Since we're closing in on friday, I decided to leave that pesky beta thread behind me and make a new one!

I was a bit confused by video's title at first, but then I remembered that these episodes will indeed be part of a season. I hope they are planning on wrapping up the possible storyline within the seven episodes released this year, if the game ends up bombing and there won't be another season. Not that story ever was that big of a deal in any of the Hitman games, but still.

I finally tried the beta myself during the weekend and very much enjoyed my time with it. Felt more Blood Money than Absolution ever did. I would naturally like to get my hands on the full game already, but I'm hoping I'll have enough fun with the intro pack already. Can always just leave it at that and not buy any of the upcoming episodes if I don't like it.

I've played the previous Hitman games on PC, but this played and worked well enough on PS4 for me to move over. I'm sure someone will play this on Xbone too, right...?

Here's a little trivia pic of Paris.

I'm psyched. I've heard a lot of good things and lord knows we're all due for a good Hitman game.

Man I want to believe.

But I feel like I'd rather remain cautious and skeptical of it and preserve the potential for a pleasant surprise rather then be disappointed again.

I'm very glad Contracts mode is making a return. That mode had major replay potential and was very fun to set up as well. For the money they're asking, I see myself getting this with no regrets.

Even though I'm glad we're finally getting a supposed iteration on Blood Money man seeing all those environments already partially developed for a trailer bums me the fuck out that they aren't just waiting to release a full game.

Really hope that the game turns out good enough for me to sink my teeth into a single level over and over.

I can't wait. It's been too long. FYI, I'm the guy that will be playing it on Xbox One. I'm not too thrilled that the PS4 version gets extra content, but that stuff goes both ways depending on the game these days. Also of note there, they finally started accepting preorders for the Xbox One digital version last week (crazy to be that late, IMO), but I'm happy to say that it's downloaded and waiting for me. That size comparison graphic gives me some real hope. Contracts mode has the potential to be so damn awesome if we actually have a lot to play with there this time.

I actually really like the idea of the episodic release and elusive contracts. I feel like a bunch of people only play a Hitman level once and miss a ton of it. The fun and greatness of this series (when the levels have allowed for it) is figuring out new ways to take out targets and dealing with some different scenarios in the process. Hopefully the episodic model encourages that. Provided there's as much to do in Paris as they're promising, the replayability should be there. Whether or not people actually engage in it remains to be seen. I fear we'll see a bunch of "lacking content" whining from people who don't really get what they're trying to do here.

I do find it mildly amusing that lo is actively throwing Absolution under the bus as much as they are. That's probably a good thing for the most part because it should result in a less linear game, but I hope they kept some of the mechanics, as Absolution mostly nailed that. That being said, the more I hear people comparing this to Blood Money, the more excited I get. I also feel like the "location" releases mean that they'll seemingly have to make those locations rich with options, which sounds great. Give me toys in the sandbox, and I'll have fun.

I hope the Contracts mode isn't console-specific (though it probably will be), as it might be cool to share and play some of the contracts created by GB users. I'd be interested to see or hear about some of the stuff you guys create either way. Even if the story is shit (I hope it's not), the Hitman community could theoretically salvage the entire game if they create and share great missions on their own. That is, as long as the tools are there for it (as they seem to be). I really, really hope this game pans out, because it could be incredible.

Come Friday, it's time for MURDER.

Yup, this is like Blood Money. I guess some could (and already have) argue that it doesn't seem to have too many new tricks up it's sleeve, but when it's been nearly ten years since the last proper Hitman and there really hasn't been any other good candidates on the field since, I'm more than happy to return to the scene of the crime. It certainly helps that the playfield is big and riddled with options for you to mess around with.

I just hope that they'll manage to stick to the release schedule and that there'll be a new one in next month.

