PLATFORM: PC, PS5, XBOX SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Serving as a prequel to the mainline Mafia series (and, indeed, the first new entry in the series since 2016’s Mafia III), The Old Country centres around the journey of Enzo, a mine worker who escapes from his slave-like existence and becomes embroiled in the dark underworld of the Sicilian mafia after being rescued from his captors by Don Torrisi, the head of the local crime family. What follows is a tale of friendship, secrecy, betrayal and treachery, hitting many of the notes that fans of the genre might expect but with a few nice twists to the story to keep things interesting.
Unlike previous games in the series, TOC doesn’t give many opportunities to explore its open world, instead funnelling players through its 12-hour campaign in a linear fashion. Designed to be a “narrative experience”, the game is heavy on conversations and interactions with fellow “family members”, with lengthy well-directed cutscenes leading to each mission. When it’s time for you to take control of Enzo, you’ll travel to a destination before sneaking or shooting your way past rival gang members en route to your objective. The gameplay in these sections is fairly restrictive, but there are more than enough tools at your disposal to complete your mission easily – there’s plenty of cover to hide behind while you scope out enemy movements, coins can be thrown to distract enemies before sneaking up behind them and subduing them quietly (or slitting their throat, whichever you prefer), or those who want to take the all guns blazing approach can equip themselves with a range of era-appropriate firearms. There are occasional one-on-one knife fights mixed in, too, where Enzo and his opponents duel to the death by parrying and countering each others’ attacks.
It’s true that The Old Country doesn’t share much gameplay DNA with previous games in the Mafia series, instead taking a more narrative-focused cinematic approach that concerns itself more with telling a story than filling its world with side quests, distractions and collectibles (although these would definitely have been welcome additions to the post-game free-roam mode). This allows TOC to give players a more engaging storyline than it otherwise might have done, along with some tightly-scripted and genuinely thrilling missions that evoke the feeling of playing through a series of action-packed movie set-pieces. The gameplay might not break any new ground, but the characters, plot and setting are incredibly well done, perhaps making The Old Country more suited to those who favour a solid story with more simplified old-school gameplay over the more complicated bells and whistles of many modern era titles.
