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Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
Producing that last video analysing every mission in Hitman 2 felt like a fairly Herculean
task, bringing closure to this thing hanging over me with people constantly requesting
a follow up to a video I made back in 2017.
I finally get it done after spending months playing each level countless times and writing
and rewriting and rewriting my thoughts over and over again, all in service of providing
my final stance on all the missions available in Hitman 2… only for them to announce and
subsequently release one of two DLC maps a week before I was set to publish the video.
And what’s more, they are incredibly interesting maps in their own right, so it’s not like
I’m not going to do a further follow-up video on them.
This is never going to end, is it?
In all seriousness, it speaks to just how weird a thing Hitman 2 is.
Here’s the unlikely sequel to a game that was such a disappointment sales-wise that
it was dropped by its publisher, with said sequel also failing to meet sales expectations
as the team simply couldn’t find a release model that worked, and yet despite the multiple
struggles on both a development and publisher level to get this game out the door, the team’s
output over at IO Interactive has only been improving as time goes on.
They really seem to show no signs of slowing down, with a further sequel apparently well
underway; but for the moment we have two maps that offer genuinely intriguing possibilities
for whatever future the series has, both in terms of gameplay and, of all things, storytelling.
And by storytelling, I don’t mean the transition from still images to full blown, full motion
cutscenes bookending each mission here.
As always the overarching story behind everything here is delightfully hokey and the idea that
a game can now straight up change the way it tells its story over time is kind of inherently
wild to me, but I can’t help but feel that something gets lost in the transition here.
I dunno, it’s easy to look at still images and immediately assume that it was only this
way due to budget constraints, that no one would ever choose to tell a story like this
if they could fully animate it, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.
There’s something painterly to the way those stills were composed—limiting scenes to
a single shot meant every shot could get more attention with bright, vibrant colours; charmingly
contrasting the stylish, stark imagery with the b-movie, cartoon villainy they actually
depict.
So no, it’s not the broad changes in storytelling style I find particularly impressive here,
especially considering it’s a story that leaves almost nothing in the way of closure
from the setup of the main game.
What did impress me occurred almost immediately upon entering the Milton-Fitzpatrick Bank
with the goal of eliminating its manager fresh in 47’s mind.
Immediately taking a left turn from the downright palatial main lobby, sneaking past security,
I found myself in a distinctly unimpressive grey corridor, the guards relegated to a pokey
wee box for their break room.
And it was here that I noticed the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it dartboard with a picture of the very same
manager I’d been sent to eliminate.
Turns out, these guards hate her specifically as much as anyone else.
Of course, these little details about disgruntled workers have been a part of many levels across
these games, but rarely has the contrast between the target and those tasked with protecting
them felt as subtle or cohesive in a narrative sense.
Indeed, the structure of the bank makes it so that every step forward, every new section
uncovered feels like a gradual step further into the belly of this particularly insidious
beast.
There are multiple options as to how you progress through the level, but almost all of these
options centralise on the manager’s office on the top floor, meaning that regardless
of how you wish to tackle the objective you’ll find yourself experiencing some kind of progression
from the lobby’s opulence through the cramped and sometimes dingy quarters of the various
service workers tucked away from the public eye, up into the inner sanctum.
Here, smiling faces act as a smokescreen hiding this borderline warzone of a stock exchange,
where visibly dishevelled bankers speak to each other as if they were trapped behind
enemy lines; desperately shuffling between stacks of disorganised papers like sandbags
in the trenches.
The series has always flirted with themes of greed and inequality (you know, there’s
a reason almost everyone you go after is absurdly rich), but by setting a level in a bank, it
gives the developers and writers a chance to dive headfirst into exploring the potentially
dangerous power of wealth; directly juxtaposing the cutthroat nature of the money business
(in that the ominous tones with which you hear these people discussing the fragility
of their jobs often sounding like a life or death situation) with the quite literal cutthroat
nature of your business.
In terms of the map itself, it’s the puzzle box level design as seen in the Paris mansion
from 2016’s game, where your main goal is to work your way up through a central structure;
except each playthrough of the map to me has felt like the unveiling of a prescribed narrative.
Rather than simply peppering an environment with little worldbuilding tidbits here and
there, this feels like level design as storytelling, and I really don’t think I’ve seen a map
as coherent in how it conveys its themes to the player as the bank.
What’s most impressive, however, is the sheer variety of gameplay options available
to you at every turn here, despite a design that feels relatively linear from the outset.
Thanks to the inclusion of a secondary objective where you have to retrieve data from various
individuals wandering different parts of the bank before exiting, your job isn’t simply
done when you eliminate your target.
And given that this is a bank (a rather well-populated one at that), getting the three targets alone
and escaping unnoticed has proven to be one of the more consistently difficult challenges
presented in these more recent Hitman games.
Fortunately for some, a further option is available as things potentially move from
Full Metal Wall Street to Heat, forcing you to solve the puzzle of getting the bank vault
open and hijacking the main data core yourself.
