So I just recently bought this game during one of the 50% off sales. Would it be better to: a) play each map one at a time until I get sick of it (or mastery level 20), then move on to the next one, or b) play each map once, maybe twice, then go on to the next one, then return to the maps to clean up challenges and such afterwards?

I personally say go through the story first, playing each map once, and come back to them as you wish. The story is surprisingly well told and worth following.

I came to it kind of late myself (all six episodes were released by the time I started, in addition to seeing a bunch of random clips of everyone from Brad, Dan, Jeff, Vinny, and Dave Lang playing the game).

The way I played it was one map at a time and then moved on. There are two tutorial maps: the simulations of the cruise ship and the airbase. I would at least do one of the tutorial missions more than once (you may actually need to do the cruise ship twice). My main philosophy was sort of go through each map once and then go through them again later.

If you pick up the basics, you can do more challenging and elaborate setups relatively fast, so you don't need to replay one map over and over to get good at the game or anything like that. At this point with all of the episodes out, I don't think there is a right or wrong way to play the game.

I'd say play through each map twice so you can get a decent amount of the equipment unlocks then go back to bump up your mastery if you're still interested in seeing some of the other ways to kill the targets.

I'm not sure - maybe play each map at least a couple of times or until you are sick of it then move on?

I have varying mastery over the maps because I bought the game partway in, after Sapienza had come out. There is still a hell of a lot in the game I am yet to do - so many challenges, escalations etc. But yeah, I'm not sure how I'd go about it first time through now. Maybe each once? - the game will be pretty short if you just mainlined it but it will give you a general sense of the game. Then go back through and find all of the little intricacies.

Thinking about it, I wonder how many people will complain about the game's length of lack of missions (if they've just purchased it all now). I can see how mainlining it would feel limited but there's so damn much to this game.

In conclusion - I have no idea.

"PLAY THE GAME"

If I keep enjoying at as much as I did the tutorial maps, I'll almost certainly buy into Season 2 at the beginning, because that seemed like the way better method of playing this game. Getting it all at once is a bit daunting.

First time through you should leave all the opportunities and everything on. It will help you find things easier and will help you wrap your mind around how the game is actually played. It is weird to say, but I think the maps are more fun once you start replaying them. My second and third times through a map tend to be my favorite. Personally I would recommend you try to get most of the unlocks from a level before moving on to the next. Having more options for your load out adds a lot to having a better experience. Maybe don't stay on every map until you hit mastery 20. There will be some you wont care for as much as others so don't spend too much time there right up front unless there is something you really want to unlock. Look at challenged to give you ideas of things you can do as well as ways to quickly get mastery up. You don't have to finish a mission to the credit from completing the challenge, it saves right away.

@iburningstar: This is pretty much how I played every map, as well. The opportunities help you get a handle on how things work in a map, so that if you wish to do the challenges and see "Kill X target with X method" you can actually plan out the kill using a mind map, like a murderous Sherlock Holmes. It feels pretty great to have a plan like that come together.

As for playing straight through or doing a completionist run for each level, honestly I can see the advantages of both. I personally played through each in order to level 20 before moving on, but if you don't jive with it as much as I did, you might wind up burning out. If you're unsure, I'd say go with the safe story playthrough, first. Seeing Hitman in this way with the maximum amount of variety will definitely tell you if you want to replay the levels.

"How will I know when I am satisfied?"

For real though, the game lets you do as much or as little as you want. I like finding and trying all the different assassination methods, and I like to be strict Silent Assassin, and I like turning off Opportunities notifications entirely, and I like trying some of the Escalations, and I definitely don't like doing all of the Escalations, but that's just me. Whatever you do, play each level more than once.

@cvagts: I say do what feels right.

You like Paris a whole bunch? Try out some different options.

You didn't really like Sapienza a whole lot? Move on and check out the next map.

No harm done if you linger anywhere too long.

Just play how you want man. I played the first 3 levels then went back and played the first two to get some more unlocks and find new ways to kill people. Just do whatever feels right. The story is paper thin anyways.

Sure, if you lived in some alternate reality where objectively fantastic things were considered bad.

@ivdamke: next thing you'll be trying to tell me is that Blood and Wine is the best story of the year or something

@humanity: How did you know?

If you're going to have Opportunities on, at least set it to Minimal so that it doesn't feel like you're just on rails. You'll know what next step to take, but you'll still have to do some exploring instead of literally being told where you need to go, what switch to hit, which person to talk to, who's the most convenient npc to get a disguise from, etc.

I actually am the opposite way. Set a couple to full the first 1-3 times I play it, because then it also gives me an idea of where certain things, like tools, costumes, etc. are, and then set it to minimal/off afterwards and figure shit out.

Personally I'd go through each map and play it a bunch- not necessarily to level 20, but enough so you see most/all of the opportunities and feel like you've seen most of what the map has to offer before moving on.

@dystopiax: Whatever makes it fun for you! I ended up turning off just about every UI element in the game except for the NPC status indicators after Sapienza. Patience, observation, and a willingness to explore are enough for you to discover a good chunk of any map. NPCs are constantly chatting and signs are everywhere to point you in the right direction.

But that's just me. Whatever works works!

@josephknows: I think this is why I'm not enjoying Hitman as much as I want to. Like Vinny said it just feels like checking off boxes with the opportunites on which feels really boring and repetitive.

It's really about learning all the patterns, positions of NPCs and finding your window of opportunity to get the targets. Getting to know each map requires multiple playthroughs, but how you eliminate the targets is entirely up to you. It's a lot of fun to find really creative ways to take out the target, preferably without notice.

@dgtlty: Yeah, I totally understand that feeling. Thankfully, IO was smart enough to give options to accommodate a lot of different players! If I were you, I'd try experimenting with the gameplay options you can toggle. Discovery and improvisation are the best things about this game. There are some who want to come into the missions with as much info as possible so they can set up more fun stuff in repeat playthroughs. Others enjoy the feeling of coming into the missions completely blind and just winging things. I learned soon enough that I fell into the latter camp, turning on the opportunities only for when I've played through a map 2-3 times and I want to "clean up" for XP and trophies.

Play the way that you think is fun! Hitman allows it!