*Spoilers for Mafia: The Old Country Below.
In Mafia: The Old Country, we are first introduced to Enzo deep in the heart of the sulfur mines of Sciliy in 1904. The Prologue is entitled Tremori, which translates into English as Tremors, so that should give you an understanding of what is going to happen here. In fact, in the opening moments of the game, the two men, Enzo and his friend Gaetano, set off to recover something they had hidden, noting the risk of taking it topside and out of the mine, but fearing the tremors would make it lost forever.
The Mines
For most of this chapter, the player is tasked with following behind Gaetano as he leads the way, setting up some of the narrative the player needs to know. Enzo was sold to the mines at age 5 (Given his age when you take control of him, you can reasonably deduce the horrid life he has had up to this point). After following Gaetano for a very short distance down a hallway, you reach a wider area where he states that the thing you were looking for was buried around her. You only need to turn around and hold the interact button with the rubble along the wall to find what you both were looking for, a tin containing money. Given their dialogue up to this point, it can be drawn that A. they hid it here because they are not allowed to possess money, and B. they probably intend to use it to run. A short cutscene plays as they recover the money.
When we regain control of Enzo, we are once again navigating a linear hallway, starting with a crevice that the player needs to shimmy through. While the path will present several other routes that have some depth to them, Gaetano will take a left, then a right, before vaulting over a wooden beam, with the player needing to follow that. There is nothing in these side routes of any particular interest. After vaulting over a second wooden beam, on the right side of the screen, there is an interactable that allows you to pick up the Notice – Mine Decommissioned note. Shortly after this point, two ladders will need to be climbed before following down let another hallway, though finally, you will reach the active part of the mine where people are present.
While again you are following Gaetano through this area, there is much more to see if you want to, as Hanger 13 manages to fit a lot of background narrative into this area. These include conversations being had, children working alongside adults, and the pretty brazenly bad working conditions of 1904. This follow segment will lead into another cutscene showcasing the cruelty of overseers, as if the player didn’t need another reason to want to get out of here. You will get your wish, though, as following this cutscene, the path beyond will finally have Enzo get topside into the fresh air, though with Enzo carrying a wicker basket full of sulfur.
Outside The Mine
Once outside, you will first need to offload your haul at a section to the right of the player, next to a guard, where you will see an interactable to do so. You then follow Gaetano through the crowds of workers. You come to a railing where many workers have gathered to get some idea the tremors are being caused by a volcano that is releasing black smoke in the distance. This will possibly erupt soon. While following Gaetano towards receiving food, you will see a man praying to a cross with a blue bird that flies away as you approach. Go to this cross and interact with it to receive the Santa Barbara collectible saints’ card, then continue on your way.
Past the cross, where Gaetano has taken you to get food, you will find yourself in a much more open area than you have been before. Instead of following him to a man named Ignazio, turn right and ignore his comments as you drift away. On the wall of the building across from the scale in the center of the area is the Notice – Extra Shifts note. Keep going along the path on the right side of here and between the front of the car and a group of children congregated, there will be the Drawing of Il Merlo note, which you can pick up. At this point, you can return to Gaetano, approaching the counter and hitting the interact button to begin another cutscene.
Breaking & Entering
Unable to get food, the player resumes control as the pair heads towards a warehouse to instead steal some food, which begins on the pathway down through a stone archway that was visible from the area above. Passing through this arch puts players in an area forbidden to Enzo, so the next segment plays out in stealth. The player will sneak up to a vaultable ledge where a guard is doing an inventory count. Wait for him to leave, then sneak across and squeeze between the wood on the other side. On the left-hand side, when you squeeze through is a barrel. Move up to it and grab the Stakeholder Friction note that is placed atop it. Continue on the path after, crawling under the Sparado tank placed alongside a stone wall.
Once underneath, you will see a guard blocking the path forward, with Enzo asking himself where Gaetano is. You will need to wait until you hear glass shatter and the guard move, curious as to what made the sound. He will then walk away giving you the opportunity to sneak along this path forward. Sneak straight across, and you will reach a wooden door you can enter. Travel through this building into the next room, and you will find yet another door you need to move through, yet this one is locked. You only need to backtrack slightly to the table along the same wall as the door to get a knife you can use as a lockpick. Return to the door, and a button prompt will appear, allowing you to quickly open the lock.
On the other side of the door, on the left, the Letter – Board of Directors note will be sitting on a small table. On the other side of the room is a blue chest, which is what you came here to locate in the first place. Before reaching it, on the right side of the room, is the Delivery Invoice – Policardo Supplies note, sitting on a wooden plank atop some sacks. Open the blue chest to steal the food, then move to the left of the room to escape via the small window there. A cutscene will begin after this point. Exiting the window, it will look like a wide area that is open to exploration; however, the game will limit you with a timer telling you to return to the mission area if you stray too far from Gaetano. Follow him up the hill. When you reach the top, there will be a wheelbarrow on Enzo’s left where the Cutting Portions note is (I found this on my return to this area; however, you might be able to grab it prior to talking to Ignazio.)
