Mafia: The Old Country Review – A Solid Return to Classic Mafia Gameplay and Story

It’s been nearly a decade since the last Mafia game, but some fans feel the wait has been closer to 15 years. Mafia 3 in 2016 shifted to a bigger open world, but many players didn’t love how that changed the feel of the series. Now, Hangar 13 takes the Mafia series back to basics with Mafia: The Old Country, a shorter, more linear game set in early 1900s Sicily that focuses on story and atmosphere over sprawling open-world exploration. The game clocks in around 13 to 15 hours, offers solid gunplay, and is priced more reasonably at around $50, making it easier to recommend to those wary of full-price open-world titles.

The review from Chris Scullion at VCG provides the foundation for this look at the game. He praises the game’s narrative and design but notes some areas where it doesn’t quite hit the mark. The story follows Enzo, a sulphur mine laborer in Sicily, whose life changes after a violent accident. Taken in by the powerful Torrisi family, Enzo climbs through the ranks, navigating love, betrayal, and danger along the way. It’s a familiar Mafia tale, packed with classic tropes, but it’s told with enough care and charm to keep players invested.

Hangar 13 deliberately avoided an open-world design this time. The map, while detailed and visually rich, serves more as a backdrop during transit rather than a space to freely explore. The game even allows players to skip these travel segments entirely, underscoring their limited role in gameplay. However, these segments reveal one of the game’s greatest strengths: its detailed recreation of early 20th-century Sicily. From dusty roads and lush vineyards to the looming presence of Mount Etna, the setting itself feels like a character, drawing players into its picturesque world.

The towns and homes, especially the Torrisi family estate and the streets of San Celeste, are filled with small details and collectibles. Players can find documents, statues, and charms scattered around. These charms can be equipped to provide small gameplay advantages, such as faster reloads or the ability to dodge bullets. While some charms are clearly more useful than others, they add a bit of customization to an otherwise straightforward game.

Combat in Mafia: The Old Country follows a classic action-adventure style. Players can choose stealth, sneaking past guards and taking them down quietly, or go in guns blazing with cover-based shooting. The gunplay itself is solid and satisfying, especially when landing headshots at a distance. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but it works well and remains enjoyable throughout. However, the knife fights — which occur during key confrontations — fall flat. These duels are intended to add a fresh challenge, but in practice, they become repetitive and less engaging than the shooting sections. Dodging every attack and striking back is often all that’s needed, making these fights feel more like interruptions than highlights.

The game’s real strength lies in its story and characters. The cast delivers strong performances, aided by impressive character models that capture subtle facial expressions and emotions. Cutscenes are cinematic and detailed, although they do cause a noticeable drop in frame rate, at least on high-end PC settings. The technical quality of these scenes is high, adding weight to the narrative moments.

The story itself is familiar Mafia territory — expected plot twists and character archetypes abound — but the delivery is effective enough to keep players hooked. The reviewer mentions playing with his wife nearby, who insisted on hearing all the details afterward, showing how engaging the narrative can be even if it’s not groundbreaking.

At around 10 hours for the main story, Mafia: The Old Country leaves players satisfied. The balance of engaging storytelling, enjoyable gunplay, and detailed environments works well. But the game’s biggest missed opportunity is its linearity. The rich and beautiful Sicilian setting is rarely fully explored beyond scripted scenes and brief transit moments. There’s an “Explore” mode hidden in the chapter replay screen that allows players to wander the map at their own pace, collecting remaining items. While this lets players appreciate the scenery, it also highlights how much more the game could have offered if it embraced a more open-world approach with meaningful side content and populated streets.

The streets of San Celeste, in particular, showcase what the game could have been. One mission teases a thrilling rooftop chase reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed, but moments like this are rare and short-lived. Instead, players mostly travel along quiet roads and empty streets, missing out on the lively atmosphere that could have made the world feel alive.

Despite this, the game succeeds at what it aims for: a focused, story-driven Mafia experience without distractions or filler content. Its 13-15 hour campaign is complemented by the Explore mode for some replay value. Priced at $50, it offers good value, and the $60 Deluxe Edition mainly adds skins, cars, a soundtrack, and an art gallery, none of which are essential to enjoy the game.

Mafia: The Old Country doesn’t try to reinvent the series or the genre. It’s a game that embraces its old-school roots, with a strong narrative focus and straightforward gameplay. For players expecting a sprawling open world or deep RPG elements, it might feel limited. But for those who want a well-crafted story, solid gunplay, and an evocative setting, it delivers more than enough.

The final takeaway is that Mafia: The Old Country is a solid return to form. It’s not perfect, but it’s a satisfying adventure that honors the series’ legacy while carving out its own space. Hangar 13 has created a beautiful and immersive Sicily that deserves more time and content in future entries, but this game’s focused approach works well as a standalone story. Fans of classic Mafia games and new players looking for a narrative-driven crime drama should find plenty to enjoy here.

Check Mafia: Old Country on Steam here.