However, my excitement at the prospect of escaping a dangerous heist, carrying an illegal
object in broad daylight, was dampened somewhat upon the discovery that this data core can
be stored in a briefcase.
I’m not asking for some complicated crowd control mechanics in this instance—the tension
of being instantly noticed for choosing the less complicated option here would have been
enough; but instead, once you access that room, you may as well have completed the level,
exiting entirely without event.
Rather than having to think up multiple different approaches to eliminate each target separately,
the heist approach feels like selecting easy mode to a certain extent.
That said, there are changes made to pre-existing systems here that manage to give you more
control over how you experience a level without the need for too much technical upheaval.
Stealing the disguise of a job interviewee, for example, aside from providing one of the
most overtly comedic mission stories in Hitman 2, has subtle implications for the rest of
your mission here.
My first time through, it was late and I didn’t realise the stunningly easy solution to the
questions staring me in my bleary-eyed face.
I didn’t get the job, and so I was only allowed to wander to a certain point, whereas
completing the mission story gives you full access to the upper floors.
It’s a simple puzzle to be sure, but I like the idea that what was once a pretty cut and
dry system (you know, this disguise will get you into these set areas) is now more flexible,
with disguise privileges changing based on how you interact with certain characters or
scenarios.
So there’s a lot to the bank—it tells its story in a way few other maps can match,
and offers incredibly varied gameplay to boot, with certain approaches leading to some of
the most tense scenarios throughout Hitman as a whole with some playthroughs lasting
upwards of an hour.
After all that, I’m tired—I think it’s time for a break.
With that in mind, let’s join 47 in the second of the two DLC maps, as he heads to
the highly secluded island resort of Haven.
Far from the storm ravaged rock that closed out the base game, the island 47 and Lucas
head to in order to eliminate the owners and gain access to information on the Providence
Partners is seemingly a paradise.
And much like the leisurely vibe given off as you set foot on the beach, Haven is arguably
less focused than the puzzle box design of the Bank map.
It’s not necessarily a problem however—instead, Haven is probably best described as a scaled-down
version of the Colombia map, with several distinct locations placed across its sizeable
landmass; each with their own purpose and challenges.
Again, this is a map whose disparate targets see even speedy playthroughs take substantially
longer than most other environments (for me at least).
It’s kinda the best of both worlds, however, with a story that, similar to the bank, directly
engages with the misdeeds of the powerful—the idea that they can just buy their way out
of trouble and live it up in the process—while also allowing you to commit various misdeeds
yourself, luxuriating in your surroundings as you go.
It really feels like the conclusion to Hitman 2, a holiday for 47 even—a relaxing, if
violent bookend as a reward of sorts for enduring the tension of prior maps.
It’s hard to really say much about it of note, honestly, because the scenarios it does
provide you seem to draw pretty heavily from environments discussed in the prior videos—it’s
just a really good, aesthetically pleasing version of those maps.
It does seem to go against what I loved about my favourite maps from the base game, however—the
idea that you can affect things on one end of the map from the complete opposite point
doesn’t really line up with how closed off the mansion is compared to the other areas,
for instance.
But there’s just something I really like about Haven as a level.
I think it’s just the sheer amount of strange detail lying just under the surface here.
In a way, and this might sound odd but bear with me, it reminds me of a final unlockable
level in a Tony Hawk game—that weird offshoot level where you go to space or unlock a Kiss
concert or something.
The amount of crazy stuff you can just happen across while poking and prodding around the
island goes beyond anything I can remember from the base game, and is maybe the thing
that has encouraged me to keep coming back—I simply need to uncover all of this island’s
secrets.
But it’s not just the comedic little easter eggs either, though—for the longest time
I didn’t even realise, for example, that there was a massive underground lab beneath
the mansion.
Multiple early playthroughs saw me miss it entirely until I eventually stumbled into
the bookcase concealing it completely by chance.
And this isn’t some throwaway little feature here—it’s as detailed as any of the other
underground labs under the many mansions to be found in Hitman.
IO just seems to be at a point where they don’t feel the need to draw your attention
to it.
It’s a level of care I can really respect—they spend what I can only presume is a whole lot
of time and resources creating this huge, detailed environment, that most players might
never even see.
All in, this seems like the kind of end-of-season blowout that, if they hadn’t basically confirmed
a sequel to be in development, I would actually read as a fairly grim omen for the future
of the series; everything about it seems to suggest a kind of “what have we got to lose”
mentality.
Instead, thankfully, it just reads as a real show of confidence from a team that seems
immensely comfortable in their abilities and willing to take risks on a franchise they
absolutely believe in.
I’m so glad Hitman has a future at IO because within these maps you can see incredible potential
for where the series could go from here in terms of how its systems can evolve to provide
more varied challenges, how level design can tell a story, and so on—all from a developer
clearly working at their absolute prime.
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