Mafia III: Definitive Edition

One of the most underrated games I've ever played BUT...

The game is still buggy, the no grind mod is mandatory to keep a faster pace to the main plot and the missions are boilerplate as they come.

If you can get over that, you are treated to a unique setting with an excellent story, some high quality DLC and a killer soundtrack.

Feels like history has forgotten this game but there is an experience to be had if you have the patience

Absolutely AWFUL.

Completely bricks my PC, after opening the game it fullscreens to a black screen and renders my PC completely bricked requiring a hard shut shutdown.

If I open it and hard shutdown my PC and repeat it will eventually open after the 3rd/4th time and this caused me to go over the refund timer, id absolutely refund if I could. Ive tried literally every 'fix' online and nothing fixed this absolute joke of a software.

Almost didn't beat the game because it is so buggy. But besides that fact, the artistic vision of this game has illuminates strongly with this one. I like this game primarily because it exposes the dirtiness of American history during a time where division was clashing with unity. I'm gladly awaiting Mafia: Old Country after experiencing this peace of art.

Comming from Mafia 1 & 2 and honeslty, this just feels really boring. Since the end goal is set from the beggining (revenge), there is a very little story to talk about. Taking over territories should be honeslty a sidequest, but instead, it's used to fill-in the main game loop. The mafia has been always about the story, but this so called "story" is something you'd write for homework to school (and you'd get B).

God forbid I drive slighly close to the sidewalk, because the NPCs will just randomly jumping right into my car.

The police system is just awfull. You hit a car => you get shot by cops. Also, there are no star levels.

Overall, I didn't even bother to finish it, since the game keeps crashing at random points.

Conclusion: Save your time and rather than playing this, take a walk outside.

The most broken purportedly serious game ever, bar none. On launch instant CTD %85 of the time, multi monitor support straight outa 2004. If any overlay touches the screen, steam windows nvidia whatever you are now capped at 30 fps. random frame dips, permanent non linear mouse acceleration, mouse is not confined to the program which perfectly pairs with the none existent borderless window option to create a scenario where you are subtly conditioned to only rotate the camera left.

26 hours of playtime? yeah that's cause I didn't close the game once it actually opened, probably only about 6-8 hours in. We are now 3 for 3 on mafia games I sort of enjoyed but could not finish, cant wait for 4

The current top review kinda says it all. This game should be in a neutral category.
I usually keep refraining from writing reviews, but had to do it.

Although the setting is awesome and the racial tension is suspense, the gameplay and gameworld are lackluster. I like side missions, however you always have to drive through the ENTIRE map do complete them in Mafia 3. Which is not a problem in a game like GTA but here... To drive 5-10min in a barren landscape with heavy pop-in is just so.. boring.

The story starts off violently good. You get a reason, you get a narrative etc. But after two hours it just repeats itself. Drive to District A, kill everyone and capture the District. Drive to B, do the same all over again.

I don't leave games unplayed. Today I did.

Like this game. But i love style of Mafia 1, hope Mafia Old Country come with that styles

Mafia 3 is my first game in the series so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I really enjoyed this game and would easily recommend it to anyone that loves third person shooters. It has a great story thats interesting from beginning to end. The only issue with this game is that has tons of bugs and the gameplay can be extremely repetitive. If you don't find the story captivating then you may end up dropping the game because of its repetitive nature.

Oh boy, this game left me with mixed feelings.
Let's start with the good things. Graphically, it's a solid game with mechanics that are easy to understand and satisfying most of the time. The story is also good, and the way it is told is interesting. It is a bit repetitive, but you can play the DLC stuff in between to have a break from the story missions, so for the most part I had fun with the game. Now the bad stuff... oh boy... what a messy and buggy game this is. It was a nightmare for the game to even open without crashing (the trick is to launch the game through the game launcher in windowed mode and vsync off and after the game is loaded you can put it in fullscreen again; you have to do this every single time you open the game), there are 9 achievements that are bugged and it is only possible to complete them if we do everything in a single session, there are infinite loading bugs and the police in this game are 8 or 80. They either don't give a shit about you or send dozens of cars and agents after you, there is no middle ground.

This game could be so much better if they fixed these issues. Let's see what the next Mafia will be like (hopefully not so buggy).
I give Mafia 3 a 7.5 out of 10.
I "recommend" this game, but buy it on sale for less than 10 bucks.

