I'm not going to act like I'm a stealth game detractor who was won over by Hitman's recent reboot series. I greatly enjoy games like Metal Gear Solid or Dishonored. But what enthralls me about IO Interactive's Hitman is not that it does stealth well, though it does stealth very well.
No, what really draws me to it is how it makes me want to be stealthy. Something not even those excellent alternatives have managed to this extent.
Hitman is in this respect, to stealth games as Devil May Cry is to action games: a culmination of mechanical refinement that gives way to unmatched player freedom for approaching the game's various challenges. Hitman 2 dropped for free on PS Plus this year and I was sucked in so bad that I immediately caved and bought the entire trilogy shortly after.
The game follows Agent 47, a contract killer employed by the mysterious International Contracts Agency (ICA) for the purpose of assassinating various high-profile targets as covertly as possible. The trilogy follows him as he uncovers his forgotten origins and the dark truths behind the leaders of the ICA... and it's fine I guess.
To be frank, the best story moments do not come from anything related to the game's main plot. But I'll get to that in just a second. Really, the plot is just an excuse to travel around the world while working out how to take out a series of contemptible targets in the most ironic, hilarious, or devious ways possible.
The game is structured around individual locales like Italy, China, Japan, and Morocco, with various types of designs structured around the targets and their domains. Dweller targets will stay in a specific location without much complex movement, while Roamers will wander about, often in public areas.
They can be found in two types of domains, fortresses, and what the developers call, "snail houses with swiss cheese." Fortresses have tight, heavily-armed security and are frequently made up of non-public spaces. Snail houses, as explained by Game Maker's Toolkit's exceptional Hitman 2 video, are areas with obvious visual pathways that guide the player in a spiral like a snail's shell, but with Swiss cheese-like holes that allow experienced players extra navigation options.
One of the absolute best levels in the trilogy, a racing event in Miami, is a great vertical slice of these elements. One target, Robert Knox, dwells in a heavily guarded office while the other target, Sierra Knox, starts off in a car, racing on a track, before roaming around the stands and VIP area, a snail house area with plenty of holes to exploit.
You have a variety of options at your disposal in order to take these targets out. You could very well just hide in a bush and shoot your target in the head from afar, but that's a bit anti-climactic, isn't it?
You could try one of the many mission stories that guides you through a series of events that will lead to a satisfyingly flashy murder opportunity. Or you could take a look at the challenges and try all the hilarious kill opportunities like spiking Sierra's flaming drink with nitro fuel that sets her on fire when she lights it.
But really, the World of Assassination trilogy is just constantly preparing you for a perfect run, and in this regard, it succeeds better than any stealth game I've ever played. So what is a perfect run?
Well, one of the major gameplay aspects is the disguise system, which affords 47 access to specific areas depending on what clothes he's wearing. You can find outfits lying around or steal them from unconscious or dead NPCs. It won't mean you're above notice, certain enemies will see through your disguise if you linger too long, but it's an absolutely vital tool for most runs, especially for accessing fortresses.
But this just means you're mostly just hiding in plain sight, right? Don't most stealth games emphasize avoiding sight at all?
That's where the SASO run comes in.
Silent Assassin Suit Only (SASO) runs form the basis for Hitman's ultimate challenge: kill only your targets without being detected, without leaving obvious traces of your actions, and without changing out of the suit you started the level in. Oh, and if you're a glutton for punishment like me, do it on Master Difficulty where you only get one save opportunity to scum rather than the generous infinite amount lower difficulties grant you.
These runs require intimate planning and multiple prior runs through a level to prepare. You need to have an intimate knowledge of how to navigate a level, map out routes through restricted areas that keep you out of sight, learn how to lure guards away from their posts, and know which kill opportunities you can even perform under all these circumstances.
All of these unique pressures make SASO runs as exhilarating to perform as any high-level action game's toughest bosses.
And the game has plenty of great playgrounds to perform these assassinations in. In addition to Miami, there's the murder mystery stylings of Dartmoor, a New York bank, a stylish technologically advanced inn in Hokkaido, a Dubai high-rise, a Paris fashion show, and an Italian town built over a bioweapons lab.
Each level has a beautiful exterior that contrasts heavily with the criminal element hiding just underneath, and the variety of missions you'll be given is also appreciated. The level in Italy requires 47 to dispose of a deadly virus, Hokkaido requires him to assassinate a patient undergoing surgery, who is under unbreakable surveillance, and the Berlin level has a unique premise so good I dare not risk spoiling it.
Really the only flaw in the game is that the Colorado level is one of the single worst gaming experiences I've ever had. The area has no public spaces whatsoever, relegating a suit only run to only the most masochistic of players. But on top of that it offers very little variety in terms of internal locations or kill opportunities.
Ultimately though, the average Hitman map is designed better than many entire games, and the wide variety of side activities like kill contracts or escalation missions help to put new limitations on the player's assassination attempts.
But perhaps the most unexpected surprise of the package was Agent 47 himself. The deadpan humor derived from his very existence never failed to make me burst out laughing. 47 is out of place no matter what outfit he wears, and yet he's barely ever found out even when speaking directly to people who know the individuals he's impersonating. And that's not even mentioning his ability to pull out various skills like massaging, yoga instruction, cooking and drumming at the drop of a hat. Or his penchant for morbid double entendres.
Or you know, just straight up giving a house tour wherein he notes how useful various rooms would be for setting up assassination opportunities while impersonating a realtor.
David Bateson's performance as 47 turns him from a pure avatar of death into the protagonist of a black comedy, effortlessly bouncing off his delightfully hatable targets in every level.
I'll admit, I may not have been a detractor from stealth games, but I was a detractor from the kind of high profile release that Hitman's reboot falls under. While the series started out a bit rough, the place it has ended up with the trilogy complete is a triumph.
I'm eagerly awaiting IO Interactive's pass at a James Bond game. But it'll probably be hard to top the ones they've already made.
A+, Good work, 47
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