Mafia: The Old Country

Mafia: The Old Country is a third-person action game. Set in early 1900s Sicily, it serves as a prequel to the main Mafia series, exploring the roots of organized crime in the Old World. Players assume the role of Enzo Favara, a young man escaping a life of forced labor who becomes entangled in the Torrisi crime family. The narrative unfolds across several years as Enzo climbs the ranks, participating in the formation of the Sicilian Mafia and navigating a landscape of shifting loyalties and brutal vendettas.

The game features linear, chapter-based missions set in a semi-open world. Combat blends third-person cover based shooting with an emphasis on knife-based melee mechanics, including dramatic one-on-one duels involving a rock-paper-scissors combat system of slashes, thrusts, parries, and dodges that are mostly boss encounters. Enzo can also use stealth to eliminate enemies silently or throw blades from a distance. Bottles can be thrown to divert the attention and bodies can be hidden. Weaponry is drawn from the era, including revolvers, rifles, and sawed-off shotguns, while a diverse set of knives allows for both close-range and thrown attacks. Weapons degrade over time, requiring players to collect whetstones and other resources to maintain them.

Environments range from dusty vineyards and urban alleyways to cathedrals, crypts, and countryside estates. There is more scripted gameplay and less open-ended mission design, closer to the first two games in the series. The large open world does not invite to investigate or to explore, but largely acts to traverse between locations. When the main game is completed, an Explore mode with free-roaming is unlocked.