Mafia: The Old Country Man of Honor DLC Review – A Beautiful Filler Chapter That Needed More

I still remember crawling out of those mines and taking my first steps into Enzo’s new life with one of Sicily’s biggest crime families. That moment stuck with me because Mafia: The Old Country built its story around Enzo so well, which is why I was genuinely excited when Man of Honor DLC was announced and I knew I must review it.

But is Mafia: The Old Country – Man of Honor DLC worth returning to Sicily for? After spending a few hours with the expansion, here is what I think worked, what did not, and whether you should spend $10 on it.

The OG Antagonist of Mafia Stories Deserves His Own Story

The biggest problem with Man of Honor is also its biggest attraction. Young Ennio Salieri is here, and longtime fans of the original Mafia will immediately recognize the name. So did I, which sort of created false hope.

I went into this DLC expecting to learn more about the man who would eventually become one of the series’ most recognizable characters. Instead, Salieri spends much of the story talking about his plans to leave Sicily for America. That connection is enough to make longtime fans smile, but it never becomes the expanded origin story I wanted.

The DLC makes Enzo playable again, even though his story had already concluded for me. That creates an odd feeling because I am essentially stepping back into his shoes to watch another character prepare for his future.

I would have preferred playing as Salieri himself. Give me his perspective, his ambitions, his choices, and the moments that helped shape the man we eventually meet in the original Mafia (as an ally and as an enemy). The game hints at that story, but it never gives us enough time to really explore it.

The problem is not that Salieri is badly written. His personality comes through well, and the voice acting remains excellent. It is simply frustrating to see such a familiar character introduced with this much importance and then leave before the story can really dig into him. A couple of more hours wouldn’t hurt Hangar 13.

Sicily Still Looks Incredible, and Makes You Want to Go Photo Mode

If there is one thing that immediately reminded me why I enjoyed The Old Country, it is Sicily itself. The setting remains one of the best parts of the game, and returning to it after finishing the main story was genuinely enjoyable.

The animations are still excellent. The cutscenes have the same cinematic quality, and the character performances continue to carry even the quieter moments. Even before Cesare hides the dead bodies under the bush, the classic Ezio dialogue from Assassin’s Creed fits in.

That beauty is not limited to the fields and mountains. Even the gritty mines, polished gentlemen’s club, and iconic old-school buildings put you back in the Old Country. Moreover, the setting fits right with the mission nature.

I also liked the mission variety more than I expected. There are several stealth-focused sections, vehicle sequences, chases, and combat encounters. The basic gameplay has not changed much, but that was never a major issue for me because I already liked how The Old Country played.

The final mission is easily the highlight, especially for a fan who just finished 007 First Light recently. It finally gives the game the kind of large-scale operation I felt the main campaign was missing, and it does a good job bringing Enzo and Cesare together for another memorable outing.

There is also some nice character interaction tucked into the DLC. Especially during the long rides (you can’t skip them). One optional moment involving Isabella was especially heartwarming because I enjoyed Enzo and Isabella’s relationship in the original game. It is a small addition, but these are the moments that made the base game’s cast work so well.

Free Ride Finally Gives Me a Reason to Explore

The story may be short, but Man of Honor also adds new content to Free Ride. While it doesn’t turn the cinematic world into an open map like how the GTA 6 map will be, it is still more expressive.

Salieri provides new jobs and challenges, while the expansion adds races, stunt challenges, collectibles, and other activities. These additions give the world more reasons to explore after completing the main story.

I especially enjoyed having more reasons to revisit places I had already seen during the campaign. The world was always gorgeous, but having something to actually do there makes a noticeable difference.

That said, I still would have liked some of these activities to be part of the story itself. Moving more of Salieri’s material into the main chapters could have made the DLC feel less like a collection of extra missions and more like a proper continuation.

Mafia: The Old Country Man of Honor DLC Performance Is Disappointing

This is where my Mafia: The Old Country Man of Honor DLC review starts to get complicated. Before starting the DLC, I had already completed the full story of The Old Country. During that entire run, I was getting more than 100 frames per second on my PC.

The moment I started the DLC, performance dropped to below 50 frames per second on average. The vehicle sections were particularly rough, and the sudden change was impossible to ignore.

Don’t get me wrong; at launch, even the main game was also horrible. But over time, it improved, and it even went above what I used to get. However, I thought the developers would learn from this and fix the performance of the DLC from the get-go. Here are the specs I used to complete the DLC:

My Setup:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.1GHz
CPU Cooler: CORSAIR H150 RGB
Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max II
GPU: Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB GDDR6
RAM: Corsair (2x16GB) 3200MHz DDR5
SSD: XPG 1TB GAMMIX S70 Blade Gen4
Monitor: 1080p @ 165Hz

Other players have also reported performance problems, including major frame rate drops on high-end hardware. Some players even shared that even on a 5080 card, the game couldn’t touch 4K 60fps.

That was frustrating because the game looks fantastic. I can accept some technical issues in a huge open world, but seeing such a sharp performance drop in a much smaller expansion made the problem stand out even more.

For me, this was one of the biggest reasons the DLC never fully clicked. I wanted to enjoy the scenery and cinematic presentation, but the performance kept reminding me that the expansion needed more technical polish.

The Music Deserves an Honorable Mention

One area where Hangar 13 absolutely delivered is the music. The additional music and cinematic pieces fit the expansion beautifully. There were several moments where I caught myself thinking that I could happily replay the entire game just to hear more of this soundtrack.

There is also a nice touch for longtime fans when the classic Mafia theme appears during Salieri’s introduction. Small callbacks like this work better for me than forcing references into every scene.

That is what Man of Honor should have done more often. Let the connection to the original game breathe instead of making Salieri’s future the central selling point.

Verdict: Is Mafia Man of Honor Worth $10?

My Mafia: The Old Country Man of Honor DLC review comes down to a 6/10. Man of Honor is a pleasant return to a game I already enjoyed. It has the same beautiful Sicily, strong performances, good animations, solid mission design, and excellent music that made The Old Country work in the first place. At $9.99, I understand why some players will find the DLC worthwhile.

If you already loved The Old Country, there is enough here to justify returning to Sicily. My issue is that it plays things too safely. The expansion adds more Mafia: The Old Country, but it does not give me enough of Ennio Salieri to make his appearance feel truly important.

Sometimes doing the basics well is enough. At $10, though, I think the package needed one more memorable chapter, a deeper look at Salieri, or a chance to experience this part of the story through his eyes.

If this had been released as free content, I would probably have scored it above 7. The presentation, music, missions, and Free Ride additions are all solid, but the story feels too small for the character it puts at the center.

I left Mafia: The Old Country Man of Honor DLC wanting more. That is not the worst thing a DLC can do, but in this case, I wanted more because the idea was better than the execution.