If you like GTA, you should try Mafia: Definitive Edition on Xbox Game Pass

We’ve had a fairly light month for Xbox Game Pass so far in August – Crash Bandicoot aside – but tomorrow sees a major addition to the library in the form of Mafia: Definitive Edition – and I say it’s a must play on the service, especially for GTA fans.

For those who don’t know, this is a modern remake of the original Mafia game; a Prohibition-era thriller that turns a lowly cab driver into a maestro of organized crime. Set in the fictional city of Lost Heaven (which is largely based on Chicago), Mafia: Definitive Edition has you performing odd jobs for questionable characters in an open-world environment as you work your way up to the Salieri family. Sound familiar?

Mafia is a part of the GTA from New York and a part of The Godfather. Real engrossing and compelling story over its roughly 10-15 hour runtime, and honestly, we can’t recommend it enough. Sure, it’s not as epic as your average Grand Theft Auto game – most of Mafia’s open world is just scenery – but you get everything you could want from a GTA-style title, condensed into a more linear format. Plus, it’s absolutely beautiful!

To be fair, that comment about the open world is The best excuse is that the original 2002 title wasn’t open world at all; this Definitive Edition simply adapts the OG game into a more modern open world style. So you can drive around in a plethora of 1930s-era transport, and the game even has a free roam mode that’s completely separate from the main story, but don’t expect to be able to do a million side missions in this Mafia remake.

You know what, we actually like this approach. It does take some depth out of the world, but the game’s tight and twisty story pulls you in terribly fast – and I just wanted to see the story to the end anyway. And nowadays there’s just so much For playing it is nice to have a large open playground without too many extra frills!

At this point in the series’ lifespan, this is also the best-looking Mafia game, narrowly besting 2016’s Mafia 3 . It’s astonishing to see such attention to detail from this era – particularly the vehicles and weapons – and four years on from its launch on Xbox One, it’s barely aged at all. The only real pain point is 30 FPS (come on guys, where is that current-gen patch?), but performance is consistent and manageable here in Mafia: Definitive Edition.

Anyway, this fantastic Mafia title will be released on Xbox Game Pass on Tuesday, August 13and if you haven’t played it yet, I highly recommend it. It’ll be part of your subscription anyway, so what have you got to lose?!