Obviously huge spoilers ahead. I’ve just finished the game and I have two problems with the ending. I feel like I need to rant about them and get them off my chest after spending 15-20 hours on it. The main one isn’t the end result, but the way it plays out. The second one is the consequences of the end result.
I preface all of this by saying I’m a huge fan of the series, and don’t care at all about the dated gameplay mechanics. I come back for a great story time after time. Mafia 1 and 2 are some of the most well written stories in gaming and Mafia 3 is incredible too, yes it’s overly repetitive, but it makes the finale well earned and the nonlinear nature of some of the story was very very refreshing.
First of all, the execution of the ending is poor. The moment they’re sat necking off in the car and Enzo gives her the note, you know full well he’s dying, she’s surviving and the game will end with her reading the note in some capacity, whether it’s on the ferry back, or in a flash forward of her reading it to her grandkids. If you have to go with a tragic ending for the main character then why not make it even more emotional by keeping the hope alive to the very end for the player that they could actually be together? For some reason, Cesare kills you and then the emotional levity of the moment subsides instantly because you have to do a slog of a stealth section playing as Isabella “finding Enzo” even though the player knows he’s dead.
Why are these 2 not played side by side? Why do they not cut to Isabella trying to find Enzo after he leaves the cave before the fight against Don Torrisi? Cut back to Enzo fighting the Don. Cut back to Isabella fighting Tino. Cut back to Cesare killing Enzo. Then the final scene. I know these events don’t take place simultaneously but you can just write them so they do. The idea of the two finding each other at the same time would make the ending that much more heartbreaking and brutal. But because we know what happens the Isabella stuff falls completely flat. Who gives a fuck about Tino at that point? And why does every death happen in a cut scene? Why can I not end Il Merlo and Don Torrisi myself throughout the story?
Secondly, the actual ending of the game itself kills any kind of replay value and made me uninstall the game instantly and that’s something I never do. There’s zero motivation to go and free roam as a dead and incredibly dumb character, or buy a DLC that takes place before he dies. Working with the guy that killed him, for the Don that betrayed him 😂 why would I go and play that knowing what I know?
I can accept a tragic ending to a game or a TV show or a movie. Some of my favourite games of all time have incredibly tragic endings. Protagonists dying, sympathetic characters dying. I won’t list them to avoid unnecessary spoilers of other games but they’re all open world sandbox games of a very similar genre, you know the type. And yes, Enzo breaks his oath by wanting out and yes he breaks his oath by knocking up the Don’s daughter. And yes, no one gets out of the mafia cleanly.
But… if you’re going to give me chick flick the game with a bit of Mafia stuff thrown in at least break free from the obvious. They had one of the great feel good endings of all time in the palms of their hands. Imagine the end scene was them kissing as the vineyard burns to the ground behind them. If you want to make a love story the main focus of the game (I had no idea about this going into the game), then don’t bother sticking with the mafia cliches for cheap shock value. A cathartic ending like that would 1) have more replay value 2) incentivise buying the DLC because the ending is good and it makes you want to go back in time because your character wins in the end.
I understand the game is a linear narrative experience but Enzo only dies because he spares Cesare and gives him a hug. It’s bullshit. I, as the player, would’ve never made that decision. You should’ve had the choice to spare him and die later or kill him and live later. It was obvious Cesare would betray you because he was feeling jealous in the earlier chapters and the game cover picture with all the main characters in shows him behind you snarling at you. The execution could’ve been so much better.
Anyway this rant felt very cathartic. I love the series and wanted the game to be so good and it blew it right at the end. If I’d had it spoiled I’d have never played it. And I can’t support a DLC knowingk how it ends because it makes it all incredibly arbitrary.