If there were a "Neutral" option on Steam, I would put this game in that category. Unfortunately, I have to choose between "Recommended" and "Not Recommended," and that's tough because my experience with this game was a mix bag of enjoyment but it also boring me to death.

Mafia 3 is a huge departure from Mafia 1 and 2. Those games had that signature "Mafia feel", you were deeply embedded in the mob, experiencing a gripping and linear, story-driven experience that captured the old-school gangster vibe. Mafia 3? Not so much. While you have ties to the mob, you’re not part of it in the same way. Instead, the game shifts gears and leans heavily toward an open-world, GTA-style/Ubisoft formula. This game isn’t inherently bad, but it does cause the game to lose part of what made the Mafia series so unique. The story is really good imo! It’s dark, gritty, and unforgettable! One of the strongest aspects of this game.

Unfortunately, the gameplay is a hufe let down. The missions are painfully repetitive. Taking over districts quickly becomes a chore. You’ll find yourself doing the same types of objectives over and over, and it drags the experience down. Combine that with frequent crashes! I had to restart the game multiple times just to get it running and it can be frustrating.

In the end, Mafia 3 is a good game, but it’s not a good Mafia game. If you go in expecting something like Mafia 1 or 2, you might be disappointed. But if you give it a chance as its own thing, there’s some enjoyment to be found. Just be prepared for the rough edges.

Ever since the 2k launcher removal, game does not load whatsoever. This issue is the same across all three games ( i bought the trilogy). ass game anyway don't buy even if its on discount!

I mean half way into the second mission where you're trying to escape through mardi gras, when I get to the escape car and try to break through the fence which is the only way to progress further, the fence becomes indestructible and prevents me from progressing. I've restarted the game, the mission, my pc, verified files, reinstalled, looked up the problem for a fix and the only one is to restart the campaign. :D would be a fun time if not for the bugs this isn't even the only one just my personal 3rd strike for the game

Freezes when running in fullscreen mode on laptop's external HDMI monitor. Only runs fullscreen on the laptop's own monitor.

Doesnt match with the vibes of Mafia 1 and 2 but definitely deserves a playthrough at least once.

Overhated game, really recommend it and the entire trilogy wholeheartedly

depending on what kind of sale you get it you'll find yourself with a 0.25-50$ per hour of gameplay which is an insane bucks to hours of playtime ratio

had crashing issues, but I fixed it. So far, super fun.

Solid game, though can be a bit repetitive. That being said, I like the mission structure and feeling OP taking down the mob so I don't mind it being repetitive. Reminds me a bit of doing same types of missions in something like AC: Odyssey. IMO it's the best Mafia story out of them so far too.

There's quite a lot of things Mafia III does really well.

Graphically it is extremely good, with well designed environments, characters & cars. The atmosphere and vibe is different from the other entries but still great.

Story wise, it's a big improvement over Mafia II, but still can't compare to Mafia 1. I really liked most of the characters with their different points of view and motivation.

The only big issue with this game is that it's quite repetitive which might turn off some people. But as I found the gameplay loop engaging, it was not an issue for me.

For achievements hunters, the achievements are quite buggy so I would recommend to read a guide about the glitchy achievements before playing the game.

8/10

Mission and tasks are very repetitive like others said, but the story is good, and the game play is also nice, had fun completing it.

I'm having more fun with this game than I thought I would, but performance is a mess. I'm leaving this for future me so I remember how to play it without issue. Use steam input for controller to work. Mouse sensitivity controls the stick camera, not controller sensitivity, and set it to 0.5. Turn off v-sync because it gave a worse framerate and there wasn't any noticeable screen tearing. Use third party app on steam called Borderless Gaming as the game doesn't come with that setting itself and run Mafia 3 in windowed. Fullscreen had crashed the game a couple of times.

Edit: if it crashes on startup, add the game to nvidia control panel and force vsync on through there instead

i grabbed it on sale, for the low price its a decent game. For all who got problems to start the game: start the game when the blackscreen appears press alt+tab and switch to desktop, wait for a moment and then switch back in to the game, works for me.

Not a Definitive Edition

Theoratically the game would be ok. I liked driving around in the cars & listening to the 60s music. Writing is mixed, some stuff is good, some not. DLCs were nice, especially renovating Sammys, but bad that you cannot do anything in/with it afterwads. Roxy was great char, but only little part in DLC, afterwards no integration in the game (Sammys for example).
Good cast & voice acting.

