Zach’s Thoughts on HITMAN: World of Assassination

This post was not sponsored or endorsed by IO Interactive or any other business/organization. All opinions are of the author's view only.

Author's Note:

This post has been written and has been ready for a while now. Since May I believe. Modifications have been made but I have waited until the time is right to unlock it. Hence the reason why the publish date is "incorrect" and why there was a password locking the post from public access.

I attempted to keep my playing this game secret for the better part of the time I have played it. Which has been around 6 months. Mostly because of the potential stigma that theoretically could have surrounded me afterward. But then I think: Kids my age play GTA and Call of Duty. So it'll be fine.

In addition: I did not tell anyone about this (except for E.) because of how people could perceive me. But I've just stopped caring.

A post on Just Cause 3 will also likely be released sometime soon. As this one is to help "break the ice".

Thank you for reading this note. Enjoy the post if you wish to go further.

In case you didn't know:

HITMAN: World of Assassination is a stealth sandbox game developed by IO Interactive. You play as Agent 47, a bald barcoded assassin as you destroy a secret cabal that is reminiscent of the Illuminati

I got the game on sale through Xbox, a good 50% off deal. My original plan was "download, install, play for 1 hour, then forget it existed." That was not the case. I kept playing, albeit minimally on the weekends.

Usually, I play to relieve stress from academics. Since it tends to be an anxious time. Usually, I don't do what the game doesn't want. Which is to get rid of all the NPCs. (There are roughly 300-400 per map)

The latest map was released while I was away. But I still wanted to see what it was like. So I watched the cinematics and tutorials before everyone woke up for the day. (I was 8 hours back from the patch release and I tended to wake up before everyone else.) and remotely updated the Xbox so it was ready.

In HITMAN 3, you can play however you want. Let that be sneaking around on the ledges of a high-rise or going blazing in a Colorado compound.

HITMAN 3 is a stealth game first and foremost. My gameplay reflects that. Being discreet and not doing collateral damage is the way to play. However, that does not mean I don't just be boring. Some of the actions include using an explosive golf ball, being a private detective, and taking over a former Soviet fighter jet for some amusing successes.

If you would rather not go stealth, the game does "punish" you by taking off 5,000 points from your score. But if you do not care about that, then the game won't really stop you from going all out. Sure a good third to a quarter of the map are armed guards who will try to fail the level. But if you get past that, then the sky's the limit. (Or how many NPCs are on the map.)

While some may consider this too restrictive, I find this enjoyable as it helps guide me at the beginning to what not to do. Once I know what I'm doing: then I can go all out and do what's best to clear the level and move on

In addition, the dialogue for the maps is funny to me. Along with some other quotes that I do use. An example can be seen below. I use this particular quote for my personal social media accounts.

HITMAN: World of Assassination is really a combination of HITMAN (2016), HITMAN 2, and HITMAN III. This means that the locations from all three games have been steamrolled into one. There is a level in most locations fathomable. (Except for an airport for extremely obvious reasons.)

Most of the maps are immersive and do use practices from their real-life counterparts to not make it seem cheap. A noble example is the fictitious town of Sapienza, Italy. Based off of the Amalfi Coast. Unlike other games where the point is to "do the deed then get the hell out", there are many nooks and crannies around. So much so that players may want to hang around the map and discover all the easter eggs and cool features that may help them in the future.

The outfits in the game can also be hilarious. While they are "authentic" to the locations, there are many joke suits to lighten the game's mood. It's like Fortnite but you can only customize the actual clothing. Honorable mentions include being a pirate, looking like a tech billionaire, or Santa Claus. The latter is hilarious to wreak havoc with.

The developers have been trying to keep the game alive since its launch in 2021 with Elusive Targets and Escalations. (Both are complicated topics that are better off just being linked to the Hitman Wiki.) I only like them because I can get more items. In actuality, they are eh.

However, the company sometimes has moments of "a-ha!" with a revamp of a pre-existing map in the form of a British gardening contest. (I cannot make this up.) and a brand new map. (Which was basically just reused assets but hey it was the thought that counts!)

The final and most significant update was a new Freelancer Mode that saw Agent 47 become a rogue-like person dedicated to taking down criminal enterprises hidden in plain sight. IO made it to be more difficult and they did work in that element. If something happens, you go back to square one. Is this my favorite? No. But it's different, and you have to respect the developers for building something entirely new within the pre-existing system.

Well for starters, this is a game about killing. So there's that.

The original sandbox mode can be considered too "easy" if you know how to master everything. However, people seem to figure out how to make it harder with mods and master modes.

A lot of the earlier content in the game is locked behind a ridiculously expensive paywall. If you were to get this game, I implore you to only get the Standard Edition and HITMAN 2 Access Passes. Nothing else is worth your money based on the community's attitudes towards it.

One of the most infuriating things about any video game is an always-online requirement. HITMAN, unfortunately, suffers from that issue. Its servers are located in the country of Denmark. Not scattered around the world, but likely in the developers' basement. This can cause issues when massive numbers of people are trying to play or an update is about to roll out. An example is that 3 days after the game initially went live: the servers had an aneurysm and were unresponsive for a week. Without being online, you cannot progress. Which is a shame when you stop and think about it.

So yes, I play HITMAN. I enjoy playing it. Not just because of the numerous (wild) ways I can terminate lines of code, but also the environments and stealthy/funny atmospheric blend. That makes it a nice way to spend an hour where I have no work to do and I'm just chilling.

If you did read this, thank you? This post won't be advertised due to its nature. But I hope you had a good minute going through it. Have a good day.

If you want to learn more, click here or here.