Mafia: The Old Country Review

After the open world drift of Mafia III, Hangar 13 went the other way. The Old Country is linear, focused and about fourteen hours long, a single tale of a sulfur mine laborer named Enzo who is pulled into Don Torrisi's family in early 1900s Sicily. Cutting the busywork suits the series. The story has room to breathe, the era is rendered with obvious love, from dusty roads to lamplit dinners, and at fifty dollars the game asks for less of your money and your time than the bloated norm.

What you trade for that focus is mechanical ambition. The gunfights are competent but plain, the driving is stiff on the period cars by design, and stealth sections lean on familiar patterns. This is a game carried by place and story rather than by the moment to moment of holding a controller, and a player who needs systems to chew on will feel the thinness.

Taken for what it is, a handsome, unhurried piece of historical crime fiction, it succeeds. It respects your evening, it looks and sounds the part, and it tells a complete story without padding. Come for the setting and the characters, not for a sandbox, and The Old Country is an easy one to enjoy.