#Mafia: The Outdated Nation evaluation

As an Italian-American, I’ve a little bit of a predilection for mafia tales. The Sopranos, The Godfather, Goodfellas—I’ve had a style for all of them. However I’ve one way or the other averted the Mafia video games all through my life, up till now.

Mafia: The Outdated Nation is my first sport within the franchise, and if it’s something to go by, I must be diving into the remainder of them quickly. This sport is a gorgeous romp via what looks like a basic mob script, with a singular setting, glorious performances, and tight pacing that was a pleasure to expertise.

It’s all about respect…

Mafia: TOC is a stunningly linear sport, particularly for 2025. The third-person, singleplayer-only story marketing campaign is fast, feeling like an on-rails journey via every tumultuous chapter, however I discovered its lengthl excellent in the long run. I completed the sport in slightly below 12 hours, and the story advised was an enticing one among crime and corruption, as you could count on, but additionally about love and household.

Set in early 1900s Sicily, you play as Enzo Favara, a boy bought to a sulfur mine at a younger age who finds himself embroiled within the Torrisi crime household over the course of his grownup life. The sport’s story feels prefer it might have been ripped from a mob film a long time in the past, however the time interval and setting set it aside, providing up some really distinctive weapons, autos, and locales.

Working for Don Torrisi and his typically cliché underlings, Enzo climbs his means via the ranks of the group, doing the household’s soiled work and coming into his personal as a person who began with nothing and turns into a person of respect.

And with regards to respect, not like many bloated open-world video games lately, Mafia: TOC respects your time as a participant (it even enables you to skip lengthy driving segments if you want), wrapping itself up correctly in an finally satisfying story conclusion. It’s so long as it must be to inform an enticing story.

You possibly can replay chapters at any time and revisit areas in a semi-open world setting for those who select to take action, however I discovered myself pleased with the sport and able to transfer on as soon as I completed it. It was refreshing to open up a world map in a sport and never see a whole bunch of icons and aims to complete.

…however it’s additionally about loyalty

Mafia: TOC’s gameplay segments are sorted into a few totally different kinds, together with gun fight, one-on-one knife fights, driving, horseback driving, and stealth. None of those elements are spectacular on their very own, however their various pacing all through the sport’s occasions creates a really stable bundle the place nothing feels misplaced or an excessive amount of of a slog at any given time.

The knife boss fights are enjoyable however a bit too simple for my tastes, though I performed on regular problem. You possibly can assault, parry, dodge, and break the enemy’s guard, however the whole lot is fairly telegraphed and easy to execute.

The place the sport really shines, although, is its characters and the actors behind them within the story they inform. Everybody speaks with an Italian accent, oftentimes slinging Sicilian slang that you may be googling the translations of (I now know tips on how to say cocksucker and several other different curse phrases) all through. It evokes reminiscences of basic mob movies prior to now, and it’s an excellent time.

The sport clocks in at $50 for its base version, which I believe is truthful. You’re alongside for the experience in a basic mafia story, taking part in and rising as Enzo, and as soon as the story is full, you’re free to finish it by discovering quite a lot of collectibles across the Sicilian countryside and cities, or transfer on to one thing totally different.

After ending Mafia: TOC, I’ll keep in mind it fondly as a stable solo sport expertise, and I want that we might have extra video games of the identical ilk. It doesn’t waste any time with open-world bloat, it tells a compelling story, and offers you the choice of being a completionist for those who select it.