Mafia: The Old Country arrives on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC as a period crime story set in early 1900s Sicily. It trades the wide, open world of past entries for a tighter, direct path through the rise of a young man pulled into the mob. The result is a game that feels smaller in scope but sharper in focus.
Trailer, via PlayStation.
The Young Man’s Rise
The lead character starts the game as a laborer with debts and no choices left to him. He is pulled into the local family’s orbit and rises through loyalty, violence and luck. The writing keeps his reasons clear even when the plot leans on familiar mafia beats.
The Sicilian Setting
The game’s version of Sicily is dusty, sunlit and detailed. Towns, groves and hillsides all carry a sense of place rare in games built around crime stories. Weather and light shift well across the island, giving even quiet walks between missions some visual weight.
Fights and Pacing
Battles with guns are functional rather than thrilling. Cover mechanics work, enemy AI is steady, and gun battles rarely surprise. Knife fights carry more strain, especially in close spaces where positioning matters.
The pacing keeps missions short and varied, which helps carry the middle stretch of the story past its slower character beats.
A Shorter Campaign
Mafia: The Old Country is shorter than its predecessors. Most players will finish the main story in a single extended sitting or two.
There is little reason to return once the credits roll, since side content is thin.
What Works
Several elements stand out as clear strengths:
- The performance driving the lead character’s arc
- The recreation of early 1900s Sicily
- Knife fights and close combat encounters
- Detail in the fields and rural areas
What Falls Short
The shooting stays plain and rarely rises above functional. Side missions feel like filler rather than true additions to the main plot. Some late-game story turns move fast, leaving little room for characters to breathe before the next twist.
Technical Performance
On PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, load times are brief and frame rates stay steady during exploration and combat alike. PC performance scales well across a range of hardware, according to early testing. No major bugs troubled the main story during play.
Where It Lands
The strongest reason to play Mafia: The Old Country is its setting, not its combat. Players drawn to crime stories built on character and place will get more from it than those who come looking for constant action. That gap between story and systems is the clearest thing the game leaves behind.
Mafia: The Old Country scores 7.5 of 10.
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