Technically it is very bad. Crashes a lot at start up, sometimes scripts don't load & you have to reload to move on. All progress Achievements are broken & reset once you leave the game. AI feels like CnP from Mafia 2 & then it was deproved (the oppisite of improved aka worsened...)

I kind of wish nobody would buy the new game until they fix this one... :-(

The game crashes, the graphics are somehow worse than the other two games, it's basically unplayable and when it works the game isn't fun. I really wanted to play though the game but it's just awful in every way. I hope the next Mafia game is good.

Fun game with a good story to it.

The experience of this game is far below expectations. Ever since i installed it, i can only play it once every few attemps to launch it. I have to restart my computer because the entire system freezes, and i'm forced to log back into Steam. Practically, i've spent more time trying to start the game than actually playing it. It's not even worth the time to look for it in the library, let alone pay for it.

Second quarter of the game is quite boring, but after that, you get way more than just repeating same boss fights.

Game has some bugs. If it doesn't crash, restart the game. If it crashes or dont eun full screen, it can be fixed. Instructions are out there.

This is no GTA or Max Payne, but give it a chance, will ya?

It is an 'OK'ish game.

This game crashes like other Mafia games and there is a work around you can find it online. Even after launch sometimes it crashes though it is very rare and some achievements are bugged. If the story mission is bugged and it didn't work as intended, then restart the game. That should fix the deadlock problem.

If i have to rate this among other Mafia games then it will be at the bottom. Story was the stronghold for the previous games.But here it was very shallow and simple. In fact i didn't even get to do any mafia thing.

As for combat, I liked it. But it was very repetitive. Unlike previous games here you can either go direct or use stealth and there are many options.

In short it didn't feel like a mafia game.

3/5

A bold and emotional tale of revenge with a fantastic setting and a killer soundtrack. The story and characters shine, making it an underrated gem in the series.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

this game has been really buggy but mostly i ignored it as long as it doesn't really disturb my gaming experience. until i finished the bathhouse mission and it failed to save. when i tried to restart the game, turns out my save file is corrupted and now i gotta start from the beginning. bought it with the other definitive edition. everything's ok with mafia 1 DE, but i couldn't finish mafia 2 because of weird glitch after returning bruno's money. i just hope the dev can do better on the upcoming game.

This game is laughably bad. it is filled with bugs, it constantly crashes, it has zero controller support and looks and feels terrible. Even if you like the first two games do not even bother with this.

As of February 25th 2025,

Been playing Mafia 1 and 2 and really had a good time, was really looking forward to play the third one.
Well, it's bugged as hell. Black screen at launch every time and if you can start playing it randomly freezes and crash.
Been fighting for 1 hour, read the forum, doesn't work so I give up even if I have a set up that can make it work easily.

Can't recommand a game that doesn't work. 5 years after realease still a sh*tshow...

Finished the game on Hard Difficulty so the review is written with that in mind. Didn't bother to find all collectibles (super tedious) and didn't complete 100% the side quests.

Pros
====
- Amazing music! It's one of these games where you get to discover new(old) songs!
- Great level design.
- Graphics are great (Except rain which looks crap).
- Amazing music! It's one of these games where you get to discover new(old) songs! I mean running around in an old muscle car while some good old american rock hits the radio is a unique feeling!
- Good weapons variety. Also the feel good when you shoot and realistic compared to other games.
- Driving (on realistic) is nice! Also good car variety. Plus some customization!
- Nice kill move animations (could have used more variety though.)
- Vito!

Neutral
=======
- Story is okay but compared to it's predecessors it's not on the same level.
- Gameplay loop is repetitive and gets kinda boring after a while (depends on the person I guess).
- Breaking boxes/doors may be nice at first but gets super repetitive after a while. Could have used a "skill" or tool to allow you to bypass some of them after a while.


Cons
=====
- Plenty bugs! Nothing gamebreaking or that can be solved though. (launching game issue even on 2025, lighting bugs, quest bugs, game bugs)
- No photo mode! (or toggle UI button)
- No pov camera for driving (or general)! I mean come on, I wanted to drift my cars while in first person!
- Although combat AI isn't that bad, civilian and police AI is total trash.

Overall this would goes into the "Neutral" review but steam doesn't have one so...

I want to like this game but it is so bad. Nothing feels play tested which is terrible because every mission is the exact same, and they all play so poorly. It is so god damn repetitive. Not to mention im not even alone with the game crashing before it even launches issue. Truly the definition of a bad game. Play the free demo and youve played the game.