Played the main mission through a couple of times now (and first part of the PS Exclusive Sarajevo six, which really isn't anything special) and still loving it. Gaining levels to unlock additional equipment and starting locations is a good enough reason for me to replay this several times. I should say, though, that the game has had it's share of bugs. Those white "vision meters" appearing and filling up when I'm changing to another disguise in an empty room and being able to do some questionable things in plain sight (like climbing up a drainpipe when you're seemingly in someone's vision) have irked me a little bit. Though maybe some those people are being underpaid and they just don't care! That option crossed my mind, when I accidentally climbed through a window and a waiter just said "Oh man, that's cool!" upon seeing me.

The Quick Look also showed off that assumedly very scripted bit, where Viktor calls Dalia and she answers, the only problem being that Brad had already killed her off. I don't know if they can patch that out, because like I said in my previous post, the whole mission seems to be riddled with different events that of which some only happen once. Granted though, I think that was the only part where I noticed him calling her, so I guess they could try and fix it, so that he gives up on the call when she doesn't answer and continues his normal routines.

I had a similiar issue, when I climbed way above the stage and dropped the whole missmash of lights on the catwalk, killing Viktor (and eleven other people, whoops), while Dalia was having a chat with Kruger in her private room like nothing had happened. Blood Money did have a similiar thing in some of it's maps where some sections of the map would barely be affected by violent happenings, but it was a bit glaring in this case when Dalia and others in the room had the perfect view to this horrible thing happening, not to mention hearing the lights crash and dozens of people screaming and running away in panic.

This game is awesome, but yeah, it's not without bugs. I had an agency pickup of my sniper rifle manage to not spawn into the world. Then I was allowed to walk around wielding it and aiming it in plain view of guards, which I'm guessing wasn't supposed to happen. Oh well. Still loving it. I've played through Paris about seven times and I've barely scratched the surface of things to do.

What settings do you guys play with? Ive got the opportunities set to minimal as its too easy at full. I wish you could have the mini map be on but turn off enemy markers just to have it solely for navigation. Id turn it off but bringing up the full map takes forever to load

All in all really enjoying this game though. I really love playing through the one mission over and over trying to perfect it and trying new things, its something i always done in blood money. The escalation hits are surprisingly good also, mixes things up making it more difficult as you progress.

The game servers are having connectivity issues, according to the game's official Twitter.

Public announcement: When playing offline, you are unable to inspect your item/weapon collection, load saves made when online, use the Contracts feature, use perks gained through mastery level-ups, and more!

I really like the Paris level. It's been great fun replaying and seeing the various things you can do - although it is very much a trial and error game reliant on me restarting multiple times (but we all do right!)

I managed to get a 4 out of 5 rating on the missions having, made Viktor a rat poison filled cocktail and then drowned him in the toilet, I then sniped Dalia from the well placed sniper tower that I'd spied in earlier playthroughs and figured out how to get to. One I'm going to try is getting a hold of the fireworks remote and then snipe both of them from that location / get out. I think one of the most interesting ones on the list is to kill Viktor by pushing Dalia out the balconey and onto him.

Is it just me though or does the soundtrack remind anyone else of Despicable Me? It's been rather amusing / odd to hear. It's when the music heightens a bit (for example shimming along the pipes of the exterior of the building or hiding a body) and hits this 'bwwwaaa baaaa' fanfare.

I really REALLY like this game. I have all the assists off except for NPC icons (because you can't distinguish them properly without it) and it feels like a more polished larger Blood Money. It's a real shame I only have this level and what seems like only another 5 in the future. Ive not run into any bugs like you guys have so I guess I'm lucky there.

Ive almost cleaned out the tutorial missions entirely (left them barely played in the beta intentionally) and I've only finished Paris once so I'm keen to start experimenting in there.

I actually decided to do a little experimenting with this but on Dalia's end. Once I took Helmut Kruger's outfit and phone I waited to call Dalia until I could see her. At first I called her when she was talking to people in at the Auction and she simply didn't pick up so the conversation didn't happen. Then I called her again when she wasn't occupied and she actually picked up her phone. So I wonder if what happened in the QL was a bug or an oversight. I'd have to retread Brads steps to see if it's the same case with Viktor.

