As an Italian-American, I have a bit of a predilection for mafia stories. The Sopranos, The Godfather, Goodfellas—I've had a taste for them all. But I've somehow avoided the Mafia games throughout my life, up until now.
Mafia: The Old Country is my first game in the franchise, and if it's anything to go by, I should be diving into the rest of them soon. This game is a beautiful romp through what feels like a classic mob script, with a unique setting, excellent performances, and tight pacing that was a joy to experience.
It's all about respect…
Mafia: TOC is a stunningly linear game, especially for 2025. The third-person, singleplayer-only story campaign is quick, feeling like an on-rails adventure through each tumultuous chapter, but I found its lengthl just right in the end. I finished the game in just under 12 hours, and the story told was an engaging one of crime and corruption, as you may expect, but also about love and family.
Set in early 1900s Sicily, you play as Enzo Favara, a boy sold to a sulfur mine at a young age who finds himself embroiled in the Torrisi crime family over the course of his adult life. The game's story feels like it could have been ripped from a mob movie decades ago, but the time period and setting set it apart, offering up some truly unique weapons, vehicles, and locales.
Working for Don Torrisi and his sometimes cliché underlings, Enzo climbs his way through the ranks of the organization, doing the family's dirty work and coming into his own as a man who started with nothing and becomes a man of respect.
And when it comes to respect, unlike many bloated open-world games these days, Mafia: TOC respects your time as a player (it even lets you skip long driving segments if you wish), wrapping itself up properly in an ultimately satisfying story conclusion. It's as long as it needs to be to tell an engaging tale.
You can replay chapters at any time and revisit locations in a semi-open world setting if you choose to do so, but I found myself happy with the game and ready to move on once I finished it. It was refreshing to open up a world map in a game and not see hundreds of icons and objectives to finish.
...but it's also about loyalty
Mafia: TOC's gameplay segments are sorted into a couple of different styles, including gun combat, one-on-one knife fights, driving, horseback riding, and stealth. None of these components are spectacular on their own, but their varied pacing throughout the game's events creates a very solid package where nothing feels out of place or too much of a slog at any given time.
The knife boss fights are fun but a bit too easy for my tastes, although I played on normal difficulty. You can attack, parry, dodge, and break the enemy's guard, but everything is pretty telegraphed and simple to execute.
Where the game truly shines, though, is its characters and the actors behind them in the story they tell. Everyone speaks with an Italian accent, oftentimes slinging Sicilian slang that you will be googling the translations of (I now know how to say cocksucker and several other curse words) throughout. It evokes memories of classic mob films in the past, and it's a good time.
The game clocks in at $50 for its base edition, which I think is fair. You're along for the ride in a classic mafia story, playing and growing as Enzo, and once the tale is complete, you're free to complete it by finding a variety of collectibles around the Sicilian countryside and cities, or move on to something different.
After finishing Mafia: TOC, I will remember it fondly as a solid solo game experience, and I wish that we could have more games of the same ilk. It doesn't waste any time with open-world bloat, it tells a compelling story, and gives you the option of being a completionist if you choose it.
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