Mafia: The Old Country promised to be a return to the series’ roots—a dramatic mob tale set against a lavishly detailed backdrop, with all the grit and atmosphere fans have come to expect. What we got instead feels like a half-finished film project dressed up as a video game.

First Impressions: Style Over Substance

Visually, this is one of the best-looking Mafia entries to date. The lighting, textures, and environments capture that early 1900s “Godfather” vibe beautifully, and the soundtrack does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to immersion. For the first couple of hours, it almost feels like you’re in for a classic.

Then, the cracks start to show.

A World Without Life

Despite the beautiful presentation, the world feels eerily empty. Traffic is mostly scripted, NPCs are lifeless props, and towns often feel like ghost settlements. It’s a stark contrast to earlier Mafia games, where even if the world wasn’t the focus, it at least reacted to your presence and encouraged you to interact with shops, cars, and side content. Here, it’s all surface with no depth.

Storytelling Missteps

The narrative centers on Enzo, a slave boy taken in by the Family, whose journey could have been compelling. Unfortunately, the writing never rises above clichés. The plot leans heavily on callbacks to Mafia 1 and 2—ceremonies, drunken drives, rival mobsters—and the result feels recycled rather than fresh. Enzo himself is forgettable, and the supporting cast rarely rises above one-dimensional tropes.

The pacing doesn’t help either. The game leans so heavily on cutscenes that you often feel like a passive observer. Roughly 70% of the runtime feels cinematic, leaving gameplay as an afterthought.

Gameplay That Never Evolves

The gameplay loop is painfully dated. Gunplay is clunky, AI is embarrassingly bad (enemies shout their status out loud while running directly into fire), and the weapon selection is extremely limited. Knife fights, pitched as cinematic duels, are shallow and repetitive. New mechanics—like using a camera—are introduced once or twice, then forgotten.

Invisible walls, strict timers, and linear mission design kill any sense of agency. It all feels more like a dressed-up relic from 2013 than a polished release in 2025.

Performance Woes

Even the technical polish isn’t there. Stuttering, pop-in, and missing geometry frequently break immersion. Animations bug out, checkpoints sometimes don’t trigger, and the overall performance feels undercooked.

Verdict

Mafia: The Old Country is undeniably stylish, but it’s also shallow, inconsistent, and frustratingly hollow. At its best, it delivers a strong cinematic vibe. At its worst, it feels like a glorified cutscene reel with clunky gameplay sprinkled in.

For longtime Mafia fans, there’s some nostalgia value, but it’s hard to recommend at full price. If you’re curious, wait for a deep discount.

Score: 5/10 – Beautiful on the surface, but ultimately forgettable.