I downloaded Hitman 2 and all the included level packs from PS+. I have yet to boot up the game, and I’ve never played any of the Hitmens before.
I watched the Super Bunnyhop video and he basically said to play the games on hardest and save scum and disable some of the QOL features. That kind of gives me some anxiety that I’ll be missing out on some specific flavor of the experience, because I know that there’s a lot of unique one-attempt-forever missions in the game. Will changing these options make my experience “truer” or more fun? Will I be missing out on important story moments from skipping the first game? Am I asking too many questions before even trying the game just for the sake of having something to post? (maybe)
I think you will witness the magic of Hitman if you jump into any levels in the series and just play however you want. It’s really simple! Once you get your toes wet so to speak, then you’ll have a sense for what of these things you want to toggle or focus on. The story is kind of… cool and fun… but really falls into the background after a several hours of play.
I like to play the levels in any way at all for the first time, then look at the challenges for other ways to play through the level. I consistently grind out mastery for the items you can unlock and take into any level after that. It’s my curse. I have some toggles on and some off, but that’s up to my personal style or how much guidance I want.
whatever the opportunity things are called nowadays that kind of guide you through the mission, I think I had them set to simple or whatnot before I did them, and once I did each one once I had them set to off. these settings only affect the ui
I don’t have any ui stuff onscreen at anytime except the item thing if I have an item equipped and I turn on silent assassin status when I’m doing an elusive target so I know if something got messed up
One of the few UI elements I think is really essential is the icons which identify who is an “enforcer”, one of those NPCs who will see through your disguise regardless. I don’t think there is any other visual way to tell these NPCs apart, maybe besides the air of authority they give off as they patrol or watch people from a certain post. It’s unreliable anyway.
I guess you could deduce one is an enforcer if you are wearing the appropriate outfit and still begin to be noticed by them.
The first playthrough of a Hitman level is great. Peak social anxiety simulator. A lot of waiting in the corner, people watching, until you work up the courage to approach someone (and smash them in the head with a wrench).
Eventually you just kinda internalize every level, and the whole clockwork pattern everyone follows, and how your presence affects it.
But! Before that? Go wild. Mess up. Nothing to lose but time, and you’ll learn some stuff in the process.
yeah this is frustratingly difficult for me, trying to figure out how to get in this cocaine plant without getting spotted and it seems impossible lol. i’m given all these mechanics and items and disguises and expected to get creative, and getting creative so far has just been like… quicksaving, running in, getting a headshot, and trying not to get killed by fifty guards on the way out
and the anxiety during all of this is very real, seeing NPC heads turning and hearing the radio static. I think one mission takes me like two hours (reloading/restarting included) which feels like way over par time. I got one star on the miami mission and did a bunch of Collateral Murders
The easiest way to get into the cocaine plant, at first, is to knock out the hippie guy at the hostel, get some glue from one of the little shops around the corner, and fix the little cocaine bus and poison it (I usually break into the clinic and grab the poison in there). From there it’s just a matter of getting frisked and delivering the bus to the cocaine guy.
Honestly though, that map in particular is hard as hell. I think it was the last one I got around to replaying to unlock items. It’s incredibly dense and complicated, and certain areas are just packed with enforcers, to a frustrating degree.
I just beat the mission. I decided to save the chemist for last, so from the entrance of the plant, I went to the southern gate to the mansion, killed the guards and took one of their outfits, threw an apricot over the wall to divert the guards on the other side while I lockpicked the gate, walked straight into the house to shoot the dude. I went back to the plant, and while I was allowed entry as a mansion guard, they got suspicious of me very quickly. So it took me several tries to sneak up to a couple plant workers and subdue them without being noticed, but once I had the farming attire it was relatively easy to snipe the chemist with a suppressed pistol and remain unnoticed. (relatively easy meaning it still took me several tries)
The very first thing I did in this mission was break into the bedroom and notice the broken bus souvenir, but my pea brain couldn’t piece it together that this was like, an adventure game with item puzzles, so all I’m doing is Solid Sneaking everywhere
I don’t blame ya for not knowing. I wanna say (they’re huge games so I’m possibly forgetting here) that’s the only mission where that kinda triple item combining ever happens. They kinda went over the top on that one, and it’s easily the most daunting mission in Hitman 2 by far. Even the last level manages to be a bit more straightforward.
I will say, I recommend brute forcing that level if you gotta, because the ones after it (Mumbai and the little sleepy neighborhood in particular) are so damn good.
Santa Fortuna comes into its own once you come to grips with it, but it’s a really fucking hard level to throw at you from the get-go.
Edit: that said, my one knock on Whittleton Creek was when I had an almost perfect Silent Assassin Suit Only run foiled by a jogger, clear across the map, who somehow fell into a pothole in the level and died, and I got blamed for it.
The best are the ones where guns don’t even come into play.
You’re just dragging someone to a crate and someone walks by and sees it, so you chuck a brick at their head, and then someone walks by and sees that, so you punch them in the throat, but then someone hears that, so…
A stat from Hitman Contracts that I hope they bring back for 007 is your cumulative lowest number of bullets fired. A normal playthrough of the game you’ll end it at having fired your gun dozens to hundreds of times, but then as you go back through the game and better learn the levels you can get to the point where you never fire your gun a single time.
(almost never. IIRC shooting out that glass bottom jacuzzi is always the best way to deal with that mark)
It’s cool that the new Hitman trilogy is constantly supplying you with guns, but I never, ever use them.
They’re for taking our cameras, distracting guards, or shooting out a chandelier or something. Not for violence
(The most satisfying use of a gun is on Haven Island, where you can get a pretty easy suit only kill by sabotaging the massive server room underneath the mansion on the island, which requires all three targets to swipe their keycards to reset it. There’s a power strip you can likewise sabotage before all three arrive, and if you hide yourself on the walkway up above, you can shoot the water cooler next to them and zap all three in a single shot.)
Yeah, I finished Hitman 3 last weekend and for the most part the only items I’ve used for all three games are coins and any throwable blunt objects you can pick up on the field. The tutorial trains you early on on the usefulness of coins at being quiet and controlled ways to target specific NPCs, while it felt like every other item the game gives you is very loud and lethal, blowing the whole stealth thing apart. Now I’m going to go back and see what is up with all these remote controlled bombs.
One of the best strategies I’ve seen exploited is putting the remote emetic bomb in a suitcase, then walking right up to your target and detonating it. A nasty green fart just pops out of the side of the suitcase, making anyone next to it ill.
I’m just sad I’ve never found a use for that giant plastic explosive. It is fun to get a bunch of guards shooting at you and chuck that thing at them, but it otherwise seems useless. Way too much collateral damage.
