Recent reviews by Esenyn

A very decent remake of the all time classic.

The story is still not 100% perfect and for me personally some of the changes they've made are not ideal, but not a deal braker either. Overall the story is much better directed now and characters have more depth to them. Cutscenes feel more cinematic then ever and the graphics are the top notch. The game has a very strong Mafia 2 vibes to it as well, which is good and in some ways it feels like a "spiritual" successor to the second game, if it makes sense. That is pretty much the direction they should have taken with the third game in terms of play style - chapter based story, the gameplay with little to none free roam during the main story, although i would love to see optional side missions in between chapters.

Hangar 13 definitely recovered with this title after very questionable third installment and you can clearly see that this time they have a better understanding what direction this serie should take. But sadly there are still few things that i think are lacking in this title. The world is incredibly detailed and very atmospheric and yet it lacks any interaction in it. Mafia 2 had bars, cafes and restaurants which were pretty useless in terms of gameplay (even though originally they were supposed to have a purpose) but even being unnecessary they still added the immersion to the world and it felt less empty and "decorative" and more alive and real. Here we have nothing at all, the only interiors we "have" are the story related ones and all of them are not accessible in the freeride.

Speaking of free ride i think it is a little bit of a missed opportunity. The game world is so interesting and so beautiful but the story roughly touches around 30% of the whole game world and it is a shame. And the fact that now several drives through the city during the missions like we had in original game are cut off completely makes it even worse (Forget the atmospheric drive back to Salieri's in some missions, we now are directly switching to the next chapter). And side missions from Bertone are not a part of Free Ride and not a part of the main story which is a bit "uncanonical" and illogical (as in one cut scene Bertone tells you to visit him) and it play against the atmospheric ride across the city which was one of the key thing a bout the first two games. Considering how great the city feels these things are a big loss for the game as driving around listening to the authentic 30s radio in between the chapters like in original mafia or mafia 2 would work so well in this game. I wish at least free ride had more to it. Some kind of side missions (other then the "collectable car" ones i mean) maybe even something like Mafia 2 had with its DLCs like Joe's Adventures but with a bit more depth to it and less arcad'y mechanics. In general after mafia 2 it seems weirdly lacking in terms of the "open world" experience even though Mafia 2 was in no way an open world game.

But overall the game is great, it could be even better but i am pretty convinced it is all about the budget or the lack of it, as i am pretty sure this game was their last chance given by the publisher to "revive" the Mafia IP, and i'm guessing, as a result the budget was relatively small. But personally I think they succeeded and i am excited to see Mafia IV some time in the future. Or maybe even a story DLC for Mafia Definitive Edition? Who knows.

One of my favourite games of all times. The story is great. Although gameplay is quite grindy and might not be for everyone but this is worth playing. Whats really great about the story is that after second playthrough you see new details in the story.

Never thought that this game would make a big comeback and become something really worth trying. What i really like about it despite the bad history and reputation developers didn't give up on the game and made it what it supposed to be day 1. This game is not for everyone for sure but if you into exploration, building and crafting this game is def should be in your todo list.

This game is 2 years younger then i am. Never had a chance to try it out and this year i tried it for the first time and i must say it actually aged quite well. I never been a fan of turn based combat and i never really appreciated the diversity in dialogue options and options on how to play the game overall but this game completely changed my mind on these subjects. Maybe its just me getting old but im really into this game now. What i like the most is that how nice it looks for a 21 year old game. It is not blured, it doesnt have screwed aspect ratio, it just feels like a modern indie game made in retro style. Honestly i wish there were more games like this and in some way i wish that just like war Fallout have never changed....

I was waiting for that game to return for 5 years. Without that game my steam collection was incomplete. I was suffering, i was crying, i wasnt myself. I had mafia 2 in my library but not the first one. It felt like i lost a small peice of puzzle and its left incomplete forever. But miracle happened and this game returned to steam and im happy af. Now my collection is full. My life has a purpose again.

