Considering ep 6 marks the end of this "season", thought it might be nice to discuss this year's content as a whole in one thread.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. The story is moving in a fun direction and I think they have a lot of places to go with it, and that's just based on all the ambient dialogue that seems to be referencing something we never get to see in-game just yet.

Three of the missions are absolutely stellar imo (paris, sapienza, hokkaido) and the rest of them are OK but not great. So, it's a good start but there's definitely room for improvement.

The missions were a bit uneven, but that's typical to all Hitman games. The only thing is in the other games there are twice as many missions, if not more. Otherwise I'm really happy with it, but if you look at Blood Money there is way less content here. All the extras, like the Elusive Targets, are cool and all but there's just a lot less as far as maps. Paris, Sapienza, and Hokkaido are three great maps that stack up well with the best in the series.

The story is cool. I wish they maybe did the "assassins in the maps trying to kill you" part in the game because it was really set up for it how it went. Instead they just threw that mysterious sniper in the cutscene. Those were just some of my absolute favorite parts of 2 and Blood Money. Maybe next season!

In the end, very happy to see more people get into Hitman because it's one of my favorite series and I truly thought it was dead after Absolution, which was trash. I suggest they go play Blood Money if they want more. That game will feel rough in ways no doubt, but it is a masterpiece.

@artisanbreads: I would disagree that it's not as much content as Blood Money, I think it's much, much more. Yeah, Blood Money has more levels...but to me it ends there. I've probably put over 100 hours into this Hitman and I barely touched escalations. The unlockables are a massive boon to the game and there's much more gameplay elements than Blood Money.

I 100 percented Blood Money on Silent Assassin and I don't think it took me more than 30 hours at most. There's no way you could do all you could do in this game in that amount of time.

Blood Money is a favorite of mine, a classic, but I think this one does a lot better ESPECIALLY when it comes to the depth of its content.

@counterclockwork87

What you're describing is mechanics and systems over content. And yeah, they do a ton to layer things over the game to make what content is there engaging, change over time, and with progression through the unlocks. All that is great. The gameplay is a lot better too, there's no doubt. But in the end, I get the most from going through a new map and seeing all the options. There's just less of all that.

I don't mean to discount your points, it's all right on, but still there is less content. I don't even mean to say the devs or lazy or something because there's clearly a lot of work into all the different systems.

I really don't mean to rag on this game Hitman because I was thrilled it came out and its as good as it is, and that it works so well episodically. And I think all these mechanics and systems are well designed.

Designing Hitman maps seems super hard. My knock against the game, that the levels are uneven, mattered a lot less in the previous games like I say because there are so many more maps. That's my complaint with this game but it's great and easily one of the best of the year. I also think the unlocks are lackluster in some maps, which is something they could work on. In the last map they are super compelling, which is great.

Anyways, I know some people won't care about this like I do but what I love most from Hitman is exploring a new area and seeing new crazy kill options or interesting stuff in the level.

@artisanbreads: I get what you're saying but why is there an imaginary line for your definition of content? New objectives in the same map is still content to me, it doesn't have to new art assets. Even though yes I agree that exploring new levels is the best thing in Hitman the comparison to BM just falls short for me because of how much larger this games levels are. I am still slightly disappointed there aren't as many levels as BM but like @counterclockwork87 said the 6 maps in this new Hitman provide a lot more mileage than the BM maps did.

What's more important for me to see in between seasons is bringing back some of the mechanics that the previous games had that this new iteration seems to lack. Things like AI recognising bloodstains, blood trails when you drag bodies with open wounds, heroic civilians, hostage taking or the bloody briefcase. Those things added a lot to the toolset of Hitman and were a lot of fun to use. My biggest concern is that the way they've been going with all the unlockable items is they may have designed themselves into a corner. They aren't bringing any new systems in because I feel like they feel that might break the existing map/mission design. Instead they give us 3 variations on proximity and remote explosives and another 3 variations on sound distraction devices. I REALLY hope to see that change Season 2, or maybe if they add another 10 mastery levels to Season 1 missions in-between. Either way I need new systems, at least the ones that were in the previous games that are absent here.