All in all though I'm very happy with how this game has turned out, it's a real shame it seems to have sold awfully on PC and there's a bunch of intentionally ignorant knee-jerk bandwagon negative reviews all over their store page.

Only played the tutorial missions so far as Paris is still downloading but I like what I see so far.

I am really curious to see how this game pans out in the long term. Traditionally when I think of episodic games its something like The Walking Dead or Life is Strange which like television rely on twists, cliffhangers, and character development to get you interested in coming back for more. But with Hitman its going to be about mechanical diversity and scenario variety to make people return for the next episode.

Something that The Walking Dead seemed very aware of is that two points make a line, so Episodes 1 and 2 from the first season had quite a different tone and setting that set up the feeling that anything could happen in the next episode, which in turn made you want to play it. I'll be interested to see how HItman handles this problem with gameplay as opposed to story.

so my question is; is it worth it to pick this up or wait for the full game. how long do the missions take? does it feel fresh to replay it over and over?

@mathj It depends, really. If you leave all the hints and guiding on, you can beat the main Paris mission in less than a hour. Not that it'll take 4-5 hours to do without them if you know your way around, but it does add duration and, more importantly, is a more fun experience for me at least. I don't know if the game keeps any stats of how long you've played, but I have completed the campaign mission six times by now and there's still a whole lot of ways left to do it. It also helps if you've got the patience for waiting around for AI routines to go on about their business and trying to avoid collateral damage.

There's really only one real mission in the game. The training ones are pretty barebones, even if they do have multiple ways for you to complete them. But in case you have not played a Hitman game before, your main goal never changes. You'll always have to kill your target(s), you just decide on how to do it. Contracts adds custom ones, but I'd imagine those also require you to kill someone as their main goal, not...I don't know, carry a rubber ducky to a specific room? Maybe I should actually try and see if that's a possible goal...

So it's been worth the 15€ for me at least, but this comes from a long-time fan of the series, who's just happy to get a new Blood Money after almost ten years. If you've watched the QL or read some reviews and got curious over it but don't want to jump in just yet, I'd say maybe wait for next month and for the other episode to drop.

It really depends on how you play those games. If you play it like I do, meaning you fully explore every level, play without hints the first few times and try to complete every challenge there is a LOT to do in the Paris mission. It's not perfect, it can be pretty tedious to wait until the characters had all their speeches and move on to the place you want them to be at but I still enjoy it a lot. I would say it is worth to pick it up right now, but if you just want to play through each level once or twice there probably won't be enough content for you.

I just hope the release schedule is steady.

@grulet: @abendlaender:thanks for the response, it definitely gave me more insight if im gonna pick it up, which i probably am. it seems like everything is so densely packed into the area, there are tons of possibilities.

EDIT--so i picked up the whole shebang so to speak, dropped 60 bones on it and i have to say im really happy with my purchase. i honestly think the episodic format done right (meaning releasing on a set schedule, with the eps not being too far apart) can be a cool thing. the map is pretty damn big. having never played the tutorial sections before, it took me about an hour or so messing around with that. there are a ton of options in terms of how to dispose of people. it has such an emphasis on exploration and discovery than absolution did. i feel as though absolution "cut off its nose to spite its face" in a way haha it removed the best parts about hitman and replaced them with story and even though sometimes it was on, this one definitely hits that "true" hitman feel. i mean the disguise system and enemy AI was shit in absolution so its awesome to finally once again have that stuff work really well. so yeah, totally worth the purchase. really happy as well the frame rate is unlocked on ps4, the game looks gorgeous. replay ability is such a factor and i know ill get a ton out of it.

@shindig: my thoughts exactly!

Italy should hopefully be out in April and Morocco in May, but I don't know what's their plan with US, Japan and Thailand. They are also doing those supposed weekly events and some other additional content between episodes, so let's hope it'll stay lively enough throughout the year.

but man...these load times though T_T

I was obsessed with this for two days and now it's done. I think the episodic thing will work well for this. I'd love to dive into another level but I would definitely get exchausted pretty quick. I bet I'm gonna be super ready to explore the next level completely when it comes out.