That game was the one that showed me that the game industry can be something more then just stupid games, it can be cinematic, it can be serious, it can be art. Ofc it didnt age well and the story is kinda empty and characters are not that "deep", but it has something. Something that other games do not have. Something that mafia 2 and mafia 3 are lacking. Something that after 15 yeears i still didnt find in other games. That game made me addicted to gamedev, that game chose my future, that game made me realize that i wanna be game developer. Im sorry that this review is not really a review of the game itself but for me this game is something more. It changed me, not because it has a really strong story, but because the way it plays and feels. I wish there were more games like that.

Honestly, i would love to recomend this game because it is really good. It does feel like Quake 3 but with the modern gameplay revamp. People compare it with Overwatch but trust me it has nothing to do with OW character based gameplay. Champoin skills that this game have are nothing but a some small tweak to the gameplay that actually makes it more dynamic and gambling. This game is still about pure player skill. The only problem is balance of the characters but it should sour out with time and generally this addition fits the gameplay just right. The art style of the game is awesome, i really like it, it doesnt feel like previous games but it still feels just right! Steam shows only few hours in game but dont be fooled, i played this game since second wave of closed beta way before it came out in steam. And trust me I've played it alot. And the only reason i cant recoment it right now is the netcode instabilities that cause the server to ignore direct hits and lack of any mmr system. You can face masters of quake 3 arena and first hour players in the same match and thats just wrong. I cant say that im good at this game neather i can say im that bad but facing the weakest and the strongest players at the same match is far from enjoyment. You just cant improve your skill by getting insta killed in 1v1 duel (im talking about 1v1 situations in general) or killing someone who cant fight back. It has a good potential for being an e-sport mainstream game but I think Bethesda rushed this game in public way too soon.

Ok, i found out that im a wimp. I.. i mean. Its not scary at all. You know? Its just boring and and not scary. I just cant play such unscary boring game. I prefer something more scary like Dead Space 3. Ok, ye, cya.

Dont buy it now. Im serious, its unplayable atm. Crashes, fps drops to 0 (no kidding) etc, etc. The idea itself is pretty much awesome but the way how the game works atm its impossible to enjoy. You better wait a year or so. Unless you are 100% fine with all the crap is going on in alpha.

Frustration Of the Year. Thats an example of what happends when you give an awesome game series to a complete strager dev team. Yes they have few devs from 2k Czech but there is complete different gamedesigner who has no idea what the first two games were famous for. And the problem is not in Black dude or non italian mob story or setting (which is pretty dope btw).

They had one job an they screwed it up. They had great expiriense of the first two games, but no. They had to do something "new" what at the end is incredible boring and grindy as hell. Feels like the people who made this game never played games before. Yes, the story itself is good (except the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Joe Barbaro part). Cutscenes are excellent, but the actual gameplay is so boring im not even sure that these cutscenes and storyline would be enough for you to get over this boring grind and finish the game. The same feeling i had when i played Joes Adventures DLC for Mafia II.

They wanted this game to be a open world one but at the end this "world" is empty. Even the open-world features from the first two games that made these games unique, more immersive and feel "real" were cut off the gameplay. Now you have an ugly GTA clone that has a great story and characters but unnecessary grindy and boring missions and because of them zero motivation to finish it. If they've just save the story and made it the way stories were told in the first two games (with no real open-world, but the chapters and the unique scenery for each chapter) it would be the great legacy of Mafia serie. But unfortunetally we have this hell of a joke.

Even the graphics of the game are screwed up. They are not old or whatever, they are just glitchy and badly optimised. Even Mafia II looks better in comparison. Looks like devs didnt even know what they were doing. This game doesnt deserve to pay off the development. Seriousy. With all its PROs the negative part ruins all the expirience. I wish it never came out.

Disapointed. Zero optimisation. Rly. Even BF1 and FO4 work better on my laptop. There is no big difference with the original game in graphical side exept some garbage shaders such as sun rays, focus blur and some "snow shader" i never noticed. But still the water shader works better (no more "joints" in the water, now rivers and creeks have a real flow) and no more ugly "striped" shadows. It has its own mod menu inside the game connected to mods.bethesda.net so you can check and download mods directly in game but thats all its advantages. Its not something really important since we had workshop in original game. Maybe x64 bit support will give modders more freedom. But we'll see. I personaly do not recomend this remaster. It has the same bugs the original game has and even brought new ones.