: The Old Country is a worthy addition to the long-running crime franchise. It excels with a strong cast, high production values, and a story you’ll genuinely care about, all supported by simple yet effective combat systems. However, its lower price point likely limited its overall scope, which in turn impacts its replay value. But if you’re someone who wants games to respect your time and are tired of overly long, bloated open world experiences, Mafia: The Old Country is absolutely worth your attention.

Shallow mechanics and dated design hold back an otherwise gorgeous game.

That first glimpse of the Sicilian countryside in Hangar 13’s Mafia: The Old Country is a gobsmacking moment, with those distant mountain ranges and crumbling ruins framing the pastoral splendor of busy vineyards and dirt roads. It’s a land populated and maintained by ruthless dons and humble peasants alike, supporting the story's classic climb through a criminal hierarchy, one wardrobe upgrade at a time. Published by 2K, Mafia: The Old Country is another third-person action narrative argument against open-world bloat, but its gameplay is as bland as room-temp ragù out of the jar.

Mafia: The Old Country is a strong contender for one of 2025's best narrative titles. At one moment, it can feel like a cheesy Italian soap opera where Enzo and Isabella's on-screen forbidden affair is adorable enough to make you kick your feet in the air. But on the other hand, it's a ruthless crime spectacle that excellently portrays the origins of the Mafia with the Torisi Family's rise and fall, with character performances reminiscent of an A24 movie. Throughout its 14-chapter duration, it maintains a tight pacing, particularly in its exposition and gameplay sequences, with the latter feeling like a breath of fresh air thanks to the different weapons, variable firefight sequences, and intense knife duels. Considering the ending and the fan-service elements that cater to long-time fans, this is not only the best Mafia game to date, but also one of the best modern linear action-adventure titles.

Mafia: The Old Country is a conventional but effective return to the linear and tightly story-driven format of the original Mafia and Mafia II, and it boasts a wonderful eye and ear for detail.

I would have liked to see Mafia: The Old Country give me more to sink my teeth into. This is not about length, which comes in at around 12–15 hours to complete, but more about having some meat on the bone. If it's about giving me a cinematic drama to play before me, then really give it to me instead of a very typical love story up until the last hour or so. My hopes were high for Mafia: The Old Country, and the game didn't satisfy.

After finishing Mafia: TOC, I will remember it fondly as a solid solo game experience, and I wish that we could have more games of the same ilk. It doesn’t waste any time with open-world bloat, it tells a compelling story, and gives you the option of being a completionist if you choose it.

Mafia: The Old Country launches tomorrow, nearly nine years after the last mainline entry in the franchise, making fans more than eager to get their hands on this new game. Sure, in 2020, there was the Mafia: Definitive Edition remake of the original classic from 2002, but this is a new story, albeit one set in the past.

Sure, Mafia: The Old Country has guns and cars, but the more important pieces are the awesome story, great performances, and beautiful setting. Cinematic in all the ways that most games only dream of, The Old Country delivers a nuanced and thoughtful story full of thrills. I couldn't tear myself away from it.

Mafia: The Old Country is a solid return to the series’ roots. Despite a few minor flaws, it delivers an engaging story that’s well worth experiencing. The game also packs in plenty of fan-service moments that longtime Mafia fans will definitely appreciate.

Mafia: The Old Country looks backward, both in its setting and design ethos. Combining gorgeous visuals, strong character work, and scrappy action set pieces, the outcome is a confident, understated crime game that does exactly what it's supposed to.

Ahhh, Sicily. Rolling hills, rich wines, and the dry heat of the scirocco tumble together to form a slice of Mediterranean paradise. It’s both the birthplace of the Casa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, and home to one of the world’s most famous active volcanoes – Etna. It’s here that the protagonist of Mafia The Old Country, Enzo, finds himself – in Valle Dorata.

Set in 1900s Sicily, Mafia: The Old Country is a bold reimagining of what a Mafia game can be. Equal parts historical drama and brutal crime story, this is Hangar 13’s most focused effort yet. It blends narrative grit with breathtaking scenery, letting you immerse yourself in the bloodstained soil where the Mafia began.

Mafia: The Old Country, on paper, contains a lot of promise for the series. It’s a return to linear form, eschewing the biggest problem with Mafia III; it brings players to the earliest period of this series’ timeline; and it’s set in the mafia homeland of Italy, refreshing the formula with Sicilian countryside instead of East Coast metropolis. Though it’s a beautiful game, with an excellent Sicilian dub to boot, it unfortunately leaves a lot on the Don’s table, failing to rise to t...

Mafia: The Old Country harkens back to the old days in more ways than one. While the gameplay is more of a standard third-person action affair, it’s refreshing to play a game that doesn’t require you to wade through padding to find the good stuff. With a stirring narrative that commands your attention and visuals that fully capture your gaze, The Old Country is exactly the place to holiday as the summer comes to a close.

Mafia: The Old Country isn't a bad game, just a tepid one. Its gameplay is flaccid and restrictive, its narrative is dull and predictable, and its world has no more charm or presence than an Unreal Engine tech demo. It nails the bare minimum, but a game like this, from a franchise as beloved as Mafia, should have gone beyond that.