The original Mafia is one of my all-time favorite PC games. I remember spending hours just testing out the realism at the time of its release, predating Steam.
The Old Country finally went on sale enough for me to warrant a purchase ($30, same price I paid for the original when it first came out). I'm glad I got it, and I played it through in two days' time, but man, there were zero surprises.
Every betrayal, every death, every plot point and motif, I called from the beginning. Upon exiting the cave for the first time, ~30 minutes in, I knew exactly how the game was going to end 20 hours in, and I was vindicated down to the very last detail when the time came.
The game is still beautiful, it's fun, and the characters and story are engrossing, but I was hoping I'd be wrong about...anything. The first Mafia game blindsided me, as it did most everyone, and it still sticks with me to this day. This one? Eh. The characters are well-portrayed, so that will likely be what I remember, but I just didn't care all that much because it was incredibly easy to predict the entire plot at every corner. Considering the new format places a much heavier emphasis on the story, and puts the open world in the back seat, I didn't love this.
Additionally, the very ending of the last chapter is just painful, in a bad way. I felt like I was playing a Resident Evil game with an obscure win condition, and yes, I just looked up the exact thing I had to do to beat the very end because the game made it impossible to discern what you could or couldn't do to begin with. Definitely left off on a terrible, frustrating note that had me just wanting the game to be over because it was no longer fun or immersive. There's no way they tested that ending with players; it very much felt like one of those mechanics that the devs built knowing themselves what to do, and just presumed the players will understand what they meant. I didn't.
All that being said, I still recommend the game. Mafia itself is an enjoyable IP, and seeing "The Old Country" was interesting. I got this with the expressed intention of playing through them all chronologically, starting here. I see DLC coming out in August that very likely ties into the original Mafia; I'm looking forward to that but, tbh, that's what I came here for in the first place, and I don't feel like I got that at all. I'd give the game a 4/5, better than average, but it forces a focus on the story and the story was far too formulaic.
I'll be returning with the DLC and exploring the Open World mode during that time; if it changes my opinion any, I'll update the review.
