If there’s one thing I’ve learned about E3 over the years, it’s this: don’t listen to the messaging that various publishers attempt to convey about their game. It’s a show about buzzwords, action and explosions; an environment that stealth games don’t tend to thrive in.
Prior to getting the chance to sit down with IO Interactive and get a glimpse of Hitman at this year’s E3, I’ll admit, I was confused about the direction of IO Interactive’s latest Hitman title. Was it a co-operative/competitive experience? Were we all chasing after the same target on a map? These were my takeaways from both Sony and IO Interactive’s press conferences before the show kicked off. That messaging, in fact, couldn’t be any further away from the truth about what the latest Hitman title is, and that’s a single-player experience.
The core of Hitman’s experience is a Blood Money-esque jet around the globe, pure assassin experience, with Agent 47, voiced by David Bateson, taking down powerful and influential targets in exotic locations. Working for ICA, under the guidance of handler Diana Burnwood, Agent 47 will travel to the likes of Paris, the sunny coast of Italy, and to the hustle and bustle of the American markets. One thing is key though: every mission is about the hit, nothing more, nothing less.
The mission on show at this year’s E3 took place in Parisian palace, which serves as the home for a major fashion show. Agent 47’s target is Viktor Novikov, a Russian businessman with nefarious ties throughout the criminal world, who is in Paris to sell information regarding secret covert operatives to an unknown source. Your job is simple: make sure he doesn’t get out alive, killing him by any means necessary. Of course, the quieter the kill, the better.
Instead of fairly small environments though, like we experienced in Blood Money, the latest Hitman title has wide-open, huge, living and breathing worlds. Every NPC has a name and a purpose for being in that world. That means from the palace gardens, all the way through to the basement and the attic, you’ll find people who belong and have an objective, whether it’s just enjoying the show or actually working at the event, etc. The whole environment is your playground, with its pawns to use as you see fit.
It’s not just about one approach either, Hitman will offer multiple ways to take down every target – although you’re not limited to just using these routes. The Paris fashion show is a perfect excuse for Novikov’s clandestine secret auction, but he’s also there on other business. For instance, he’s meeting with a KGB station chief who’s in hiding and also with a reporter. You can use certain situations to your advantage as well, like the violent argument that the chief designer of the show is having with Novikov.
You’re not just limited to these avenues either and can listen to conversations that NPCs have to get more mission insight and pick up clues. IO Interactive doesn’t want to force you into any specific route or playstyle, and wants to leave that entirely up to you.
If you want to play hardcore stealth and get out there using an accidental death without being suspected you can – and on every mission, no less. If you want to go in and cause a bloody and spectacular death for poor ol’ Novikov, you can do that too. If you want to go in all guns blazing, you can do that too. If you want to change disguises and stalk Novikov like he’s your prey with no suspicions, yes, you can do that too. That’s the point about the new Hitman: the choice is yours.
That’s not to say that Hitman will exclusively be a single-player experience either, but that’s where its focus is. The impressive Contracts mode will make a return, with more currently unannounced features to come with it, and also the whole one-target, one attempt aspect of the game – think of it like a secondary target on a map, where players race to take him/her down in a limited timeframe. The beauty of this latter idea is that players will have no idea who this character is and will have to work competitively and co-operatively as a community to take them down. If you screw it up, you permanently miss your chance. You’ve been warned.
With IO Interactive promising new locations, new hits and new challenges at “regular intervals,” the upcoming Hitman is looking like it will become a platform for Hitman fans the world over. With IO adopting the more Blood Money-like formula as well as leaving the more gritty narrative-led Absolution direction behind, it looks like Hitman could well and truly be back on the map, which is all we ever wanted.
Hitman is scheduled for a December 8th worldwide release.
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