Gaetano will lead you to the door near where you found the Extra Shifts note, which you can open now for another cutscene where the two take a much-needed rest after their eventful day. This cutscene ends with news that you will need you work a double shift, worst yet, you are going to need to go into the deep mines to search for missing miners. Given every hint the game has not so subtly dropped up to this point, this can only end one way.
The Deep Mines
Enzo will enter the mines from a much closer shaft to where the cutscene starts than the previous shaft you were in. Once again, you are following Gaetano through congested mine corridors till you come down a ladder. Here, you will grab a torch and follow through a tight squeeze deeper into the mines. You will follow until you reach a locked door with a branching path. In between where the two paths fork is a table with the New Deposits – East Mine note sitting atop it. Changing the flow a bit, Enzo will need to take this branching path for Gaetano to follow, since obviously, the player needs to take the lead on the path; you both might die at any moment.
As you traverse the following pathway, it gets tighter and darker but remains a linear path to actually move alone. Once traveling a ways, you will see a fallen ladder with an interaction prompt telling you that these are the tools belonging to the people you are searching for, implying something bad has happened. The path will once again become linear till you reach a dead end that branches off. At the dead end, you can once again interact with an object, this time a water pitcher, for more context, or you can travel along the new path to reach a drop. You will need to go over it, watch Enzo slide to the bottom with questionable means of escaping the deep mines, in order to continue.
The path from the drop leads forward. Vault up onto the slightly raised ground, then in front of you, on a brown bedroll, you will find Catrina’s Letter. Keep moving forward into the pitch black abyss, and in the middle of the path, you will finally find one of the missing miners, though not how Enzo was hoping they would. A cutscene will play out here where, you might have guessed it, all those bad things the game has suggested would happen, kinda do.
Escape
Another tremor occurs, and just when Enzo and Gaetano think it is over, a gas leak adds to their problems. When the player regains control of Enzo, they are tasked with running for their life away from the gas leak. As soon as they start, lanterns start bursting and catching the entire mine shaft on fire. The run is mostly cinematic, with a linear path to follow as you do. If the player moves too close to the fire on the walls, they can take damage from it, or if they run too slowly.
Eventually, you return to the gate near the New Deposits note that has now been open that you run through into the familiar opening portion of this area. You will need to shimmy back between the wood to where you took to lantern, and then as you go up the ladder, a cutscene occurs. When you begin again, you find yourself in the same situation, but with a more dynamic danger as the shaft is coming down around you. A pathway will become blocked by rubble, forcing you to turn, and another shaft collapses in front of you, forcing you to vault over so debris. The next path will be the same, now making following Gaetano more vital as he will turn when paths collapse, making his path an easy marker for escaping. You will then need to crawl under a ledge, something you barely escaped from.
Another shaft, another run for your life, this time with fire being the main source of danger, running as lanters explode, with another vault on this route to jump over. You will reach a bridge and an area with less danger, and think you are almost home free. Suddenly, as you cross, the bridge collapses, causing Enzo to slide down an embankment. Thankfully, it appears he has fallen far and is quickly rescued. We return to running through fire and brimstone with another shimmy point far ahead of you. Once through, you are notified you are almost out, with another shimmy point right before a stairway up. This one leads to another cutscene, where a serious setup to the narrative that awaits us in the rest of the game, which also pays off on the lengthy prologue’s setup.
Fight
Enzo is injured at this point, so there is a slow walk to the escape, though the exit to the mines is not far from where you start. You exit into the carnage and aftermath of what had just happened and decide to finally stand up to the cruel Il Merlo, who sent you into the minds in the first place. A combat segment occurs in which Enzo and Il Merlo move around in a tight engagement, and the play is instructed on how to slash and thrust at him. It is dynamic in how reactions to swipes of the blades occur, but still involves player input and participation. For the first half of combat, Il Merlo will not attack, playing defensively. He will begin attacking when the game instructs players how to dodge
After this, an actual fight occurs that cannot actually be won or lost. Il Merlo will become much more aggressive, forcing the player to adapt to what they learned. Should the player take too much damage or survive long enough, a cutscene occurs with the two locking hands in combat, and Enzo is knocked to the ground. Several more tremors occur, allowing Enzo just enough time to escape by jumping into the valley below this duel. Of course, now you are being shot at. Vault up from this area to the next, and a horse will run out that Enzo will hop on. Gallop forward through the gate to freedom.
This concludes the prologue to Mafia: The Old Country, which also unlocks The Carusu Trophy/Achievement for the game.
Chapter Walkthroughs:
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