HITMAN™

The routes I keep trying to go for are the “nobody knows I was there and everything looked like an accident” ones. I managed to off Novikov by shoving him into the river on my 4th attempt, but getting to the fashion model got me busted and shot a lot

if you read the challenge synopses does that give you a better idea of what to try? there are always multiple ways of getting the targets alone, and listening to the incidental dialogue to figure out how you might do that is more often than not funny enough to hang the game off of, but I do remember 2016 being slightly more oblique about it than 2018

Hitman is actually all about hangoutitude and save scumming, it’s more of an adventure game than anything else really, and it punishes you for playing it like an action game

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Could you describe what specifically happened? Where were you, what were you wearing, what were you doing and who saw you? Maybe I can remember something and give some tips for that situation. A lot of the game is learning how to exploit AI pathfinding and viewcones.

I feel like when you’re starting out there’s nothing wrong with going the path of least resistance and getting your kills with your starter silenced pistol from just behind the corner of a door when everyone’s backs are turned, and then just running away to safety. It’s not as satisfying as getting accidental kills or one of the scripted kills, but the levels are meant to be replayed over and over so this gives you a way to learn some level layouts, enemy walking paths, and then snag a win and accrue some upgrades (new tools, new starting locations, new secret stash locations).

And yeah, turn on the mission objectives and try following one of the stories. That should help you learn some of the game logic as well. And if you get an opportunity to just shoot 'em with the pistol early, then feel free to take the shot.

Getting caught isn’t a death wish either. Just run away and try to grab a new costume. The AI is purposely really dumb about that stuff and you can just waltz by people if you’re in any new outfit. But feel free to save and load constantly too if you want.

First I had overheard that Novikov was going to be meeting with some guy, so I mugged some waiter out in the parking lot for a disguise and then walked around backstage until I could nab one of the bodyguards for THEIR disguise. Then I escorted the guy Novikov was meeting to their meeting point, waited for the meeting to wrap up, then shoved the guy over a railing into the river. Then I went inside and upstairs and changed into a stage crew uniform, but after wandering around for like 15-20 minutes not getting anything done, I decided the stage crew outfit had been a bad choice, and I went to change back into a bodyguard outfit, but just as I was doing that, someone walked around a corner when I wasn’t expecting, and shot me a lot.

As for savescumming: eh. Not really something I’ve ever been a fan of unless I really just wanted to see the story or something. In a game like this, I feel like consequences should have weight, so I try not to do that. I’ve just been restarting the mission from the beginning whenever I get Super Caught™.

yeah, I think you’re going to have a bad time playing this if you’re not willing to savescum a little bit. it doesn’t have to be constant – dealing with consequences is fun – but you have to use your judgment there.

What I’m failing at mostly just seems to be moment-to-moment execution of things, rather than faulty game plans. Bad timing, premature execution, etc. Also had a couple of “what does this action prompt do?” experiments go very, very wrong.

yup, and I’m saying, there are always ways of significantly widening your execution window, you just have to explore more and play more slowly

yeah that sounds about right

Also am I better off playing this content via Hitman 1’s campaign, or should I upgrade to that Hitman 2 Legacy Pack thing that is apparently free if you have 1

From what I understand, it’s just the Hitman 1 levels redone in the Hitman 2 engine, but all the plot and cutscenes aren’t included? Or something?

Restarting from scratch every time sounds like it’s tiring you out though, since you’re losing 40 minutes of game time. You’ve had more than enough consequence at this point and it’s just small moments getting you. At least use some of those auto-saves! It doesn’t sound like you didn’t do anything majorly wrong there; you just missed someone looking at you at the end there and got shot. It happens, and now you know whatever place that was wasn’t as safe as you thought. If you don’t know what to do with the stage crew outfit, then just use it as a “key” to get from one area to another from now until you find some use for it.

I will say, there is a particularly useful costume you can find early on. I’ll spoiler if you don’t really want to know: Helmut Kruger is the leading model of the fashion show and early on in the level he’ll walk out to the back courtyard of the mansion, where the helipad is. There are opportunities to get him while he’s out there and while while guards aren’t looking, and his costume gives you very generous access around the mansion.

No, it’s got all the cut-scenes and everything. It does have some new features which could make things a tad bit harder (people can see you through windows or translucent objects like glass) but I’m sure there’s quality of life stuff in there too. Hitman 2 now has a free Starter Pack that gets you the first/tutorial mission; I wonder if that would let you import Hitman 1 stuff too.

I figured as much, yeah. I’d heard some folks talking about Helmut and then turning around and pointing at me and intoning “T H A T G U Y L O O K S J U S T L I K E H I M”, and a big looping gif of Jacob Mikkelsen winking at me popped up

I saw him walking up into the mansion right after I had beefed Novikov, and I figured he’d be the one to go for if I really wanted to run the joint, but I got the feeling the moment had already passed by then. I might try and figure out how to get to him quickly enough for my next run.