I never really did this in Blood Money with maby a few exceptions, although all the hints and guides really help. I got too frustrated when everything was so unclear to me. I'm happy they are in there and I'm also happy you can turn them off if you want.

Playing this on PC, and I'm really enjoying it. I poked around at it for a few days over the weekend, just testing out the new systems, seeing what you can do in the Paris level, etc. I haven't finished it yet, but I have an idea of how I want to accomplish it now.

I really like the new game. I need to spend some more time with it, and tweak some settings to get it running well. But it is pretty impressive how massive that level is.

As others have said, I think the episodic release works here. I need to go back to Blood Money and mess around with that, but in the new game, I had a bit more confidence walking around and finding everything I could. In Blood Money, I would hardly replay missions in different ways. If I figured out a way to complete the hit, I would do that every time.

Technically the game seems well polished and switching over to DX12 really gives a noticeable performance increase. Amount of content on first episode is a real letdown however and if it's going to follow the same formula with one mission per episode, I think I'd rather wait until all episodes are out and deeply discounted.

Strange Hitman advertising/marketing is back.

Are a lot of people still having issues with getting disconnected? I just started playing this and every 20-40 minutes I have server issues and get disconnected. I really like the game, but man is it frustrating.

I really enjoyed it and episodic feels like it works well with the whole thing. I've had a few runs through it along with some escalation stuff and it's been i teresting to see how differently you look at the level when your overall goals change. It's quite admirable how much milage one level gets.

My only issue so far is some of the challanges/assassinations seem to need a step by step triggering system that seems to reset when you reload and it's not always clear how to make them work. But it has been fun just reconing the scenarios and do some failure runs to find that one smooth method.

Because my question is similar to the one you responded to, do you have any idea if they (the devs) plan to fix/improve the existing levels as they go? That'd be the reason I'd want to wait for them all to be out, because I don't like the idea of all the bugs/inconsistencies people are experiencing so far... though I'll play with them still there if I have to, because hte game seems great so far!

Also, do you get the ship level that was in the beta with this first paris mission? Or is that coming later? Or not at all (beta exclusive)?

They are improving as they go, but I haven't run into any bugs in my time with the game. Performance wise, it isn't great yet. I have a pretty good gaming PC, and it doesn't run that well. And you get the two tutorial missions (ship and military base) that were in the beta with the Intro Pack.

After spending something like 15-20 hours playing this Paris level I can say with certainty it is the best hitman level to date. The game isn't perfect with some garbage always online business and a contracts mode where you can't even share your contracts with friends but I'm confident they'll pull it together by the end of the season. The core game is the best it's ever been so most of the hard work is done. Only need a few extra features and this will turn into the perfect hitman game.

For anyone still waiting I would say get it in a month or 2 when you have 3 large levels to go through, elusive targets and a fully featured contracts mode.

I've had some, though not too recently. It's like their server is either having a good day or a bad day. Saving with some regularity obviates the issue, but it is annoying.

I never thought they'd top Contracts' Deadly Cargo, but you're right about this being the best Hitman level ever. I disagree on people waiting, though. I think it's a steal for $15, and it's not like it's low on content considering all there is to do. I'm still not even through with the Escalations and haven't touched Contracts mode yet, and I've played it damn near daily since it came out.

@notnert427: Escalations are really fun and you're probably right, waiting would mean missing a few elusive targets and I bet those will be super fun. Now that I know this level like the back of my hand I'm ready for anything they can throw at me.

Are the Escalation missions auto generated and recycled weekly or something? I did the 5 stages of the first one (killing the tech worker with the sword in the museum) and it felt incredibly boring and repetitive. Eliminating the same target 5 times in a row with barely any incremental challenge simply felt tedious. Are they all like this or do they become more interesting?