Mafia Old Country Update Expands The Game With A Sparse But Necessary Free Ride Mode

Mafia Old Country update arrives with the kind of restraint that has defined this prequel since launch. Hangar 13 adds activities, tools, and a minor facelift to a world that previously offered little beyond its story path. The new Free Ride mode replaces the old Explore option and gives players more to do, though its scope remains small. For a game built around a fixed Sicilian narrative, this update nudges the edges rather than reworking the frame.

Mafia: The Old Country never positioned itself as an open-world heavyweight. Its Sicily was a corridor framed as a countryside, built for a linear tale rather than the wandering pace of the earlier games. Explore mode existed, but it was mostly an empty space that granted movement without purpose. Free Ride tries to correct that. It does not transform the setting into a dense world, but it moves it closer to one by adding racing, combat tasks, small secrets, and several new items. The update has a practical role: reducing the sense of vacancy that hung over the original release.

Free Ride brings two activity types, racing and combat. The racing catalog is weighted toward cars, which is fitting given the era’s machines and the series’ ongoing attachment to vintage speed. Players can attempt three lap races, three point-to-point sprints, and six time trials. Horse races exist as well, though only three of them, and they do not hold the same appeal. Horse riding in the main story felt clumsy, a reminder that the game was more comfortable with steel than hooves.

Combat arrives through five Standoffs, straightforward gunfights that function as small skirmishes scattered around the map. Four Assassination missions add a stealth layer, tasking players with finding and killing specific targets. These missions break up the landscape with short bursts of action, the kind of content Explore mode always lacked. According to the update notes, the world now hides secrets that yield “powerful rewards,” though within the narrow vocabulary of the game, those rewards mostly mean weapons, knives, or cars. The update leans into that limited toolset by adding four new knives, three guns, two cars, three charms, and sixteen outfits.

None of this turns Sicily into a sandbox worth losing an afternoon in, but it lifts the floor. The update’s announcement trailer underlines this point. Free Ride is modest, functional, and intentionally basic. It supplies another reason to re-enter the map, even if that reason lasts only a short while.

Alongside Free Ride, the update folds in new features. Photo mode is straightforward and expected, giving players a way to capture the game’s sharp interiors and muted landscapes. More distinct is the Cinema Siciliano filter, a black-and-white mode paired with lowered audio quality and Sicilian voice work set as standard. It reframes the game as an archival film, leaning into its early-20th-century setting with a stylistic wink.

A Classic difficulty mode joins the roster as well, influenced by the original Mafia’s harsher style. The biggest shift, however, comes from first-person driving. Despite the series’ long history with cars, this is the first time players can actually sit behind the wheel. The change is simple, but it carries weight. Vintage racers and wide-fender sedans handle differently when viewed from the cockpit, and the mode adds a grounded perspective the series has never offered. It is not substantial enough to redefine the campaign, yet it adds texture to Free Ride’s short sessions.

The update arrives during a period of confidence for Take Two. Earlier this month, CEO Strauss Zelnick called The Old Country’s format and pricing the “perfect result” for the publisher. The prequel’s smaller scale, focused structure, and lower price point delivered strong returns. That success suggests Hangar 13 will continue working in this narrower space, where budgets, expectations, and development cycles remain manageable.

Joshua Wolens’ review for PC Gamer pointed out the game’s deeper issues. He wrote that “If there’s a surprise in how these arcs play out, it’s only that there are no surprises,” a neat summary of the game’s limited narrative range. The update does not solve that. It does not attempt to. Free Ride exists to add movement, not meaning. It gives returning players a few errands, a handful of fights, and a reason to test first-person driving. It stays within the modest ambition of the game itself.

The update is live now.

Read also, why PC Gamer called the new Mafia “a bitter disappointment,” arguing that reducing the world only works if the remaining story has the strength to carry the experience. The review criticized the predictable plot, thin mechanics, and technical performance, noting that earlier Mafia titles balanced their own flaws with style and atmosphere that filled the gaps.

In contrast, VCG’s review described Mafia: The Old Country as a confident return to the series’ roots. It highlighted the compact story, focused design, and more approachable pricing, praising the narrative of Enzo and the Torrisi family while acknowledging that some elements still fall short of the series’ peak.