Fairly sure I remember it saying it does, so I might try and shuffle out 1 for 2+Legacy, in that case. Only so much hard drive space on the ol’ xboner, and it’s not like I’m deleting Warframe

2 doesn’t import your unlocks from 1, so might as well play 1 within 2 if that’s possible

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Here’s my “no unlocks needed!” suit only Paris run, if it helps.

1) Run to the bathrooms in the east wing of the first floor and grab the VIP pass from the counter. Discard your gun in the garbage can. Oh also make sure you’ve got some coins on you, just in case.
2) From there, open the door at the end of that hall to the gift shop, and sneak over to where the woman is on her phone, and grab a screwdriver near the register.
3) Sneak back toward the bathrooms, and out to the patio. Between the sets of steps is a power box - turn it off, then use the screwdriver on the power strip in the puddle. Leave it off for now!
4) Go north to where two guards are checking for VIP passes. Get frisked and go up the stairs, stopping to get frisked as needed.
5) Make your way to the auction room, sit in the chair near the door, and make sure Dalia speaks with you.
6) Hop out and back towards the stairs. Crouch and go through the doors next to the butler, hang right, and jump the rail. Shimmy towards the bathroom to the left and hide in the cabinet for…a while.
7) Dalia will eventually walk in and get on the phone. Stab her with the screwdriver and drag her into the cabinet. Shimmy back toward the attic, out the door, and down the stairs back toward the patio.
8) Run into where the party is being held and wait for Novikov to get confronted by the reporter. When this starts, run back to that power box near the patio from earlier.
9) If it’s Hitman 2016, just flip the switch and head toward one of the exits. If it’s Hitman 2, just…wait until Novikov heads down the steps and throw the switch - they changed the NPC patterns and they’ll walk into the electrified puddle and screw everything up.

It takes like 20 minutes and there might be better ways, but it worked for me!

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Really though, the best thing to do is to just flub a few runs. The game pretty generously rewards you experience for finding things, trying things out, which nets you more unlocks, starting locations, the works.

I felt super off my game playing Hitman 2 right up until the end, after being fairly competent at the first game. It wasn’t until I beat the game and went back that things clicked for me.

The most devious thing the games will do is present you with what seems like a good chance to take down the target (or someone with a valuable disguise), but really aren’t! The tailor in Mumbai makes about half a dozen stops before he pauses somewhere safe.

Everything in the game generally follows very specific routes, unless you influence them, so take as much time as you need to observe them and plan from there.

Also, yeah, if you really wanna go all-in, I’d go ahead and play the first game’s levels in Hitman 2. Especially since it looks like they’re re-doing the Elusive Targets for those levels again.

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I started playing this a few days ago as it is a free PS+ game and seeing how the number of free games dropped from potentially six to two a month I don’t think I’m renewing, so may as well play the interesting looking ones I still haven’t gotten to before my sub runs out.

Anyways I’m doing what I was told not to do and just playing through the story missions straight through. It’s a very mechanically funky game that I’m not sure is for me. It feels very broad but very thin, there’s a ton of things to potentially do but the actual verbs I have to interact with the world seem rather limited. I basically stand around a lot trying to not be noticed, eventually I see something that can be done, it is done and that’s about it?

Looking through the challenges reveals a ton of things I could have potentially done but I don’t even have the first idea as to how to pull off, and standing around these same levels for several more hours trying to figure it out sounds hellish so… yeah, glad I didn’t spend money on it?

This was stressful to do because the docs don’t spell it out and have some ominous text, but I bought a Hitman not-2 bundle and downloaded the free Hitman 2 thing and all the content magically appeared without me needing to buy anything Hitman 2 specific

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Trying to figure out which bundle of Hitman to purchase in order to play all the content is THE most confusing meta-game available

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I didn’t even BUY Hitman 1, I just got it from XBox Game Pass, and it still let me get the Hitman 2 Legacy Pack. I think I actually have the Legacy Pack for good now as if I HAD bought Hitman 1? I’ll have to check next time my game pass runs out

I don’t know why NOW of all times is when I suddenly remembered the time I made a trailer for Hitman Absolution despite having not ever played a Hitman game at the time.

Edit: Oh I found it. Here it is

I got Hitman 2 on sale for PS4. Then I got Hitman 1 on PS plus free sale. I thought I’d be able to play the s1 content thru Hitman 2, but apparently not? Still unclear

Not sure how it works on consoles but on PC there was a place in the Options to make the game check your account for owning Hitman 1. Then, at least on on PC, the Hitman 1 stuff appears as DLC associated with Hitman 2 and has to be downloaded. I guess it’s got enough changes and it needs a new download of everything.

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