Two silver Hardballer pistols and a black length of fiber wire.
That�s all it took for Hitman to become one of the biggest and most successful franchises
of the last decade.
The game introduced the svelte and ruthlessly efficient Agent 47, a pale, blue-eyed clone
with exceptional strength and training.
A master of disguise who operated under his own private morals.
Throughout the slew of sequels, and a full feature film, we followed him as he travelled
the world, taking out military leaders and corporate bigwigs alike.
The bald and bar-coded assassin has now returned for a sixth installment, simply titled Hitman.
Let's take a closer look at the new Hitman game and investigate it's new features and
gameplay.
In the most recent trailers for the upcoming release by publisher Square Enix and IO Interactive,
we are introduced to a non-linear montage that cuts between Agent 47 sprinting through
a winter forest.
He checks his heart-rate.
It�s already pumping faster than mine ever has.
He ducks his head and runs harder.
The scene shifts to a cut scene of a Parisian fashion show and a sketchy looking aristocrat
in a white suit, as well as a clean-room attached to a musty wine cellar and a Professor-looking
character discovering a bomb in his suitcase.
All, presumably, targets of the iconic Agent 47.
This will please veterans of the preceding Hitman games like Absolution and Blood Money
wherein a mission was often open-ended in terms of how it could be completed.
For example, do you rig up a telephone to electrocute a politician, dress up as one
of his aides and get close enough to garrote him, or take him out from afar with a sniper
rifle?
This fluid approach to completing objectives is a feature that has set Hitman apart from
other assassination games, like Assassin�s Creed.
Whether you achieved your goal by manufacturing a fatal accident, or took matters into your
own hands with a katana, each method affected the storyline.
It also put the player right in the middle of the action, and forced them to rely on
opportunities when they arose.
For Hitman, IO Interactive has confirmed the return of many elements from preceding games.
These includes the use of stealth to sneak up on players, and the ability to steal their
clothes and don disguises.
As well, bonuses will be made available to players for completion of certain missions,
depending on how well they cleared it.
What�s new, however, is something IO has called �time-limited� missions.
These will pop up once, and players will have to complete them within the duration of a
set time limit.
The clincher is, if you mess it up, you won�t be able to redo the mission.
The trailers for Hitman also include footage from actual gameplay.
The attention to detail is riveting.
From sleek pool-side resorts to sunset balconies to English style manors and laboratories.
The pixel-shading of characters has that hyper-realistic format we�ve come to expect from next-gen
consoles, and this has also made it possible for developers to expand the world.
With real-time landscapes that are meant to be more non-linear like Blood Money, players
will have unrestricted access to huge open-ended environments, that are reportedly �six to
seven times larger� than the ones in Absolution.
This will give a lot more freedom and, as we�ve seen, fluidity to game play.
Rather than straight-forward seek-and-destroy, players will be able to actually mingle with
up to 300 different non-playable characters in a variety of settings.
Each will have their own routine, and their reactions will be heavily dependent on how
well players interact with them.
IO Interactive has also stressed the importance of peripheral information that can be picked
up by observing the mundane details around you.
You may overhear NPCs talking about something that could be crucial to completing a hit,
or oversee something on a random television that can help you find that perfect opportunity.
Using your surroundings, and training yourself to be aware of them, will be a huge factor
in how well players tackle each mission.
This once again brings us back to the feel of Hitman, which is at odds with other stealth
games like Splinter Cell in which a character was required to stay in the shadows.
While fans can expect plenty of creeping around, Hitman seems to exemplify a more realistic
style.
Namely?
Hiding in plain sight.
In this way, the game brings a psychological edge to the game.
The protagonist isn�t some mythical angel of death.
They�re among us.
They look just like us.
And in this way, Hitman capitalizes on fear.
Not like horror games where the player is experiencing it, but rather as the character
that�s causing it in others.
Kind of like a warped power trip.
But then, that�s one of the reasons why Hitman has had such mass appeal.
It demonstrates a type of assassin that can strike anywhere at any time.
In the same way that Leon the Professional captivated us in movies, Hitman captivates
us in games.
There are a few changes that will differ from Absolution however, and this includes the
elimination of the checkpoint system.
It was a hassle sometimes to maneuver through a level, only to be picked off moments before
you reached the next checkpoint.
Downright frustrating, if I�m being honest.
So it�s nice to see that Hitman will have a bit more lenience in terms of level progression.
Contract mode will also be returning, in which a player can create their own scenarios and
targets to share with players.
The only difference is that with the sand-box expansion of levels, there will be considerable
more variety.
Lastly, the developers have decided to eliminate paid-content for its world-wide release on
Windows, Xbox One, and Playstation 4 coming out December 8th, 2015.
Their philosophy is that players have often felt �ripped off� by forcing additional
payments, and now IO Interactive will include free updates of levels, missions, and targets
as part of the $60 price of the game.
So the game will launch with a significant chunk of the content initially, but then they
will roll out new missions throughout 2016.
They don't want to call it episodic, they're referring to it as a �live� game.
However despite all of this downloadable content, you won't need a persistant internet connection.
You can still play these mission offline after you download them.
This is all good news for those of us trying to budget for the new year�s catalogue of
upcoming games.
Now there was also a leaked gameplay demo that came out over the weekend.
We can't show it here on youtube, in fact copies of it are being blocked and taken down
all over the net.
But I've seen it and I can tell you the game is finally returning to a more open approach
to assassinations.
Many fans are saying it's closer to Blood Money than it is to Absolution.
And that fits IO Interactives intentions with this persistent content based game.
Let us know what your thoughts are on the new Hitman game.
Does Hitman take a step in the right direction as a follow up to Absolution?
And what is your opinion on the new release model for this game?
Let us know in the comments.
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