Mafia 2 OST Soundtrack - Pause Menu Theme 

I've always wondered why the pause menu features such a sad melody - it could be anti-climactic at some points in the game, so why must it be so depressing? But that's exactly why - it's genius: When you pause the game, you essentially take a breather from the action, the engrossing story and your life as a mobster, and start reflecting. No matter what you were doing: driving with Joe, killing greasers or what not, you're still a mobster, and your life can only go one way, despite of all the "good" things coming your way. You *pause*, and remember, that your life, be it literal or spiritual, is already forfeit, and that when you come back to the game, the inevitable tragedy always lingers around the corner.

This song reminds me of the beginning of the game, where Vito is sitting infront of his desk, drinking and looking at pictures of him, his family and the old country. ''My name is Vito Scaletta. I was born in Sicily in 1925.''

song brings back memories of the game

my mom went to jail when i was about 7 and i remember playing this game then this song coming on and just crying uncontrollably and that’s the only reason i remember this song :( this game was really good but this song just takes me back to a bad time in my childhood

It is amazing that this song is associated with so many personal memories for you all. Good and bad. A few years back I was a heavy drinker. I drank mostly alone and whenever I sat outside on a bench and looked at the river.. I played this song. I always knew I had a drinking problem and this song always made me think about my life situation. I’m sober today and have a beautiful daughter who made me become a better person. Much love to you all

When i found out my dad had died, this song was playing in my head. RIP.

Every time i pause the game and hear this song, it makes me think of life in a sad way :'( (October 2015)

I pause the game when I feel like having a cigarette and a drink, than comes the song, and there I am one of the characters on the balcony of a shity apartment.

This game is a masterpiece! The story shows us tragedy after tragedy. So well written. This game is a lesson that no matter how poor you are you should never become a criminal, because in the end you will lose everything, even if you're lucky enough to stay alive.

You know your game is great when the pause menu music is jaw dropping, and emotional

As I'm sitting in a rainy night, drinking coffee, smoking a cig and writing a journal about the loved ones that are now long gone in a dimly lighted room, this is playing in the background there is just something really special about all these things combined. Can't really tell what.

Play this at my funeral. I think i will be fine...

Man, thats almost 5 years ago since i heard this first class score. It truly describes and reflects the story in total.

this music is so impacting, it makes you think of life in retrospect, unbelievable.

This always makes me think of my passed grandma, whenever I would play this game I used to always pretend she was in the game like in the car or something and she'd play along. God I miss her. This track is written perfectly for a pause theme and for many other things too

every time I pause the game I just think about the bad destiny that awaits vito and joe , no matter what were I doing . there is still a one bad end

Mafia 1&2 best games hands down in the series Rip Paulie, Sam & Tommy 😢

Drinking coffee in balcony when it rains outside while listening to this makes you question life

It has been 13 years since it was realesed .... It makes sense of sadness every single time you listen to it. The game is well written and teaches to not be a criminal in any hard situations, despite being sucessful in that sphere you will lose everything and anybody which are dear for you. Unfortunatly good games like this are only few.

The song to me that reveals the True Tone of the game. You’re playing having fun. Shooting tommyguns and being a mafioso. Then you pause. And stop and think. And see just how serious things actually are. And in the end, you’re all alone.

It's 9 years...it seems like it was yesterday that this game came out...this song is a masterpiece by the way. It kinda reminds us that life is too short and maybe there will be no tomorrow to be alive.. Be kind and be grateful to what you have.

I miss this game. The idea of having nothing then getting everything you ever wanted... Only to end up in ashes. A nightmare indeed and the only game to ever pull it off perfectly. Hope Mafia 3 will do the same.

Я навсегда запомню эту музыку из паузы.Эта музыка рассказывает тебе что эта история,а не просто игра.Это история 2 Итальянских друзей которые стали мафиози.Они жаждали богатства,но в итоге они оба потеряли всё.Я запомню имена этих 2 друзей навсегда Вито и Джо.

Totally nostalgic! back in my college days, I used to pause the game often for a while, just to hear this! So intense, So powerful...:)

I remember playing this game during the end of a relationship but that was over shadowed by my dog (pet) of 10 years dying, I recall pausing this game and just breaking down that my dog just died and this music described the pain ( I had also lost a close friend a few months before all that) somber times indeed. I'm taken back every time I hear this though the music is beautifully tragic.

so ironic, I listened to this song like 6 or 7 years ago when the game came out , I moved back to my old city. was going through a hard time than just as I am now , I aways played this song when I was feeling depressed . Here I am again 7 years later .......this song brings back a lot of memories

best song of this game!

Surgery failed... And it was going so well...

Brought Mafia 2 definitive edition as ps plus for free a little while ago like a couple months ago. Didn’t even stop for a minute to think of the pause music until now it’s stuck in my head. Reading the comments made me think of things I regret doing and a few people I hung out with weren’t really true to me. Today this song reflects on those times I had where i didn’t know any better til I began to see things in people. Can’t trust anyone but some out there can try to persuade you like I was recently a week ago. Most of all trying to get over an addiction that I’ve struggled for over a decade. Told myself many times this is the one but for real this needs to be the one that I quit on this addiction I’m on. Rather not say what my addiction is but it’s embarrassing to say. Glad I downloaded this game to find this piece of this great gem of a masterpiece.

