Hitman

In an era of video gaming where popular franchises are seeing new games being pumped out on an annual or biennial basis, 2012 seems like a long time ago. It was late in 2012 when we last saw an entry into the Hitman series, with Hitman: Absolution. I still remember the feeling of anticipation leading up to the release of Absolution, after waiting over six years for the series’ newest addition. Sadly though, while it was a fine game, and one of the better ones to come out that year, it wasn’t really a good Hitman game. The game prior to Absolution, 2006’s Hitman: Blood Money, was what I would call a good Hitman game – probably even the best in the series to date. Many would argue that the Hitman series is at its best when it’s providing big, open sandboxes with plenty of opportunities for creativity and improvisation, and generally just a hundred different ways of tackling the problem of “how do I kill this dude”. Absolution did not do this so well, instead deciding to forego the open world philosophy of its predecessors in favour of a more linear, story-driven game. It was enjoyable enough while it lasted, but it just didn’t scratch that Hitman itch. This is an itch that has now waited ten years to be scratched, and it seems that with the release of the series’ newest entry, simply titled “Hitman”, we’ll finally get to do so. Having said that, we’ll only be doing it one bit at a time.

I’ll be the first to admit that when it was announced that the new Hitman game was going to be released piecemeal on an episodic schedule, I was less than impressed. Too often when games are released unfinished with the promise of monthly additions, that schedule either goes out the window with delays to updates, or the content is rushed out to meet the schedule and is consequently full of bugs (and in some special cases, episodes are released late and full of bugs). So far we’ve only seen two out of a promised seven content packs for Hitman, so it’s still to be seen whether they succumb to the usual episodic game problem, but so far so good on that front. On a broader scale however, I generally just prefer to play games that are a complete package so that I can get through them at my own pace (which almost always means a lot quicker than over the course of six-to-nine months), so I was very tempted to just wait until the full retail release of Hitman next year. However that temptation was completely quashed in the space of one video when I saw pre-release footage of the first content pack, and I found myself buying it not long after that.

For your first outing as master international assassin, Agent 47, you are tasked with infiltrating a swanky fashion show being held in a Parisian mansion. Your targets: the man at the head of the label running the event and his fashion designer partner, who both just so happen to also be the leaders of an international spy ring. The fashion show is of course just an elaborate cover to allow some of the world’s most powerful figures to come together in one place for the real event – a secret auction for highly sensitive information and government secrets. If the goal of IO Interactive was to make the most fantastical Hitman-ass Hitman mission they possibly could to suck people in from the get go, well then they pretty much nailed it.

It wouldn’t be proper of me to start going through all of the many, many ways you can approach this mission, because of course that feeling of discovery is what makes the true Hitman sandboxes such a joy to experience. But allow me to paint a picture of just one of your possible approaches. Upon arriving at the Sanguine fashion show by limousine, you enter the impressive mansion through the front doors just as the label’s owner (and your first target), Viktor Novikov, descends the main stairs to rapturous applause from the throng of attendees. After following him for a moment, he eventually heads to a backstage area where you’re rebuffed from entering by security. Nearby however, you overhear two people discussing one of the star models of tonight’s fashion show, Helmut Kruger. As it turns out, Kruger is a slender, bald man, who will have his whole face painted for the show. How fortuitous that this man who can potentially get close to your targets without raising suspicion happens to fit your exact description and will have his facial features obscured tonight.

After a few strategic outfit changes, you eventually make your way to the back of the mansion where Kruger is participating in a quick photo shoot before taking to the runway. The session is interrupted as Kruger’s phone rings, and he excuses himself to take the call. After doing a bit of eavesdropping, it seems he’s talking to your second target, Dalia Margolis. One well-executed sleeper hold later, you steal Kruger’s outfit and phone, making sure to hide his unconscious body amongst the bushes (alternatively, the flowing River Seine is just a few feet away). You call Margolis back on Kruger’s phone, and she informs you that she’s ready to meet. Making your way back to the mansion, you make a quick stop in the backstage dressing area to get your face paint makeup applied. With your disguise now complete, you make your way upstairs to meet with Margolis (perhaps detouring for a quick stroll up and down the catwalk to avoid raising suspicion as to the real Kruger’s whereabouts). Once upstairs, you greet Dalia Margolis as Helmut Kruger, and she clears the room of her bodyguards so she can make her proposal to you in private. She has an assassination job for Kruger (turns out you two have something in common), and provides you with a small bottle of cyanide to get the job done. With your business now concluded, Margolis excuses herself to take a phone call, and with her back turned and no-one else in the room, it’s time to do what you do best. With Margolis taken care of, only Novikov remains. You remember overhearing a couple of waiters discussing an obscure cocktail that Novikov enjoys. Perhaps your recently acquired bottle of cyanide would make an appropriate extra ingredient in his favourite drink.

The great part about what I’ve just described is that it’s just one of the literally dozens of ways of getting yourself and your targets where you want them in this mission. There are plenty more opportunities to be uncovered through overhearing conversations, coming across show schedules or paperwork, or even just through observing your environment and making notes of where your targets seem to drop their guard. Each mission also has several challenges attached to them, broken out into the categories “assassination”, “discovery” and “feats” which encourage you to really explore every nook and cranny of the huge levels being provided. This sense of real sandbox potential was where Absolution fell short and Blood Money shone, and from what I’ve seen of the new Hitman thus far, it’s firmly planted on the correct side of that equation.

