Mafia: The Old Country review roundup: 'a potent and immersive time machine to a rarely explored era'

Is Mafia: The Old Country a bunch of gabagool or buono?

(Credit: 2K Games)

• 👍 Mafia: The Old Country has a Metacritic score of 76 after 51 critic reviews

• 👏 This puts the general reception at 'Generally Favourable'

• 🙌 Some reviewers have praised its return to the older, linear-driven style of the original games

• 📆 Mafia: The Old Country launches on August 8 for PC, Xbox Series X/S and PS5

Mafia: The Old Country releases on August 8, and in anticipation, we've seen reviews for the new game drop a day or so early, so players know what to expect.

In short, reviews have been quite mixed so far, although the general trend is favorable. It's got a Metacritic score of 76 based on 51 current reviews, with most critics leaning towards a positive score.

Virtually all the reviews are of the PC version, so we aren't too sure on how the console variants fare just yet, with the two console reviews available so far having a 'TBD' score.

Positive Mafia: The Old Country reviews

The New York Times was very positive, giving Mafia: The Old Country a 'NYT Critics' Pick' award, and having this to say as its summing up point:

"The Old Country has its share of action set pieces: rooftop chases during a festival day, dragster races, gunfights within grim catacombs. But it also knows when to slow down. The narrative’s deliberate and thoughtful pauses let players take in a rich world. It’s within them that Enzo witnesses the heights of family life, the forbidden pleasure found in Isabella and the hesitant brotherhood formed with the men around him."

Meanwhile, IGN gave it an 8/10 rating, praising the return to the narrative-driven style of the first and second Mafia titles:

"Mafia: The Old Country is an effective return to the linear and tightly story-driven format of the original Mafia and Mafia II. It doesn’t reinvent stealth, and there’s nothing especially remarkable about its typical third-person cover shooting – but with great writing, excellent vocal performances, and a wonderful eye and ear for detail, The Old Country is a potent and immersive time machine to a rarely explored era. This may be the Sicilian cuisine talking, as I’ve never played anything with quite as much Italian fruit and food on show, but I think the Mafia games might have established themselves as the arancini balls of the business. That is, crusty on the outside, but on the inside they’re dense, tasty, and a little cheesy – and, if you keep bringing them out, I’m going to keep going back to the buffet until the kitchen runs dry."

VGC echoed similar sentiments with its ⅘ star rating for Mafia: The Old Country, arguing in favour of the series returning to its roots, as fans had clamored for:

"Mafia: The Old Country returns to the series' roots with a more linear adventure, delivering a solid story (if a cliché-heavy one) and satisfying combat. The character models and environments are stunning to look at, but the latter raises our main issue: as much as we appreciate the focus on a linear story, this wonderfully sculpted Sicily map is begging to be explored more and is sorely under used as a result."

Mixed to negative Mafia: The Old Country reviews

(Credit: 2K Games)

There have been some more critical takes on the game, though.

For instance, GameSpot gave it a 6/10 rating, arguing that as much as it is a detailed setting with Sicily, it's held back by dated mission design, for instance:

"Mafia: The Old Country is at its best when things slow down, letting you take in all the sights and sounds of Sicily. Like previous Mafia games, it nails the look and feel of its real-world counterpart by investing heavily in the details. Unfortunately, generic gameplay and dated mission design hold Mafia: The Old Country back, making it feel like a relic of the early 2010s."

In a similar vein, Game Informer gave Mafia: The Old Country a 6/10, calling the game "An Offer You Can Probably Refuse" in their subheading. They also had this to say to sum up:

"The Old Country isn’t bad; it’s also not great. Perhaps most depressing, it’s simply fine, inoffensively so. There’s nothing in here you haven’t seen elsewhere, cast included. And worse yet, probably done better. For all the great prequels out there, The Old Country is proof that going backwards isn’t always an interesting way forward."

GameRant was the harshest in all the reviews so far, calling it "tepid" and with a 5/10 rating:

"Mafia: The Old Country isn't a bad game, just a tepid one. Its gameplay is flaccid and restrictive, its narrative is dull and predictable, and its world has no more charm or presence than an Unreal Engine tech demo. It nails the bare minimum, but a game like this, from a franchise as beloved as Mafia, should have gone beyond that."

In spite of a couple of less than favourable reviews, Mafia: The Old Country seems like a good return to form for the series, with a detailed world and shorter, linear story.

• Up next: Death Stranding 2 review roundup: 'among Kojima's very best work'

Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.