Mafia: The Old Country Review

A Family You Might Not

Want To Spend Time With

Written by Dallas

Posted on: August 17th, 2025

Developed by Hangar 13

Published by 2K Games

Released on August 8th 2025

PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S

The Mafia Franchise has never been a standout series, but they’re usually a fun romp. Most folk have distain for the 3rd entry in the series, and while it had its problems, I could see where Hangar 13 was going with it despite not sticking the landing. With Mafia: The Old Country, they’ve scaled back to make it more in line with the first 2 in the series, which makes sense with them coming off the remake of the original. It’s just a shame they didn’t double down on where they were going with 3.

With that being said… what do to get when you mix family, crime, and forbidden love? Well if you’ve seen any mafioso movies over the past few decades you then you already know. Hell, even the previous Mafia games have tread these waters before. What I’m trying to say is, Mafia The Old Country isn’t anything special, but that didn’t stop me from at least enjoying my time, barreling down the streets of early 1900’s Scilla in what ended up being an interactive movie rather than a game.

You’re given a camera.

BUT THERE’S NO PHOTO MODE?!

Like I stated above, Mafia: The Old Country is as by the books and generic as it gets, from its gameplay to its story. You play as Enzo, a caruso, whose path is all about becoming something from nothing. You can probably predict how the story will go and get everything right along the way, but Hangar 13 was smart with keeping its cast tight and having some excellent VO to tell their story.

There’s not too many players in the game, and for this, mostly succeeds by allowing ample time to be had with each character and letting them develop, even with the games short runtime (about 10-12hrs). Because of this, you’ll grow to love your allies, and hate your enemies! If anything is a stand out, it’s Mafia: The Old Country’s performances. I genuinely cared about every character, which made the gut punches hit harder than expected.

As you may have noticed, I didn’t dive into any story beats but this is for good reason. See, Hangar 13 positioned this game as a linear narrative experience, its whole purpose is to tell this story, and if you have any interest than it’s better to know nothing but the bare minimum. The biggest comparison I can think of is The Order 1886, another game focused on its linear narrative, granted this is 2, almost 3 times its length.

Scenic drives were the best.

Too bad that’s all they really were.

Now with that being said, just like The Order 1886, it’s not going to be for everyone and anyone going in expecting more, is going to be severely disappointed. Unfortunately Hangar 13 shot themselves in the foot by creating an INCREDIBLE world that we can’t do anything in…

Editors Note: Hangar 13 announced as of 8/13/2025 that a mode called “Free Ride” will be launching in the coming months with new activities and gameplay.

I counted only 3 times throughout the campaign that you’d be allowed to travel and explore at will but it never incentivized you to do so, actually it did the opposite in pushing you towards the next objective. Which is a baffling design choice, as there’s plenty of collectibles strewn across the map that you’ll most likely have to be lucky to pickup during a mission.

Editors Note #2: There is an “Explore” mode that I didn’t discover until after I beat the game. But it seems to be unlocked and accessible during your playthrough. It’s meant for taking in the view, grabbing the collectibles and such, and all of it transfers to your main game.

The “Clown” Box. You can fit so many dead people in this!!

I should also mention that there’s a small selection of weapons, a larger number of knives, and a healthy bunch of customization options. The problem with this? You’ll barely find enough money through normal play to unlock even half of it. With no side content or means to even grind for money, it’s hard to imagine how to earn enough to even complete your collection.

Now in terms of gameplay, you get some shootouts, but steered away from this usually by having them put a big emphasis on stealth. You get way too many knife “boss” fights. And you get a ton of walking around, interacting with objects, and talking to characters. All of this is strung together with either driving/riding from location to location. There are a couple of races in the game, if you can call them that (as they are just scripted events).

The gunplay isn’t bad, it’s just one note. The stealth isn’t challenging, as all of the AI are seemingly braindead (even on the hardest difficulty). The knife fights were fun at first, until you realize each one plays out exactly the same and impossible to lose. Oh and the driving/horse-riding is serviceable.

It’s always best to talk about your illegal activities out in the open.

So why did I enjoy my time? After everything I just said, was there anything positive? No, not really. But I seriously couldn’t help but have fun, it’s not good but it’s also not bad, it ultimately falls into that middle ground. While it’s not where I’d like to see the franchise go, credit where credits due, it did what it set out to achieve. Mafia: The Old Country is just an ok game, but if you have the chance to play it, you’re probably gonna have fun and there’s worst ways to spend $50. At the end of the day, you get a, albeit generic, decent story with amazing performances, a gorgeous world (not to explore) and a score that fits the time and tone, to craft a enjoyable cinematic movie that has gameplay bits.

Mafia: The Old Country is an Unreal Engine 5 title, and as of late this engine hasn’t been too kind to the games that use it, luckily I had no issues here. I played on a PS5 Pro in Performance mode, and for the most part fluctuated between 50-60FPS. There was the occasional stutter and dip that UE5 is known for, but it never hindered my experience. Cutscenes apart from the intro cinematic, which may have been pre-rendered? also ran close to 60. I’d hope to see the performance improved in later patches, but if you were to jump in now, it’s not a bad experience.

Mafia: The Old country reminds me of the 360/PS3 era of games, where linear mission based games were king. It let me be nostalgic for a type of game that is mostly missing from the gaming landscape these days. So while games have done it better, and there’s nothing unique about it, I enjoyed my time. Even now, I still have a hankering to play it again and grab every collectible I missed. This may have been a miss from Hangar 13, but I’m still excited for what’s next from the studio.