For me the line is being in the same map. Again, I don't mean to hate on it because that's clever use of mechanics and systems and the Hitman game sandbox is so cool you should do stuff to get as much play out of one map as possible. In the end it gives you new gameplay but it's not new content.

I also really don't think most of the levels are that different at all in size from Blood Money. Sapienza stands out as being huge but like Bangkok, Hokkaido and Colorado are definitely not bigger than Blood Money maps. Murder of Crows, A Vintage Year, House of Cards, Til Death Do Us Part, Amendment XXV were all sizable maps in Blood Money. These maps are much more detailed art wise due to the fidelity, there is no question of that. If I was to guess, that's why there are less maps. Not sure how to solve the problem except staffing up and throwing more manpower at it, but if you do that you might not be able to make a real Hitman game, which won't have huge appeal, on a budget that makes it a successful project.

I agree they get more mileage out of the maps and all this stuff is super smart.

One thing I might be interested to see is if they couldn't add some more unique content into stuff like Elusive Targets in Season 2. Give me some fun new kills to discover based on the new Elusive Targets on the map and their situation. Like just a random hypothetical, the target is in a cook out, which is a new thing on the map, and so you can rig up his BBQ to explode or what have you, and those assets and that opportunity would be something that didn't exist on the map in the regular version. Basically a small version of the Summer Bonus mission idea they did.

To your second bit, I hope they break clean with season 2 and add new stuff without worrying about how it fits into the old maps by just making it only be season 2. Should be possible.

I was pretty iffy on this game when it was first announced as episodic content. However, I started watching the quick looks around the time Marrakesh/Bangkok came out, and was impressed by what I saw. So now that all the episodes are out, I decided to pick it up.

I'm pleasantly surprised. I was willing to very easily write this game off as a rip-off and cash in, but I've been having a lot of fun with it. I haven't put a lot of time into it yet and have only completed up to Bangkok and fooled around a bit on Paris finding different ways to complete it, but I've enjoyed it a lot so far.

Also, the cutscenes after each story mission are making me want to rewatch some Bond movies.

All of the missions weren't as great as Sapienza and Paris in my opinion, but this is definitely the right direction to be heading in after Absolution. Handful of more maps with bigger size to them for Season 2 would already be swell.

I'm also probably going to change to the pc-version for S2. Might even grab this first bunch during winter's Steam sales, in case there's some things that carry over between seasons.

After putting the time in, Hokkaido is hands down the best map. Coolest looking, best opportunities, amazing mastery unlocks, some of the moves available to the AI, the possible kills, the costume door unlocking mechanisms, and the coolest costumes themselves. All on what is actually a pretty small map too. So well designed.

I know, it is truly stellar. Great layout and the first level where the 'classic hitman' atmosphere was especially strong imo. Every corner of the map would make for an interesting screenshot. Also, I thought it was amazing that (nifty game mechanic spoiler:) dragging the body of a person opens the doors that correspond to their uniform.

I really feel the same way about that "classic atmosphere" comment you make, and I'm not sure exactly why that is. I'm thinking about doing a big review of this game in the context of the series, and I might replay some of the older games (particularly all of Blood Money) to do so. That might help me figure out exactly why. I'm even thinking about doing an exhaustive breakdown of your options to compare it to how the new Hitman works. I have seen people say this game has bigger maps, more options and more going on in the map and I actually think they just do way more to surface and encourage people to find and explore all that stuff rather than actually have more of any of that, and I want to break that down to see if I'm actually right. Not to discount the game, but to show how smart those additions to the formula were and how much that can improve the player experience for a lot of people.

I like that spoilery bit as well. I just cleared the whole map staying as the ninja and slicing and dicing my way through just about everyone and never changing and made plenty of use of that haha. The poor director got dragged just about all the way across the map as the survivors ran in terror.