Apart from the issue with it loading into a small window small crashes now and again and physically unable to play it when switching to full screen the gameplay/ graphics ain't bad , I do recommend it if you can cope with the often issues that comes with it xD


( Game runs fine when loaded into a small window but can be annoying to see what your doing most of the time )

God I wish there is a "meh" button instead of recommend or not recommend the game.
This game is weird. It's good and bad at the same time.
They have to change the series name to Midfia or Mehfia tbh.

the good

Storyline is good as usual like other mafia game, voice acting, cutscenes, character movement and dialogue feel alive. the racism depiction is so good that I started to hate white people. soundtrack choice is great, some choice actually matters, world building is detailed (not good, but detailed).

if you compare this game to another open world game with higher budget, then it's your fault because seeing how the game play, I know that when the game released Hangar 13 doesn't have big budget but still make it beautiful here and there. the new feature that doesn't exist from Mafia 1 and 2 that actually helpful.

the bad

bugs and crashes. for a game that really story driven, why in the hell would you not fix the bugs and crashes? there is a lot of bad aspect that I can tolerate but the bugs and crashes was so bad you can't actually "get into" it when the bugs came out. and the bugs is often game breaking, ruining the game experiences. come on, man, this is Definitive Edition at least fix a bit?

the world building even though it's detailed, it felt empty. maybe because the racism depiction is so good, Lincoln couldn't interact with ANY store available in the game except to rob it? (because the main character is African-American) it's kinda ridiculous. you guys want to make the game as realistic as possible but you cant drink or eat in a bar like Mafia 2 is serious problem.

NPC behaviour is so weird, and the Simulation driving mode is more forgiving now to almost no consequences. why even bother adding it in the first place dude. I understand this game came out in 2016, but god damn at least keep it consistent.

UI looks like a company website UI that made in canva.

the side mission excluding DLC was like GTA 5 online side mission. You go there, you go here, blablabla here's your reward. now repeat the same damn thing 15 times each to get maximum money from your district.

Some collectibles doesnt even get you achievement, it's just there to add play hours. removing carcyclopedia and can't keep the vehicle you have in the garage is diabolical.

there is quite a lot of what I gotta say about the bad aspect of the game but I forgot. i'll edit the review later.

in conclusion

if you like a game with good story, it's good. however if you like open world and like to explore, there is only certain thing or spot that you can explore. the rest is not worth it. never buy this on full price. always on sale.

Mafia III is a good game despite being the weakest in the series. It’s unfortunate that the open world gameplay is so repetitive and bland that some players may not think the story is worth the trouble. However, if you have the time and love mob stories, this tale has a satisfying end. Mafia III has extraordinarily dark writing and an impeccable sense of time and place coupled with the greatest licensed video game soundtrack to date imo. Removing two thirds of the repetitive content would have been pretty nice. Mafia III keeps its promises in the powerful story and setting, but fails in getting the same results on the technical side. 8/10

Not done may change.

Fun game so far but i hate that no matter my settings the games crashes 3-5 times before it will decide to work. other then that the game is fun. although a little too easy on hard mode so far

I enjoyed this game back in the days after its release and Im enjoying it even more now. Here is why.
Previous two Mafia games were heavily story driven since you had one story mission after another. This one is closer to the classic "GTA" open world formula with many side missions to do (if you want).
I don't mind when games get repetitive if the gameplay itself is fun. And boy Im having fun with this one! The action, animations and ragdoll physics are so much fun that after finishing one firefight I can't wait to start another. One of my most favourite things are melee finishers. Simply get close to your enemy and press Q key and Lincoln will perform a finisher depending on which weapon you are carrying. It was the exact same way (even the Q key) in 2005 Punisher game. You can also try stealthy approach or later in the game you can just call in a hitman squad and enjoy the firefight from afar. The choice is yours.

Story is actually very good and especially the acting. You just don't see a cutscene after every finished mission like in the previous games. Story narrative reminds me mostly of Guy Ritchie's gangster movies with little bit of Martin Scorsese mixed into it but at some points you also feel like being in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood since it takes place in the same time period and even contains
some songs that were later used in that movie.

Which brings me to the soundtrack - it's simply amazing. What can I say, one classic song after another. You will not want to turn off the radio station!

