Mafia: The Old Country Review: Beautiful Sicily, a Short and Tight Story, No Open World

Mafia: The Old Country is a linear third-person action game from Hangar 13. You play as Enzo Favara, who goes from a Sicilian mine to working for the Torrisi crime family in 1904. The game came out on August 8, 2025 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. In this review we tell you what the game does well, where it stumbles and whether it’s for you.

What Mafia: The Old Country is about

The story starts in Sicily in 1904. Enzo Favara works in a mine, and after a clash with its owner he ends up with Don Torrisi’s family, rising from a vineyard worker to a made member. We won’t spoil more. It’s a prequel to the whole series, so you don’t need to play the earlier games. If you know the stories of Tommy, Vito and Lincoln, you’ll spot nods to later events. The right order to play the series is in our series overview.

Don’t expect an open world like Mafia III. Hangar 13 went back to the structure of the first Mafia and Mafia II: the game leads you from mission to mission, with cutscenes and car or horse rides in between. Free roaming around Sicily has its own mode, Free Ride.

Gunfights, knives and stealth

Missions are built from four things: stealth, gunfights, driving and knife fights. When sneaking, the Instinct ability shows enemies behind cover, you hide bodies and lure guards away with a thrown coin or bottle. There are three knife types: the Scannaturi can be thrown, the Rasolu kills in one strike and the Stiletto lasts longest. In a duel you listen for audio cues and watch for a red flash, which marks an attack you can’t block and have to dodge. How to handle fights and what to start with is in our beginner’s guide.

With the Dinari currency you buy guns, knives, outfits, cars, horses and charms that go into slots on Enzo’s rosary. Dinari can only be earned by playing, there are no microtransactions. The game is single-player only, it has no online mode and 2K doesn’t plan one.

What critics praise and what bothers players

On Metacritic the PC version has 73 points from 81 reviews, the same as the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions. Critics are split. PCGamesN calls it a confident, understated crime game that does exactly what it’s supposed to, praising the gorgeous visuals, strong character work and fast gunfights. Its complaint is the knife fights, which it finds too stiff and robotic to be exciting. PC Gamer gave it just 45 and called it the weakest Mafia yet: a cliched story and bland, frustrating gameplay, with stealth that it says is incredibly quick and easy.

Players are kinder. On Steam the game has 73.0% positive out of 31,009 reviews, rated Mostly Positive, and Metacritic users give it 7.5 out of 10.

How long it lasts

The main story takes about 13 hours: PCGamesN clocked 13.5 hours, PC Gamer 13. For comparison, PC Gamer puts Mafia III at around 40 hours. Free Ride and the Man of Honor DLC add more.

Free Ride and the Man of Honor DLC

A free update on November 20, 2025 added Free Ride mode with car and horse races and combat challenges. It also brought the Classic difficulty inspired by the first Mafia (no auto-reload, limited health regeneration, no aim assist), first-person driving, Photo Mode and Cinema Siciliano, a mode with Sicilian voice-over and a black-and-white picture.

The paid Man of Honor DLC came out on August 14, 2026 for €9.99. It adds two story chapters set in the winter of 1905, in which Enzo helps Ennio Salieri, plus new Free Ride challenges. You can start it after finishing chapter 5. What’s inside is in our Man of Honor guide.

Price and platforms

On Steam the base game costs €49.99 and the Definitive Edition with Man of Honor and three packs costs €64.99. Since October 20, 2026 the game is part of the PS Plus Extra and Premium catalog on PS5. It isn’t in Game Pass. We compare the editions in our editions and price guide.

On PC you need at least an RTX 2070 or RX 5700 XT, 16 GB of RAM and 55 GB on a required SSD; the recommended setup is an RTX 3080 Ti and 32 GB of RAM. On Steam Deck it’s rated Unsupported because of graphics performance. The details are in our system requirements guide.

Who Mafia: The Old Country is for (and who it isn’t)

It’s for you if you like crime stories in the style of the first Mafia: a story for one or two weekends, strong atmosphere and characters, no filler quests. If you have PS Plus Extra, you can try it on PS5 at no extra cost.

Skip it if you want an open world packed with activities like Mafia III, or deep combat. The gameplay is simple, and at full price you get about 13 hours of main story. And if you play on Steam Deck, keep in mind that Valve doesn’t support it.

Verdict: Is Mafia: The Old Country worth it?

Yes, if you want a short, well-told crime story and don’t mind simple gameplay. We’re giving it 7/10.

Mafia: The Old Country rests on its Sicilian setting, its characters and a pace that never leaves you wandering. Players and critics rate it as a solid game, not an exceptional one, and that’s where we see it too. Points come off for the stiff knife fights, easy stealth and the short length for a full-price game.

Playing Mafia: The Old Country? All our guides to the series are on the Mafia hub. Start with the beginner’s guide, and before you buy the DLC read what Man of Honor adds. You can also ask around on the GamersTogether Discord.

FAQ

This review is based on player ratings on Steam and critic scores on Metacritic, on reviews from PCGamesN and PC Gamer, and on official information from 2K and Hangar 13. Information verified on October 21, 2026. All our guides to the series are on the Mafia hub.