I honestly (sounds a bit hyperbole I know) think that Hitman 2016 is the best sequel (reboot, whatever you want to call it) of all time. It took literally the best elements of every single game in this series and put them together in the best way possible. The "hitman vision" and awareness indicators of Absolution, the maps/missions/ amazing kills of blood money, its all there and executed perfectly. The addition of the tractable opportunities and challenge lists is in my opinion the best addition they have ever made. I know the Hitman purists would say that it makes everything too easy, and in a way its totally true. But I'll be honest, as much as I've loved the entire series, I suck ass at Hitman. Ive always played them like Dan: wander around, see some stuff that looks cool to do, blow my cover almost instantly, then put everyone on the map down with silenced silverballers. I would pretty much always unlock all the levels this way, then go back with a walkthrough to see all the cool shit. In 2016 Hitman, its all just built right into the game, giving a level of accessibility that had always been missing. Plus, for the purists, its totally optional!

Weighing in on the amount content, I feel like this game has more content than any of them, just not as many maps. But the pure amount of shit that is packed into every corner of every map is staggering when you sit back and look at it. Ive probably put more time into Sapienza and Hokkaido alone than any other Hitman game, and done wildly different things the entire time, even though its only two maps.

@artisanbreads: I think the older games had a more consistently dark and moody atmosphere. A lot of the super spy/political intrigue felt secondary to the dark satire of the outrageous people you were tasked with killing. I think Hokkaido captures that feeling better by 1) having you kill a hitman with the best medical care available (that kind of absurd situation harkens back to classic hitman in a big way), 2) pitting you against edgy tokyo-styled yakuza henchman wearing medical attire (the themed henchman angle is something I loved from previous games that this entry is sorely lacking) and 3) the lighting and overall vibe of the visuals. Agent 47 belongs in night time environments with the occasional neon thing around.

All Hokkaido needed was Jesper Kyd's music.

This new Hitman seems to be going for more of a James Bond global trotting adventure thing, which is still cool. I just like my Hitman equals parts luxury and seedy, and this has gone full vacation planner mode. I kinda want to go to some places people don't actually want to travel to, or at least, something that isn't quite as pristine as what we've been given so far.

@claybrez: Sleazy/disgusting locations are definitely a thing that should be tackled on S2, odd that I forgot about it. I think the music can be really good, but obviously the previous soundtracks by Kyd are still in a league of their own.

@claybrez:Good points there, I think you're pretty right on with them. I would say though that I think there was a mix of the "tourist/spy" type feel and the edgier, grimier feel in older Hitman maps. Like A Vintage Year and House of Cards being good examples of more tourist-y ones from Blood Money. But when you have about twice as many maps, you can have more variation in the other games. I would have loved something like the fucked up Meat King's Party from Contracts. With the limited selection here it is more just the tourist-y angle. I hope there is some more variation.

I think the feel thing is interesting. I do feel like the whole thing is played more straight, outside of the costumes and some opportunities (and well, the whole 47 disguise premise). Basically I would say the world of all the older games felt much more stylized, and darkly humorous as you mention, while in this game it is more straight forward and you are doing crazy things in it, creating the absurdity. I mentioned the Meat King before and it's hard to imagine that being a target in this game, for example. Or that whole map's feel in general. There was a map in 2 where you had to kill a cliche dork gamer and you actually could get found trying to sneak up on him by stepping on chips he spilled on the carpet. Stuff like that I just couldn't see in this Hitman. I do hope they experiment more and are willing to go that direction with season 2.

Giving me more to think about for a possible write up here. It is interesting to look at how it has evolved.

@glots: I'm glad you brought up Kyd. I haven't, but as someone who practically listens to a song off the Hitman soundtracks every day, I really do miss his work. The soundtracks to those games was so good. I think the new game has really cool music that especially works well dynamically with the gameplay, accenting things, but it isn't as memorable and moody. It is pretty "spy movie" in feel, in addition to the rest of it.