What about our main character Lincoln Clay? Im so happy that once more we can have some "walking tank" type of character. He is basically like Jack Reacher mixed with the Punisher.
For a person like me who grew up on Arnold Schwarzenegger movies it's just another plus. And like a mentioned before the fighting and everything around it is just so much fun.
Some people say that the open world is empty and there's not much to do except the side missions. To be fair it wasn't much different in previous games. Map basically served
only to get from point A to point B to complete the story mission. In this you actually have things to do, which gives you more money, make things easier for you (like if you eliminate enemy enforcers they won't be
bothering you later in the game) and your decisions even have influence on the story since there are several different ways how you can progress. Like in all previous instalments here as well was environment created with great attention to detail that makes you want to just walk around and breathe in the atmosphere. What makes the environment feel alive are the npcs. They have many different dialogs and even reacting on what's happening in the story as the game progress.

At one point after Sammy's bar gets repaired you can stop by to have a drink there which is a nice touch since I always liked to be able to immerse myself into the game doing all those little
unnecessary things like being able to eat or drink and stuff like that. There is also one nice little detail some of us appreciate and which is usually overlooked in most pc games and that's the walking button. You can just switch between walk and run.

In case of technical issues - Im only having one. Which is that sometimes when you start the game it for some reason crashes back to desktop after the opening logos. Little annoying but all I have to do is just
to start the game again and all over sudden it works just fine. I heard that switching the compatibility to Windows 7 solves the problem but I didn't bother to test it. Other than that game works just fine on max details. Not a single crash during the gameplay. My pc is almost as old as the game, which is Ryzen 5 1600, 16gb ram and GeForce 1060 (and Windows 10). Game can look gorgeous at times but I suggest
turning off the depth of field and motion blur to make it look less blurry.

So If you like this genre I really think that you should give it a try. Im not afraid to say that this game is very underrated. It is on 75% sale very often and for that price you really can't go wrong.

You can pray on the way up! - Lincoln Clay

Do you remember Ghost Recon Wildlands? Me too, I didn't finish that game neither.

This game takes the worst parts of GTA, Far Cry, and Saints Row and put them together.

Let's look at the gameplay first. Do you enjoy resupplying you GTA Online business manually? No one ever liked it, it's annoying and it's designed to waste enough of you time so you just say fuck it and buy shark card. You do that resupply mission here on every business you take over. It's obnoxiously annoying.

Do you like drug abuse? Maybe, but I never liked any of the drug trips in the Far Cry series, it's cringe and serves no purpose but to say "How do you do fellow drug addicted kids." In a Mafia game, I say it serves a NEGATIVE purpose as I am just confused and kept saying "wtf is this dumb shit" the entire way.

Do you enjoy enemy with health bars? I sure don't in a crime thriller game such as Mafia. However, I kept coming to these racket boss enemies(WTF is a boss enemy in a mafia game in the first place) that I tap them 6-7 times in the head and they are still standing.

WIth the release of the remake of the first Mafia game, I know for a fact, the ground layout of this game is very good. Combat feels smoother compare to 2, there are a lot more options to approach each situation. But the entire package of this game, it's basically building a Shelby Cobra with a Toyota Camry I4 engine. It's ridiculous.

Speaking about cars, let's talk about the engine sounds. Do you hate cars? Are you one of those people who doesn't know what difference between I4 I6 V6 V8 V10 V12 engines? Then you should be hired to be the sound engineer for the cars in this game. FFS, a simple youtube search for Jay Leno's Garage gives you a very good idea of more than half of what the cars in this game should sound like. I don't want to hear a Toyota 4banger in a 57 Corvette, and I am saying that as someone who doesn't have a V8 fetish.

Now on to the character and story, the beginning was so great, I was expecting the usual high quality writing, despite it's unusual settings. I was wrong. Very wrong. The main casts are about as interesting as watching a documentary on sloths. Lincoln Clay is boring and inconsistent at best. Normally, you would cheering for the protagonist, but the more I learn about what Sal Macano was planning, the more I want to cheer for him. You ever find yourself cheer for Luca in Mafia 2? Neither did i. The underbosses (which I would argue they aren't, they are just crime bosses who you extort from) have their own flags and colors, which again why are mafias being ran like small time street level rat gangs? Everyone matching colors? What? Then, you couple that with some retard level writing, when you get hit pointblank in the head, you die, period. Skull, no matter how thick it is, will not deflect a bullet at pointblank. But, let's just say by the grace of god, you survive, I call bullshit that Lincoln lost zero brain functions. And that scar makes even less sense. How? Did he received a brain surgery? By who? Not father nor Donovan was a surgeon. That scar covers 40% of his right head. It physically makes no sense.