Perhaps the one standout addition that was made to Absolution was “Contracts”, which makes a return here in Hitman. Where the Contracts mode in Absolution was a good idea that I felt never really panned out the way I would have liked, due to the restricting nature of the linear missions, the return of proper open sandboxes I think allows it to reach its full potential. Essentially what Contracts allows players to do is find and assassinate absolutely any person they want within a level, and subsequently put out a contract for that target online for other players to attempt for themselves. Your contract can stipulate specific disguises or weapons to be used when taking out the target(s), and you can include your own mission description to add a bit of flavour to the contract if you so desire. Ever wanted to put out a hit on a unwitting waitress because she’s apparently constantly blocking the toilets at work, while stipulating that the assassin must be dressed as a magician when they perform the kill? Your wish has been granted.

Further to Contracts, Hitman sees the addition of two new modes, “Escalation” and “Elusive Targets”. Escalation mode sends you back into previously visited locations to assassinate new targets in specific ways, not entirely unlike Contracts. The twist here though is that once you have completed the mission, the Escalation mechanic means that the next time you attempt the mission, a new objective or challenge will be added. These objectives and challenges can range from additional assassination targets, to increased numbers of security cameras, to laser trip wires rigged with explosives that force you to re-think which route you’ll be taking. Each Escalation mission starts off with one objective, and by the fifth time you’re completing it will have five objectives and/or challenges to consider. So far Escalation missions have been added at a rate of about two a week since the mode was included in an update, and I’m enjoying them a lot.

The Elusive Targets mode was unfortunately delayed and has still yet to be added at the time of writing this post, but what that will apparently entail is special limited-time, one-shot contracts. Targets won’t show up on the map or while using 47’s Magic Hitman Vision (or Instinct, or whatever it’s actually called), however you will have a photo of your target for making visual confirmation, as well as clues for narrowing down their whereabouts. These targets will only be available for a limited amount of real-world time, and should you fail an assassination attempt on them and they escape, they will be gone forever. It’s hard to say too much without actually trying it myself, but at the very least it sounds like a cool new challenge for people like me who heavily rely on the safety net of saving and restarting missions when they make a complete hash of things.

So while I was initially skeptical of the episodic release plan for Hitman, I’ve since come around on the idea and now might be inclined to say that this could be one of the best implementations of the episodic model I’ve ever seen. The absurd amount of minute detail being crammed into the levels (based on the two major locations available so far, at least) means there’s heaps to see and do. Even once you’ve attempted the main mission objectives from a multitude of different angles, the Contracts, Escalation and eventually the Elusive Targets modes will provide plenty of opportunities to discover new corners of the levels that you hadn’t yet explored. It’s easy to just dismiss what I’m saying as simply being hyperbole, but I just cannot stress the level of detail that has gone into these locales. Case in point, the Sapienza level that was just released has a NPC near the main starting location who just randomly waltzes by and starts talking on the phone, and every time you hear it he’s having a different conversation. He doesn’t have anything to do with anything that you’re concerned with, but even still there have been multiple minutes of one-sided telephone conversations recorded just so every time you restart this mission you’ll hear him talking about something else. Why? Because the developers are out of their minds, I assume, but it just goes to show the lengths they were willing to go to in order to bring these areas to life.

So far the available content gives you a couple of training missions on a fake yacht and a fake Russian air force base, in addition to the aforementioned Paris fashion show, while the most recent add-on introduced Sapienza – a town situated along the Amalfi Coast in Italy. In May we’ve been promised a mission set in Morocco, with Thailand, Japan, the United States and one as-yet unrevealed location to be added by the end of northern summer (so before September presumably) according to IO Interactive. For those looking to buy this game and try it out themselves, you have a couple of options. The “Intro Pack” features the training missions and the Paris mission, and costs USD $14.99 (AUD $22.95, GBP £11.99), with an “Upgrade Pack” available to give you access to all future add-ons at a cost of USD $49.99 (AUD $67.95, GBP £36.99). If you are already a fan of the Hitman franchise who feels, like I do, that Blood Money was a masterpiece and Absolution was disappointing, you can probably just go ahead and buy the “Full Experience” package for USD $59.99 (AUD $85.95, GBP £44.99), which gives you access to everything for a few bucks less than buying the intro and upgrade separately.

I know it’s early days so far (both in terms of time of year and how far into this game’s content schedule we are), but I’ve honestly seen enough so far to say pretty confidently that if they continue this standard of quality, Hitman will almost certainly be amongst my top 10 games of 2016 come the end of the year. If you have a PS4, Xbox One or a decent PC, I strongly recommend checking out a few videos of this game, and at the very least giving the Intro Pack a look. If you aren’t hooked after the Paris mission, then that’s probably a fair indication it’s not the game for you. On the other hand if you enjoy it even half as much as I have so far, you’ll be completely on board for what is still to come.


Thanks for reading! If you liked this review you can check out some of my others here on Giant Bomb, or over at my personal blog - Deadpan Gaming.