Pestulon

@RenegadeDoppelganger: I completely agree with everything you said. Trying to get the SA rating makes the game a terrible challenge grind. And to complete the challenges I don't think you even need to finish the level. So basically what you could do is simply make suicide runs for the evidence pieces and just run and gun your way through to get all the disguises etc. just to boost your multiplier before going for a full clear. Doesn't matter if you get killed when doing this since challenge progress is instantly saved as soon as a challenge is completed or updated.

I started out playing the game on hard and trying to go for SA rank on each level but this is starting to ruin the gameplay experience for me as it is more about being an OCD challenge completionist than simply beating each level in the most effective and stealthy manner, like it was in the previous games. I think I will do what you did and simply not worry too much about the performance rating and just try to have some fun.

@MikkaQ: If I remember correctly, in previous games, you weren't forced to use the 'signature kill' method and could still get SA rank as long as you didn't get caught and didn't harm innocents. That does not seem to be the case in Absolution though as simply shooting or garrotting the target will not get you the points required for SA rank. At least not based on my experience with the first few levels on hard difficulty setting.

So this time around it seems to be more score/multiplier based. And difficulty setting also seems to be a big factor here. I mean, wasn't it possible to get SA rating in Blood Money on all the missions even on the lower difficulty settings? I don't think that is possible in Absolution.

I'm guessing it's probably harder on the pure sneaking missions and such since you do not get that big 'signature kill' bonus if there is no one to assassinate. Maybe on these you either really need to go out of your way to complete as many of the extra objectives as possible or maybe you simply need to play them on expert or purist level.

@Demoskinos: I think you are right with there being a score threshold. I just spent a couple of hours on the King of Chinatown mission, trying to figure out all the ways to assassinate the target. I think you get a lot more points for using a more indirect way to finish the guy like making it look like an accident. Using the piano wire or simply shooting the target only netted me Veteran rank, even when I got away unnoticed. But using some of the "tools" procured on site in the market (trying to keep the spoilers here to a minimum) got me an SA rank even with one unnecessary pacification. I think I even neglected to pick up the evidence on one of these runs and still got an SA rank. This was on hard difficulty by the way.

Just got the game and completed the first tutorial mission a couple of times to try and see how the ranking system works in this game. I'm just wondering if anyone has an idea what the requirements are to get the highest rank - which I am assuming is 'silent assassin' - in a said level?

In previous games there was a pretty simple list of things you were allowed to do and things you should avoid to get the highest ranking. But is it simply score based in Absolution? Meaning if you avoid unnecessary casualties and being detected you might still not get the highest mission rating unless you completed some bonus objectives or played on a hard enough level to get a bonus point multiplier?

Also, are you not allowed to take out (by non-lethal means) more than one additional target? I noticed I subdued two guys in the first mission but got penalty points for one pacification at the end.