But enough about Lincoln, let's talk the story progression. Which I don't know anything about, because there is none. Nothing is important and whenever someone opens their mouth is either talking about their feelings, who they slept with, their feelings, their thoughts, their feelings and their feelings. I did not go into a crime thriller expecting a therapy session with myself being the therapist. I don't care about anyone's sister, grandma, their daughter and their daddy issues. As the matter of fact, I don't even think anyone knows who they are or what they signed up for. Demonize Sal Macano like the devil himself, but when Lincoln takes over his rackets, doesn't matter if is human trafficking or drug pushing. He's basically exchanging management. Instead of Sal's people pushing drugs and human trafficking, it's now Lincoln's people doing them. Spare me the moral high ground whenever I have to mow down 50 guys just to spare the same guy who runs the racket to work for me.

I paid less than $5 on this game, and I think I wasted my money. I don't see myself going back and waste more time on this game that doesn't respect my time. In fact, I don't know why they didn't pick Miami instead. When I think about Louisiana, there is nothing but swaps coming to my mind. Which is what half the map is. I don't know any massive mafia activity in that region, Miami however, was entirely built with dirty money and the known crime presence that exist to even today makes it a fever dream for anyone who truly cares about the genre. This game in my opinion was created by uninspired people with agenda pushing in mind coupled with lack of experience and compensated with 2K's massive data on engagement metrics thus the franklenstien gameplay. It's created by people who failed to see why the overwhelming amount of data pointing at business missions in GTA has nothing to do with people wanting to do them but instead have little to no option because that was the only effective way of making money.

tl;dr In other words. this game is made by people who themselves aren't interesting and doesn't consume their own product but expect you to. It's a game written by people with a 2 digit IQ trying to write 3 digit IQ characters. In other words, business as usual for the industry, and water is wet.

The Lead In

Mafia III: Definitive Edition is an enjoyable and sometimes tedious open world crime game about the fictional rise of the black mob in the deep south USA in fictional New Bordeaux.

What I liked

Really liked the action and shooting. Gunning down mobsters, criminals, etc and taking over locations doesn't require much thought, but you can't mindlessly stroll in and clear everything out. Sometimes, you'll just need to make sure you fully stocked up and suited up in body armor, but sometimes you need to be careful. As you take over more of the city, you'll unlock some useful abilities and skills like being able to call in enforcers and a sniper.

Also, really liked the open world environment. Visually speaking it was cool to look at and explore. Whoever designed the map decided to break apart many of the districts as giant islands connected by bridges. There's also a huge bayou section with remote swamp towns dotted here and there and some only accessible by boat. I looked at a map of Louisiana, so I'm not real sure if a city like this is thing here in reality. I guess for game play purposes it works.

Another thing I enjoyed was the DLC. Fortunately, they're part of the Definitive Edition, so no need to purchase DLC. I recommend doing the one that unlocks the marijuana farm because it is a good source of money. The bounty hunter will take you to some cool areas. The third one with the mysterious ritualistic killings was really good, and there should be more detective style / spooky evil cult stuff in this game.

What I didn't like

Game can lag and stutter like crazy. I searched around on Steam, Reddit, and elsewhere on the web, but could never get rid of the stuttering. It was intermittent, and there didn't seem to be any identifiable cause.

The other big issue is the main game play loop. I think I saw other reviews mention this, and I didn't think much of it until I was about 30 to 50% of the main game. It really is repetitive and boring. You go some place, kill a bunch of enemies, and rinse and repeat. Do this enough times to get offered to take on a local racket boss. This can more fun because they might have a bigger base like the grocery market, a men's bath, or some other unique interior map. Eventually, you take on a district boss, and then there is a cool unique mission like escaping from a mining office deep in a quarry pit. Anyways, I recommend doing the DLC interspersed throughout the main story to break up the monotony.

Specs

As of December 2024
OS Name Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10850K CPU @ 3.60GHz, 3600 Mhz, 10 Core(s), 20 Logical Processor(s)
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB
Name NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
Resolution 3840 x 2160 x 60 hertz

Played at 3840x2160, limited to 60 FPS, and graphics optimal/max. Using Steam FPS counter, looked like I was usually around the 40 to 50 fps range on average. Frequent stutter brought me down to 10 to 20 fps. Switched to 1920x1080 and tried lowering various settings, but the stutter would always return. Ended up just having to play through the stutter which would usually go away after several seconds to a minute.

