Hitman 2 is one of the best stealth action/puzzle games I have ever played in my life, and I just don't want to play it. I was hooked on Hitman from the start, reaching mastery of each map before the next one dropped, and it was my GOTY along with Giant Bomb.

Now I have this massive laundry list of somewhat similar kills and the choice paralysis is real and frustrating. I think the episodic nature of 1 was a MAJOR part of it's success and I'm sad that I doubt I'll really master this one. Any similar or opposing thoughts?

I agree on missing the episodic format, but assholes on Steam are to blame for tanking reviews of the last game because they wanted to play wait-and-see-if-it's-good with every episode and then cried like babies when buying it all piecemeal ended up being more expensive than buying the whole game. It was the fucking worst. We can't have nice things.

I feared that HITMAN 2's quality would suffer from having to try and cram everything in at the start, and thankfully that mostly isn't the case, but yeah, the episodic nature both allowed the devs more time to produce each level and served to give the game a longer life span as it kinda forced the player to take a deeper dive into each map.

I personally haven't had any difficulty wanting to play HITMAN 2, though. I've intentionally not just blazed through each level to try and soak in more of what's there. Still, I totally get where you're coming from. When it's all there from the start, the game seems way more daunting, and it's (sadly) going to lead to more people bouncing off of it in ways they otherwise may not have if there was a new reason to come back to it every month or so like with the last game.

I'd advise not giving up on it, though. It's quite good. Nothing is stopping you from making your own schedule of playing it on a similar timetable to how HITMAN 2016's content was doled out. There's still enough depth to most of the levels to keep you entertained, and if you focus on one at at time, the checklist seems far less intimidating. Also, try to do as many of the elusive targets as possible to keep yourself coming back. I'll be playing this in such a manner throughout much of 2019.

I can see that. I haven't played the game since I finished the story and did the first Elusive Target...but I also have a ton of other games to play at the moment, so I'm not exactly bothered by it. There'll be that christmas event happening next tuesday and a new Elusive Target on the 21st. I'll probably re-play some of the maps too over christmas, when I actually have more time off. Also they'll eventually put those two new maps out, though I don't think they've given any indication as to when.

But a full game seemingly IS what the fanbase wanted, so I guess we can at least hope that the game sells better than the previous one?

Possibly, but I'm guessing the same pricks who whined about their chosen piecemeal cost of the last one waited for a sale on HITMAN 2 or are still waiting for the price to drop even lower to where it might not be as profitable overall even if it sells as much or more than HITMAN 2016. Which, given that IO went independent, is extra-fucked if you think about it, as they probably very much need to make as much as possible off the game for the viability of their studio and if this franchise is to continue as I really hope it does.

At least the Steam reviews are "Very Positive" this time around, which is a welcome change. Still, it's pretty fucking sad that a bunch of entitled babies demanded and got their way. I'm glad that IOI has managed to survive on their own so far, but that Squeenix gave them the axe and forced them into make-or-break self-sufficiency likely at least in part due to the Steam assholes trashing the 2016 game's reputation, as well as that HITMAN 2 may have players bouncing off quicker as mentioned here as a result of the demanded "full game" structure is a real goddamn shame.

Somewhere out there is a guy who bitched about the piecemeal episodes costing more in 2016, wrote some garbage "review" on Steam, finally admitted HITMAN was good later on, waited on a sale for HITMAN 2, and is going to dislike or simply play less of HITMAN 2 because they got the "full game" they demanded. 47, you have your next target.

If I remember, the episodic format was actually HURTING the success of the first game

Yeah, the episodic nature of the last Hitman really fit the gameplay well. There would a lot of conversation around a single level when it was released, but now that everyone has everything I don't hear that conversation, which means I'm less likely to revisit things that I might have missed.

I used to replay the maps in Silent Assassin, Contracts and Blood Money countless of times, even when there was only a few, not-so-fancy ways to off your targets. So back then replaying the content of a full Hitman wasn’t an issue.

...of course, back then I also didn’t have a job with a good income, a digital library consisting of hundreds of games to steal my attention and all that. If this had come out then, I’d probably still be playing daily.

And yeah, I don’t think all the critics disliked the episodic structure, but most of the hardcore fanbase never gave it a chance.

Seems like the same general consensus; people love the game but do see the value in the episodic nature. I had over a hundred hours in the previous entry, and I do plan to come back here and there, just a bummer overall, also happened to release during a DENSE time of year. No time for replaying hitman maps when i could play RDR2, and smash.

I am part of the ''Hardcore Hitman fanbase'', I disliked the episodic format of the last game, so much that I still have not finished all of the maps in Hitman 2016. Although I never made a steam review. I have however loved Hitman 2 and am now replaying the original levels in Hitman 2.

The only downside that I see is the minimal GB content that we are getting from the game, I would take that feature over Mass Alex or Die Another Friday, even though I like both shows.

On another note, I have started replaying Hitman Codename 47, still a lot of fun 18 years later.

The only good thing with the episodic format was the sweet, sweet GB coverage. Brad and Dan fumbling through a world of assassination on a regular basis.

Eh, I don't miss it one bit and actually find myself playing these maps a loooooot, same as the last game. And I feel the maps are vastly better than any of the ones in prior game so it's only gotten better without the episodic jargon.

I am not a fan of episodic games and won't buy them until they are complete. I don't review them poorly or anything stupid I just don't like the idea. That being said, I suppose a solution for those who miss the episodic nature would be to play one map, put the game down for a month, play the next map.

I miss the episodic nature. I don't play these games myself, but I really enjoyed watching people play the game throughout the entire year and it really helped it stay fresh in everybody's mind. Watching a Hitman video every few weeks instead of a bunch within a week or two also kept it from getting a little stale to me.