Слезы на глазах, скучаю по 2011-2016 , помню ездил к брату, чтобы поиграть мафию 2 , прекрасные были времена

Это шедевр, таких игр больше не будет,пронизает всю душу,такая теплая печаль от этой игры.

Mafia 2 ending was.... Hooly shit my heart is still crying

My dad had a. Seizure back in December of 2022 I had this theme playing after the cops found him unconscious in the living room thank God hes still alive 😢

Every time I paused this magnificent game, I would take a moment to remember my beautiful Mum and would end up with tears in my eyes. The first time I heard it was the first time I really mourned her...all the years of regression brought out by such a poignantly sad yet powerful piano rendition.

god, i was 13 when this game came out, this song always made me feel things that i couldnt describe at the time. but relisting to this i can vividly picture me playing the game back in 2010.

When I was younger , my brother used to play this game quite a lot , and each time he had to pause the game to prepare cigarettes or food or anything else , I would just sit there in the couch listening to the music It really brings me back , such an amazing soundtrack and game

This always makes me think about my last school year. 2018-2019... That last moments before my state exams, the moment which set up my future. That depressing winter, that horror I felt... And that victorious feeling when all this were finished

one of the saddest songs I've heard 💜

Just started playing this game. Every time I pause the game, I hear this music and feel like something isn't right. Something bad is going to happen before I finish this game. I can tell. No spoilers, please

This game has a place in my heart that no game can take....no matter how big the title.

This is the greatest orchestrated song I've ever heard. Also one of my all time favorites for songs overall. It kinda makes you feel lonely inside. It would be a great song for a post-apocalyptic story or game, just with the loneliness hidden inside. It's the kind of music that always makes you wonder 'what if.'

I used to pause the game to hear this,what a masterpiece,best game ever.

2020 and i still listen to it i wish somebody introduced me a similar song or music i love deep depressing thoughts

i have to say this song hits me in my heart strings...it made me look back on the horrible way i have led my life, the terrible way i have treated everyone around me, the bad decisions i made, and the people i have hurt. when i first heard it while the game was paused, i just stopped. stopped playing, stopped talking, stopped thinking. I let my mind flashback through so many sad and painful times. After listening for 10 minutes i took the disk out, never played it again...

Mafia 2 far better than the 3. This last is terrible

I listen to this when i'm sad or disappointed or hurt. this is true ART ladies and gentlemen! This is the composers feelings in form of music!

i watched henry get chopped up when i was 6 or 7 years old and it never left my head till this day

This song makes you shed a tear. It's beautiful.

I wanna cry I miss those days so much 😞😞

That music bring me back at that time when my godfather died. I loved him...... Sometime people, who make this music, are very creative to do something like this.

this music is the reason I hated pressing pause on mafia 2. Its slightly depressing :(

My cat died this year. She was closest thing I ever had. grew up with her ever since. Now she’s gone. RIP.

Невероятно завораживающая музыка. Идеально подобрана к истории. Ничего лишнего. Слушаешь и утопаешь в мыслях. Невероятная игра

When you watching a series together, but they watch the whole season without you.

Mafia2 - (Pause) Breakfast - Mafia2 - (pause) Lunch - Mafia2 - (Pause) Tea - Mafia2 - (Pause) Dinner - Mafia2 (pause) Sleep? Naaah (Return to Game) Mafia2

Tbh ... I wish I was able to live in the 1940-60s to see how life was like back then when things were peaceful w respect

У меня какоето чувство... Не настольгическое, а грустное... Почему музыка из любимой игры заставляет меня плакать....

That's some intense shit right there.

At the start of the game, this music sounds out of place... But as the story unfolds, as Vito loses more and more, the ominous and depressing music fits the mood more appropriately, until it merges seamlessly with the emotional state of the game.

Good summer…. 2022 hi, my love mafia….

I got drunk for the first time at 14 listening to this song in the background of my room. Alone. 10 years later i drank everyday all day. Alone. I was full fledged alcoholic with DT’s in rehab, twice. Not sure why this has any significance. Ive led a pretty sad life, like this song! Nobody knows who I am anymore, kinda like nobody plays this game anymore! And who even remembers the music you play when you pause an old Xbox 360 game? Not anybody I know.

Thank you 2k for creating these beautiful games, you really deserve more attention.

luv this game ❤ finna beat it again soon

RESUME NEW GAME OPTIONS MAIN MENU

Joe :((

Holy shit this is the first time listening to it with headphones, it sounds so much more intense

It’s crazy how a menu theme can open a flood of memories I remember being at my grandparents house with my Xbox 360 and having this and black ops as the only games to play but with no internet I just rememeber playing this game for like the 20th time and falling asleep and waking up this playing through the TV Now my grandparents have passed but man this really takes me back to being in the room and playing this game

Эхх, меня в эту игру научил играть мой дядя. В прошлом году он погиб на войне. Эта песня напоминает мне о нём. Лети высоко. Земля тебе пухом.🕊

when i pause the game i always feel like i got the end...............nearby............soon.......but still walking.

