Mafia The Old Country lands with beauty and a familiar frame

A critical look at Mafia The Old Country, noting its strong Sicilian atmosphere but a constrained main story path and familiar crime drama.

Mafia The Old Country captures Sicily yet keeps the action linear

Mafia The Old Country debuts on PlayStation, Xbox and PC for £44.99. It takes the series back to a homeland setting, following Enzo a miner working under Mount Etna while a crime family pulls the strings. The game aims to recreate the Godfather mood with hilltop villages sunlit markets and a sense of looming danger. Visually the world is striking and filled with atmosphere that lingerslong after you stop playing.

On the gameplay side the title leans on a linear main story rather than a broad open world. Players will walk a tight path through stealth knife fights and shootouts rather than roam freely between locations. The story travels through familiar crime tropes like rising through the ranks romance with the Don’s daughter and a betrayal that changes everything. The overall package feels polished but not especially inventive and most players will finish the roughly dozen hours it offers without returning for a second life in its world.

The Old Country leans on nostalgia for a time and place many players already love, and that can be a double-edged sword. The visuals sell the Sicily dream, but the constrained design curbs curiosity and reduces replay value. That tension reflects a broader trend in mid tier blockbusters: high production value without a compelling new mechanism can still leave players satisfied in the moment but unmotivated to revisit.

As the Mafia franchise weighs its future, the risk is clear. If future entries chase more look than liberty, fans may drift toward other open world crime dramas that reward exploration. The question is whether the series can strike a balance between mood and agency without losing its storytelling edge. The Old Country hints at what longer, bolder experimentation could look like and warns what happens when polish outpaces invention.

Highlights

The world may be beautiful, but the bigger test is whether players stay for the adventure or leave for newer horizons.