Red Dead Redemption 2 gets new lease of life with Mafia inspired expansion

Rockstar Games looks to be done with Red Dead Redemption 2.

Insiders have, for years now, claimed the existence of a new-gen update, and yet one has failed to manifest; Rockstar has had plenty of opportunities to drop one given Grand Theft Auto VI’s multiple delays.

Perhaps one day our scepticism will be proven wrong, or perhaps Red Dead Redemption 2 will join Bloodborne in just refusing to elaborate upon that original experience.

Thankfully, Red Dead Redemption 2 is readily available on PC, where it boasts a creative modding community, and it’s the free ‘Mafia 1899’ that we’d like to introduce you to today.

Created by NexusMods user M8Tmods, this new expansion mod essentially infuses Red Dead Redemption 2 with some new features and activities inspired by 2K’s Mafia franchise.

For starters, it adds a new “Mafia bar” which has a new drinking interaction as well as an interactive meeting table with voice commands and NPC setups where you can roleplay.

There’s also a bedroom … okay … and “the don’s office”, which is a new addition in the mod and will be the fella to launch this creation’s new missions.

There appear to be a whopping 13 mission types, and those are as follows: protection racket, wagon robbery, personal guard to the don, general assassination, intimidate the prostitute, VIP defence, associate rescues, house calls, deals, bribes, and heists.

Several of Mafia 1899’s missions are directly inspired by Mafia 1: Definitive Edition

Both the wagon robbery and intimidate the prostitute missions are directly inspired by similar quests that appear in Mafia 1: Definitive Edition, so they pay homage to that game and explains the unsavoury title of the latter.

There are full descriptions for each of the mod’s mission types on the mod’s landing page, but we’ll talk you through some of the various heist options which seem pretty comprehensive.

M8Tmods via NexusMods

In the ‘Police Files Heist’, you’ll need to break into a police station and, yes, search for any incriminating files about your mafia while grabbing some valuables while you’re at it.

In the ‘Booze Wagon Heist ’, inspired by Mafia 1’s ‘A Trip to the Country’, you’ll visit a farmhouse on the outskirts of Saint Denis and steal booze before delivering it to some nearby docks.

There’s a ‘Church of Holy Heist’ which sees you smuggle goods into the catacombs of a church run by a rival mafia, and the ‘Warehouse Heist’ where players will run illicit cargo from the Castille Cotton Company warehouse, which is, again, run by a rival mafia.

READ MORE: The 11 best features GTA 6 should borrow from Red Dead Redemption 2

The mod is only a few days old, but it’s already been very well received by the Red Dead community.

“This is the coolest mod ever, what a great idea,” one happy player wrote, while another added, “This is a truly great one! More than I could’ve asked for or expected.”

“Dude. I remember about three years ago thinking how cool a mafia mod would be. Now my dreams are complete,” someone else remarked.

The mod works with both Arthur and John’s segments of the game.

By all accounts, the assassination missions are so fun that some players have asked the modder to turn it into its own mode.

If you’re looking to infuse the Red Dead Redemption 2 experience with a new lease of life, this could very well be the solution.