Played with an Xbox One Wireless Controller using a Bluetooth dongle. Was a comfortable experience.

despite all its numerous flaws with optimization, general gameplay, and pacing, i love Mafia III. i really do.

i'd personally recommend a reshade to get rid of the ugly haze and some community balance patches, especially one that heavily cuts down on, but doesn't completely eliminate the district-to-district grind. it makes the game so much more enjoyable by allowing you to better focus on the slew of pros instead of the more obvious, but less numerous cons.

Having played through all the Mafia games so far this is the best. This game has mixed reviews but dont let that stop you, it is a great game that has is oozing with personality. Lincoln has a very well built up character, from the way he handles interaction, to his kills, to how he feels to play - You can tell his background, his intentions, and how he feels in almost every aspect of gameplay. I am not going to pretend that this game doesnt have its issues, it is filled with crashes and infinite loading screens but almost all of them can be solved with a file verify and/or a restart - I have never had such a clean time dealing with this many bugs. This game may lack the 'mafia spirit' but it more than makes up for in every other way and it is more than worth the price tag especially on sale.

EDIT: Has vast and interesting (mostly) collection of period accurate collectibles

Actually have not been able to play this one yet. It just crashes whenever I launch it after forcing you to watch a couple minutes of splash screen logos.

Mafia III is a game I enjoyed, but it has its flaws. The story is easily the best part of the experience. The way it’s presented, like a documentary with interviews and flashbacks, adds a unique cinematic touch that makes the narrative more immersive. Lincoln Clay's journey of revenge is engaging, and I loved seeing Vito Scaletta return. The combat is satisfying, and the takedown animations are brutal and well-executed. Gunplay feels weighty, and stealth is a viable option in most missions. However, the biggest issue with the gameplay is repetition—missions often follow the same structure, making certain sections feel like a grind. While the game is fairly long, it could have benefited from more variety in mission design. Another downside is the game's optimization. Even years after release, performance issues persist, and the game doesn’t run as smoothly as it should. Compared to its predecessors, Mafia III loses some of the realistic features that made the series stand out—no more refueling at gas stations, getting tickets from the police, or bribing officers to look the other way. These details added to the immersion in previous games, and their removal feels like a step back. Despite its shortcomings, Mafia III is still a good game. The atmosphere of 1968 New Bordeaux is well-crafted, the soundtrack is fantastic, and the storytelling keeps you invested. It may not reach the heights of Mafia or Mafia II, but if you’re a fan of crime dramas, it’s worth playing.


7.5/10

ive finished this game in 2019 on PS4 Pro– def the best instalment in the Mafia franchise. recently tried playing it again on pc and rog ally x, very disappointing. too much bugs, crashes, missing in-game button prompts?!!, the default graphics settings are all over the place too! i've refunded this game twice now... 2K pls fix your game

The beginning was probably the best part of the game, it had story, action, deep moments and character development. Then AFTER the prolouge you go shoot a guy, rob a place and maybe even blow up a warehouse, sounds fun right? Now do that for every single god damn boss in the game :)
There is also many bugs, light issues, crashes and even talking to a guy to start a mission won't work

Cant even get to the menu before it crashes.
and sometimes all u get is a blackscreen.

how does this game still have issues after 5 years?

if your game crashes before it can even get into the menu, go to the file where Mafia 3 is installed, look for Mafia 3 Definitive edition (not the launcher) right click and click on properties go to Compatibility and look for Compatibility mode try all of them but Run this program in compatibility mode for windows 7 worked for me, and now the other issues the same issue they had for mafia 1 is black screening on launch if you have this issue you need to launch the launcher and then change it to window mode, JUST WHEN IT launches you can put in back into full screen mode when you get back into the game you can also try check Disable full screen optimisations i think that will fix most issues of it launching up, ill recommended this or not when i finish the game i just want people to know what to do, so they can play the game and judge it on the game not the bad port for the launch up of the game (also feel free to share over bugs and fixes in the comments :) have a wonderful day).

couldve beat the game in about 24 hrs but spent some time working on many side missions
the dialogue between characters had me cracking up
while this is a narrative piece from the 70's, the language is WILD

don't let that detour u from a well written concept, fun conversations, n dozens of hours of fun
some missions are repetitive but i still had a great time with it

have fun!