Mafia:
The Old Country
Lighting
I’ve been part of the project since its earliest stages, collaborating closely with the Art Director and Lighting Lead to define the lighting language.
Owned the lighting for key missions, delivering HDRi skies and supporting assets while building systems to streamline the lighting team’s workflow.
I focused on gameplay readability and environmental lighting.
Mafia: The Old Country was praised for its lifelike lighting by the critics such as TechRadar, with Digital Foundry naming it in their 'best graphics of 2025' list and highlighting the 'handsomely lit' scenes.
The game was warmly received by players and well exceeded sales expectations.
The piano room. An early benchmark that set the standard for quality and consistency of lighting, holding up as a key reference until the very end.
Sulfur mines. The player is emerging from the mines into the open air for the first time; I aimed to contrast the purity of the sky with the grim reality on the ground.
The new crypt. Aimed to create a slightly surreal atmosphere in the crypt while maintaining full combat readability.
The vineyard kitchen. Lumen global Illumination alone wasn’t enough, so a variety of techniques were required to create believable daytime interior lighting.
The big race. Carefully selected sun angle and localised volumetric dust used, along with other techniques, to convey the danger and excitement of the early car race.
Villa infiltration. This mission served as a benchmark for our nighttime lighting; I focused on playability and used aerial perspective to separate shapes.
Interior lighting. Night time interior lighting required very aggressive optimisation and manual culling setup.
HDRi skies. Created this sky as a part of a set featuring smooth time of day transition.
Opera night. The opening of the Opera mission, a crescendo of the game and the largest section I was responsible for.
You're (not) supposed to be here. Closed to the public, this space relies on restrained lighting to set the tone and emphasise the obstacle ahead
The essence of the Old Country. Rendered a postcard-like Sicilian sky, exaggerating the blue fog to evoke the freshness of sea air and the feeling of a perfect day.
The auditorium. Carefully tweaked aerial perspective to maintain definition while delivering the required tone: dense air of the Opera auditorium just before the assassination.
The foggy mission. After multiple iterations I managed to preserve contrast within a diffuse lighting setup; I used various types of local volumetric fog to complete the atmosphere.
The tannery interior. Careful light placement and volumetric fog is guiding the player through this visually complex area, setting up a contrast with the foggy daylight outside.