Mafia:

The Old Country

Lighting

I’ve been part of the project since its earliest stages, collaborating 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 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.

Warm chandelier and sconce light with deep red bounce across a gilded salon, Mafia: The Old Country interior lighting

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.

Bright skylight above a shadowed quarry pit with backlit workers, Mafia: The Old Country daylight lighting

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.

Shaft of moonlight through an oculus cutting cool green gloom, warm candle glow beyond, Mafia: The Old Country crypt lighting

The new crypt. Aimed to create a slightly surreal atmosphere in the crypt while maintaining full combat readability.

Overhead light pooling on terracotta tiles, soft bounce filling a dark beamed kitchen, Mafia: The Old Country interior lighting

The vineyard kitchen. Lumen global Illumination alone wasn’t enough, so a variety of techniques were required to create believable daytime interior lighting.

Low sun backlighting volumetric dust behind a racing car, long shadows across the road, Mafia: The Old Country

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.

Cool moonlight on a villa terrace, a guard in silhouette and warm lamps beyond, Mafia: The Old Country night lighting

Villa infiltration. This mission served as a benchmark for our nighttime lighting; I focused on playability and used aerial perspective to separate shapes.

Warm sconce pools falling off into dim adjoining rooms, Mafia: The Old Country night interior lighting

Interior lighting. Night time interior lighting required very aggressive optimisation and manual culling setup.

Pink and violet twilight sky over coastal ruins, sun grazing the horizon, Mafia: The Old Country HDRi sky lighting

HDRi skies. Created this sky as a part of a set featuring smooth time of day transition.

A priest's lantern on a rain-slicked moonlit piazza, warm windows glowing beyond, Mafia: The Old Country night lighting

Opera night. The opening of the Opera mission, a crescendo of the game and the largest section I was responsible for.

Restrained chandelier glow down a red opera corridor, guards silhouetted against the brighter lobby, Mafia: The Old Country

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

Clear midday sun and deep blue aerial haze over a Sicilian coast road, Mafia: The Old Country sky lighting

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.

Dense hazy air in an opera auditorium, stage light beam and a silhouetted box, Mafia: The Old Country lighting

The auditorium. Carefully tweaked aerial perspective to maintain definition while delivering the required tone: dense air of the Opera auditorium just before the assassination.

Diffuse overcast light through heavy fog, guards fading into the mist, Mafia: The Old Country atmospheric lighting

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.

Backlit hides and fog catching daylight from a rear opening in a dim tannery, Mafia: The Old Country volumetric lighting

The tannery interior. Careful light placement and volumetric fog guide the player through this visually complex area, setting up a contrast with the foggy daylight outside.