It’s been over two decades since I first stepped into the world of organized crime in the original Mafia game. Back then, its graphics were impressive, and its story was unmatched, even if its world was limited by the technology of the time. Fast-forward to today, and Mafia: The Old Country has completely redefined that experience. It’s a modern reboot, built with updated visuals, advanced lighting systems, high-quality reflections, and beautiful environments. Naturally, I wanted to see how well it performs on one of the latest high-end GPUs: the XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC Magnetic Air Edition with RGB. I also wanted to evaluate the new FSR 4 upscaling technology, and I had high expectations for some smooth gameplay. So, does it live up to the hype? Here’s what I found when playing through the early and mid-story missions and exploring the streets of Sicily:
The XFX Mercury Radeon RX 9070XT OC GPU I used
What makes this GPU even more exciting is support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution version 4 (FSR 4). FSR 4 uses advanced reconstruction algorithms and AI enhancements to upscale frames rendered at a lower resolution, making them look close to native quality while boosting frame rates significantly. Compared to older versions, FSR 4 improves sharpness, reduces ghosting, and handles motion better.
Mafia: The Old Country and the XFX Mercury Radeon RX 9070XT OC Magnetic Air Edition with RGB
As for the rest of my test system, here’s what I used for playing Mafia: The Old Country:
You start as a miner with no roots
The first part of the game walks you through the oppressive heat of sulphur pits, mining tools, and the wary glances of men who know that trust is a luxury. It’s an introduction that does more than teach you controls; it makes you feel the weight of your character’s birthplace and the desperation that pushes him toward a life of crime.
Life is hard when you're small fish
By the time you step out into the countryside, you realize just how different this game is from anything the Mafia series has done before. Valle Dorata stretches in front of you like a painting: rolling vineyards, stone farmhouses, and winding dirt roads framed by cypress trees.
Valle Dorata is pittoresque
It’s gorgeous in daylight, but when the sun sets and oil lamps glow in the distance, the atmosphere turns intimate and tense. These transitions matter because they echo your character’s storyline, going from a humble laborer to someone standing at the edge of a violent new life.
Towns look great and the atmoshpere is tense
The story doesn’t waste chapters on filler. In a couple of hours of play, you’re caught between family duty and the whispers of opportunity from men in sharp suits. Missions flow seamlessly into cutscenes, and the voice acting makes everything believable.
One moment, you’re sharing bread and wine at a family table, listening to stories about honor and survival; the next, you’re making choices that draw you closer to the criminal underworld. It’s not just about pulling the trigger, it’s also about living with what you did and what happens afterwards.
The criminal underworld is always watching you
You’ll find yourself navigating cobblestone streets during tense chases, hiding in candlelit chapels to avoid enemy eyes, and driving oldtime automobiles down twisting mountain roads while the night sky glows faintly from distant fires. Every scene feels handcrafted, and the game makes sure the stakes are always high. Friends turn into liabilities, rivals become unexpected allies, and each decision you make comes with heavy consequences.
Friends and foes, or foes and friends?
At some point during the game, you may also start to realize that the illusion of choice is just that, an illusion. The reality of your role in this dangerous world is determined by bigger powers around you. The tone grows darker, and the violence lands hard because you know what’s at stake.
Don't bring a stiletto to a gunfight!
I’m not yet finished playing Mafia: The Old Country, but as far as I can tell, these first chapters I went through build a foundation of loyalty, betrayal, and ambition that makes every decision, every theft, every competition, and every gunfight matter. And thanks to the game’s incredible attention to detail, like the way storm clouds roll in before a hit or how smoke drifts from a recently fired lupara, it all feels believable.
Graphics settings in Mafia: The Old Country
At 1080p, the game already runs smoothly without FSR 4, averaging 67 FPS. Enabling FSR 4 in Quality mode pushes it to 83 FPS, which is about a 24% increase. This extra headroom helps maintain consistent performance during chaotic firefights or heavy rain scenes.
What you get when playing in native resolution vs. AMD FSR 4
At 1440p, the improvement is even more noticeable. The frame rate jumps from 52 FPS natively to 69 FPS with FSR 4, delivering a 33% boost. This makes gameplay feel much more fluid, especially during fast chases through cobblestone streets or large shootouts in crowded towns.
Playing Mafia: The Old Country with FSR 4
At 4K, FSR 4 is mandatory. Native rendering struggles at 30 FPS, but with FSR 4, it climbs to 50 FPS, which is a 66% performance gain. That’s the difference between a cinematic slideshow and smooth, playable gameplay, all without sacrificing the beautiful visual fidelity that makes Mafia: The Old Country so immersive.
At 4K, FSR 4 is mandatory
If you like visual representations of performance, here’s the performance chart I made with the average frame rates I got at different resolutions, both with and without FSR 4 in Quality mode:
Benchmark results for Mafia: The Old Country
In short, FSR 4 proves its worth in all resolutions tested, but it’s absolutely essential for 4K gaming in this title.
NOTE: We received this GPU through ASBIS, a European retailer of PC hardware. XFX products can be purchased directly from them or through their authorized partners. You can find more information about XFX here.
Meet the XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9070XT OC powering my trip to Sicily
The XFX Mercury Radeon RX 9070XT OC Magnetic Air Edition is a premium implementation of AMD’s RDNA 4 architecture. It comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, paired with 64 MB of Infinity Cache, and supports advanced features like hardware ray tracing and AI-based rendering. XFX’s Magnetic Air cooling design uses three fans and a robust heatsink to keep thermals under control, while the RGB lighting adds style to your build.- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
- RAM: 32 GB Kingston Fury Renegade DDR5-8000
- Motherboard: ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI
- Storage: 4 TB Kingston FURY Renegade G5 PCIE 5.0 SSD
- Monitor: ASUS ROG Strix XG32UQ 4K 165Hz
A story that grips you early on
Mafia: The Old Country wastes no time pulling you in. The game opens in Sicily, early 1900s, and the tone is set immediately: a land of beauty, tradition, and tension simmering beneath the surface. Your journey begins in a small mining town where life is hard and loyalties run deep.Mafia: The Old Country performance with and without FSR 4 on the AMD Radeon RX 9070XT
With that being said, I also wanted to test the game’s performance. For that purpose, I ran the game using the Epic preset and measured average frame rates at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions. I first tested using each resolution without FSR, then enabled AMD FSR 4 in Quality mode.
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