I remember the first time I booted up Mafia: The Old Country, expecting to lose myself in a vibrant criminal underworld. Instead, what I found felt more like walking through an incredibly detailed museum exhibit than playing an actual video game. The streets looked authentic, the cars were period-perfect, and the architecture screamed 1930s America - but it all existed behind an invisible glass wall that prevented me from truly interacting with it.
When I tried to push the boundaries of this world, the game rarely responded in any meaningful way. I recall deliberately causing chaos on the streets, expecting police sirens and civilian panic, only to be met with indifference. NPCs would walk past burning cars and gunshots as if they were just background noise. There's something fundamentally disappointing about a game world that doesn't react to your presence, no matter how destructive you become. It reminded me of those elaborate movie sets where the buildings are just facades with nothing behind them.
The linear mission structure explains some of these limitations, but doesn't entirely excuse them. Unlike Grand Theft Auto's seamless open world or even 2016's Mafia 3, The Old Country follows the chapter-based approach of the earlier Mafia games. Each mission feels like a contained episode, and when one ends, you're abruptly transported to the next with little room for organic exploration in between. While this approach lets developer Hangar 13 keep the story front and center, it comes at the cost of world immersion.
I've spent approximately 87 hours across various Mafia titles, and I can confidently say The Old Country represents a step backward in terms of environmental interaction. Remember in Mafia 2 how you could at least enter various shops and interact with basic services? Here, weapon usage gets restricted in most major locations, and the much-touted Exploration mode feels like an afterthought. It's particularly frustrating because the foundation for a great open world is clearly there - the assets, the atmosphere, the period details - they just forgot to make it feel alive.
What surprises me most is how the development team seemed to learn the wrong lessons from previous entries. The Mafia series was never known for groundbreaking interactivity, but previous games at least understood the importance of making their worlds feel responsive. In Mafia 2, if you committed crimes, police would pursue you. In The Old Country, I drove through crowded sidewalks for fifteen straight minutes and the world barely blinked. This lack of consequence makes your actions feel weightless and ultimately reduces the stakes of being a criminal in this universe.
The mission design itself is competent, if predictable. I completed the main story in about 28 hours, and while the narrative had its moments, the disconnect between the urgent, life-or-death story and the passive world surrounding it created a constant tension that undermined both elements. There's a particular mission where you're racing against time to save a fellow gang member, but the game world outside your immediate objective remains completely oblivious to your emergency.
I understand that development resources are finite, and focusing on narrative coherence over open-world freedom is a valid creative choice. However, when you create a world this detailed and then prevent players from properly engaging with it, you're essentially teasing them with possibilities that never materialize. It's like being given the keys to a luxury sports car but only being allowed to drive it in first gear around a parking lot.
The comparison to contemporary open-world games is inevitable and unfortunately highlights The Old Country's shortcomings. Where games like Red Dead Redemption 2 create living ecosystems that respond to player actions, The Old Country's world remains static regardless of what you do. This wouldn't be as noticeable if the game didn't occasionally dangle the possibility of freedom before pulling it away. The Exploration mode, which I'd estimate contains about 40% of the game's total map, feels particularly hollow when you realize there's nothing meaningful to discover beyond the main story locations.
Despite these criticisms, I found myself appreciating what the game does well. The storytelling is compelling, the voice acting is top-notch, and the recreation of 1930s America is genuinely impressive. There were moments, particularly during scripted story sequences, where I felt completely immersed in the world Hangar 13 created. It's just a shame that immersion shatters the moment you step off the critical path and realize how little agency you actually have in this beautifully crafted prison.
Having completed the game and spent additional time with its various modes, I'd rate The Old Country as a solid narrative experience trapped inside a disappointing game world. It's the video game equivalent of a beautifully illustrated book where you can't turn your own pages - you can admire the artwork, but you'll never feel like you're part of the story. For players who prioritize strong storytelling over world interaction, there's definitely value here, but those expecting the living, breathing criminal simulator the marketing suggested will likely walk away feeling underwhelmed.
