As a full remake released in 2020, Mafia: Definitive Edition retells the cinematic story of cab driver Tommy Angelo rising through the ranks of the Salieri crime family in Prohibition-era Lost Heaven. This adventure shooter preserves the original's core narrative and mission structure but features a complete ground-up visual overhaul, modernized driving and shooting mechanics, and enhanced audio to bring the 1930s setting to contemporary standards.
The game preserves the original's compelling, cinematic storyline while significantly overhauling nearly every technical aspect. It functions as a faithful retelling of the original narrative, focusing on Tommy Angelo's rise through the ranks of the Mafia. The atmosphere is heavily emphasized, utilizing the enhanced graphical capabilities to render the 1930s setting with greater detail and immersion. The core gameplay loop involves undertaking missions that blend third-person shooting sequences with extensive driving segments through the open city environment.
As a full remake, the enhancements are substantial, focusing on modernization across presentation and mechanics. Key updates include:
While the story beats and mission structure remain largely intact, reflecting the original's design, the gameplay mechanics have been refined. The driving physics and third-person shooting controls have received significant attention to align with expectations for modern adventure games, offering a smoother experience without fundamentally altering the mission objectives or progression path. The game remains primarily a linear, story-driven adventure shooter.
This release is presented as a standalone, definitive version of the story. It is a complete recreation of the original game experience. There are currently no officially released DLCs or expansions associated with this specific remake edition, meaning the content focuses entirely on the main narrative campaign.
Violence is a strong component of the gameplay, with the player witnessing and engaging in a wide variety of violent acts. These run from beating people to death with baseball bats and tyre irons to gun fights with enemy families. Examples of the strongest violence include a scene in which a man, who is hanging by his wrists, is beaten for information before being executed, and a scene in which mobsters open fire on a restaurant full of innocent diners, killing them all before destroying the place with explosives. Strong language occurs throughout, including 'motherfucker' and 'fuck'. There is also milder bad language, including 'bitch', 'dick' and 'shit'.