Disguising Greatness In Hitman’s Beta And Beyond

There’s quite a silly plot point early on in the prologue to Hitman, a game that oddly lacks a subtitle but isn’t a reboot of the long-running series. Testing Agent 47 against a handful of simulated assassinations as part of his entry into the ICA, he is quick to don a disguise, something which surprises your then new handler. It seems that nobody had ever thought to use such dastardly subterfuge in order to infiltrate a location.

However, it’s also a moment which highlights a staple of the series, giving you the opportunity to evade and deceive, and gain access to areas that you otherwise wouldn’t be allowed in. It makes being able to get in and out while wearing Agent 47’s signature suit and tie a badge of pride.

This prologue to the game, with Agent 47’s final training and testing twenty years in the past, will also be what you can play during this week’s beta, with two missions that open the door for the myriad of possible murders you can commit. In keeping with the theme, both the yacht and military base have a number of elements which make them feel like rudimentary training grounds, from the plywood walls to the crash pads which double for water around the yacht.

With the added power of the current generation of consoles, it’s allowed IO-Interactive to push the boat out in terms of size and scope of each of the levels they’re creating. The prologue’s simulations are set on what’s likely to be the smallest map in the game and with the smallest number of civilians needed to make them feel like bustling hubs of activity, while the grounds of Paris’ fictional Palais De Walewska that make up the first true location are impressively large and packed with hundreds of people milling around for the fashion show taking place that day.

It doesn’t feel that large as you play, though; it’s very easy to think “is this it?” Instead it’s more of a natural expansion and growth of what previous Hitman games have done instead of a wholesale revolution, and it sits well within that context.

Carrying that thinking forward, there’s the same blend of planning, execution and improvisation as before. The first time you venture into an area, you’ll be scouting the map, finding where is supposedly off limits, the patrol routes and even just where your target is.

Hitman naturally lends itself well to repeated playthroughs, whether simply restarting after death and trying to do better, or trying to replay and complete the mission under successively more strenuous conditions. You’ll gradually learn the layout, the positioning of the cameras, the guard routines and who you can exploit to your advantage.

Of course, there’s the trial and error before you reach that level, and the potential for abject failure that resorting to using firearms feels like. Making use of the Instincts view to highlight threats to your disguise, targets and so, but it’s almost certain that the majority will play by falling back on shooting their way out when things go spectacularly wrong.

Certainly that’s how much of my time with the game panned out. I misjudged my ability to throw weapons to knock someone out in my first training mission, I was discovered by a very persistent soldier in the second, and it took me quite easily half a dozen attempts before I found and perfected a route through the Paris level. Then again, I was sneaking around and knocking out my victims with a luridly green cricket bat.

At the same time, it’s no doubt disappointing that the episodic release format means that the initial game will have just one location to play after the prologue and training, and that all episodes together will amount to just six true locations.

However, IO are doing a lot to actively encourage you to revisit and play through a certain location. There’s the cinematic and sometimes rather amusing Opportunity special kills to try and enact, while Contracts Return from Absolution, allowing players to create and share their own challenges. IO go beyond that and take a more active role in this with the new Escalation mode, which has you play the same objective but with ever more taxing conditions.

Initially, you’ll simply have to reach the target, kill them and escape, just as in the main mission but with rejigged cameras and patrols, but the second play might demand you kill them in a certain outfit, do so without being spotted by cameras – lest you have to find the security room to wipe the footage – catch them in an explosion or under a chandelier, and so on. It’s like a step by step reverse Cluedo.

Finally, there’s the Elusive Targets, who will appear once, and only once,  for a limited amount of time in the real world. Kill them and their death is forever remembered in your game, just as their survival and escape will be.

The beta starting on Friday will be a perfect opportunity for IO to showcase their work and Hitman’s potential sandbox brilliance – I also hope it has fewer of the rough edges that I saw in the preview build – but even then, IO will have their work cut out to prove that they can deliver the kinds of extended longevity and inventiveness that the game’s episodic delivery model will demand.