Makes me think of my dad💔😪🕊miss u dad

Настальгическая музыкальная вкладка во многих видео Бзденко Как она завораживает...

Oh my god ... when i play this game first , that time was the darkest time from my entire life (...) ... daaaaammnnn soooo saaaaaadddd so much feel so much fight in this song ....

As how much Mafia 1 is overrated Mafia 2 is underrated

Лучшая игра на все времена

Sometimes I would leave the game paused for a few minutes because of this. Beautiful.

shakes me to my core

Just started the game again today . 13years old but what a masterpiece

fuckin hell really this is one of the best songs i have ever heard hands down i first heard this when this game came out back when i was only 11 or 12 yrs old still listen to it daily at age 23......... true to life masterpiece

Good for reflecting what you've done today Wonder how mafia 3 soundtrack sounds like

I remember hearing this the first time. COVID had just started and I was all dosed off because of it. Wound up being bored, playing video games, watching Good Mythical Morning to keep up the spirits and listening to music to keep the numbness away. I had school and all, but it didn't feel like living because I met hardly anyone outside the computer screen. Mostly felt betrayed by society; it was the time of moving on and getting somewhere, only to wind up alone and in seclusion despite my better attempts of something better. Eventually I had to quit school to go to the compulsory military service I so despised. Luckily, by then I had applied to college and gotten in with a delay agreement; I was glad that I wasn't going to be all empty with dull plans when I would eventually come back. The military came the following year, with more severe restrictions. The first months were okay, but after that the outbreak grew worse and people were sent in different places to avoid being infected. Everything changed. I couldn't even talk with any of my friends or go outside to get fresh air. It was like a prison, with toxic groups and no possibility to even shower as pleased. I couldn't even sleep in the same room with my bunkmates because I didn't get along with any of them. Started drinking heavily on leaves due to stress and I planned on running away with civilian clothing. Was nearly kicked off 4 times due to misconduct and false accusations until my captain noticed what was the real issue in my behaviour. He let me get away from my bunk anytime I wanted to read books in the corridor as long as I didn't break any more rules and had no large company around me. Sometimes, I could listen to music as well. Once a week, I went to talk with a military minister because the captain noticed I was interested in philosophy. In the end, I got past it all. The bunk changed and the atmosphere and the restrictions became more tolerable to bear. Didn't get great scores for obvious reasons, but the captain (and a couple of other officials) and I are still in terms. Especially because a poem I wrote about being a soldier was posted (by the demand of the colonel) in the military newspaper. For some reason they all loved the honesty in it. As of now, I am in college and I am off to double degree in the UK. Was supposed to study Russian culture but due to the war I chose to continue with my German studies instead. I still drink a lot, but it has gotten easier over time; partly thanks to GMM and my friends. I admit being afraid, but at least it is getting better. I wonder what will happen to me, but as of now, I am content that I made it through; even if people said that I wouldn't. I am glad. Until of course, something else comes and I have to wonder where I'm bound again. But now, it is good. That is the least I can say as of now.

Guys I feel something I can t describe.. its more than nostalgia

Somehow reflects the life of lost morality and ruined dreams of a better mark of ours on this world of the game.

When I listen to this song I get goosebumps

After listening to all genres of songs and musics in my 27 year lifetime; i say that this is THE BEST music I've ever heard

One of the most amazing piano covers of all time!

Memories of a lost freind. One that cant be replaced. One that i had.....Feelings for.

This Theme, as well as Brick Ballads - Houston St., and Road to the West. are incredible to listen one after the other.

Mafia 1 brought me back it was one hell of a game that reminded me of 2 another mafia game that managed to get me invested in the characters there never really is a happy ending with these games which is something I like how the mafia life almost never ends well the good things never last.

Don't know about you but I have after an accident in the winter at high speed sounded the music. And in this deep sense, we humans run for their money for satisfaction of greed but we are just snowflakes in relation to the universe. Yes, you can accelerate but you can not always stop. Незнаю как вам но у меня после аварии зимой на большой скорости звучала эта музыку. И в этом глубокий смысл мы люди бежим за своей деньгами из за не удовлетворенности, жадности но сами мы всего лишь снежинки относительно вселенной. Да можно разогнаться но не всегда можно остановиться.

Mafia 2 is one of the best game in the history of computer games

i love this music

I miss those days😢

Play this at my funeral please

RIP Joe :( I will miss you so much :'(

Beautiful relaxing and deppressing at the same time,i love this game and track

I never listen to stuff like this, never. Im boy of a rap/hip hop fan. But this, this just kills my insides and is so deep that i love it. Thank you mafia, an rip joe barbara:,(

Great soundtrack for breaking up.

that music makes me cry !

When you AFK

This soundtrack is a masterpiece..