Hitman: Hitting Men

I'm sorry, I have to ask. Is a fiber wire just a shoe lace?

It's more like a garotte, but the game offers up alternatives - fishing wire or even a pair of headphones can be used to achieve the same result.

For anyone who got the deluxe edition, the bonuses seem to be up on the IO Account now, on the Rewards page. I haven't downloaded the art book yet for fear of spoilers, but the soundtracks are making my day at work very dramatic so far.

Has anyone done the Deluxe Escalations yet? I was going to do the Dubai one last night, but it warmed me that I should complete some other content first - is there a specific order to them?

No, that warning seems to be a bug, it's just an Escalation like any other so you can jump right in.

I did the first stage of the Dubai one - just starting it unlocks the suit. It was fairly straightforward. The second stage looks like a big step up in difficulty though so I've left that one to come back to later.

Just managed Silent Assassin on Dubai. Suit Only is still a mystery; they're never alone, just surrounded by bodyguards.

Needs sneaking (obvs) but clues:
Spoiler - click to show Downstairs guy is alone and accident prone when he goes to check when his new security guard is arriving Upstairs guy: if you can get to the watery rooftop there's a useful door on the far left

Needs sneaking (obvs)

SNEAK KING, YOU SAY?!?

The suit you get for starting the Deluxe escalation on Dartmoor is brilliant:

Spoiler - click to showA bright red, totally conspicuous hunting outfit. I am now the Avenging Tory of Doom. Can't wait to rock up to Mumbai or Whittleton Creek wearing this baby.

I was right about the level, too: while the mission stories are overly scripted, it's a fantastic environment for more freeform shenanigans. I'm really enjoying the escalation and I think I've worked out a SASO route - if I'm right, it'll be my first one ever.

I think I've worked out a SASO route - if I'm right, it'll be my first one ever.

SASO on Paris is very straightforward. The trickiest bit is getting the fireworks remote.

Finished the SOSA for Dubai last night. The spoiler for the downstairs guy should have clarified that
Spoiler - click to showto get him alone you need to drop your gun so his guard finds it before he leaves the security room at the start. There's additional fun to be had sneaking around to get your gun back to take out upstairs guy

There are bound to be other methods but I found this easiest. Ended up unlocking the ladders on the first run as well (haven't been picking up crowbars while exploring for some reason) so did it again immediately afterwards and did the whole thing in about 8 mins. Quite looking forward to some slower paced assassinations on the map for the rest of the mastery.

My first SASO done, on Dartmoor. It wasn’t especially difficult but still, I am inordinately pleased with myself.

Congrats!

I've still got a few things too scratch off the Dubai to-do list (including SASO, and maybe the escalation(s)?), but I'm looking forward to getting to Dartmoor.

And that's Sniper Assassin too! Also my first ever - I'm on a roll. I've come to really enjoy this map, after being a bit unsure initially.

That takes me to mastery 17 out of 20 - I think I'm going to move on, and see if I can get the remaining levels through escalations later on.

SASO Dubai done, though it only got me another 2 Mastery levels. I really lucked out on Stuyvesant; no idea how I didn't get spotted:

This really is impressively buggy for something that's basically a mission pack.

Had a new one last night - the game wouldn't let me load any of my saves because apparently I didn't have access to the Hitman 2 levels. No matter that the saves were all on Hitman 3 levels or that I did, in fact, have access to what it was moaning about. In the end I reinstalled all my access packs and it seemed to fix it but honestly, what a palaver.

Also found a spot in Dartmoor where a guard walked through a closed door. Hard to say which of us was more surprised.

Berlin is utterly overwhelming. My first run through was even more scrappy and panicked than my normal efforts. You’d need to be an absolute savant to manage SASO on this bastard.

Did you find this though?

https://twitter.com/karenyhan/status/1352773762761023490?s=19

Haha, that’s brilliant. (Though probably not Berlin - the level is a skanky nightclub).

This really is impressively buggy for something that's basically a mission pack.

I was just trying to up my mastery in Dubai at the weekend and found a railing that if you leap over you don't hang & just fall out of the level. Really like Dubai, it's one of those good Hitman levels that's quite compact but has a lot going on in terms of the use of the space.

Went back to Dartmoor - which I'm struggling to love but also reluctant to move to Berlin just yet - to try and follow the murder mystery story but didn't take the lock pick & slowly messed everything up. Dartmoor doesn't have an escalation yet unless you've got the deluxe edition.

For reference, I'm about to start the Final Test.

Yeah.

I really like the Final Test, it's a great little level with a lot of interesting options.

Haven't been able to play in a few days (D&D sessions and Sarah finishing FFVII Remake), but I'm definitely going to push for a few more challenges on Dubai, and that should hopefully eke me over the finish line to Mastery 20.

I think I've got an approach for Sniper Assassin, and I know how to serve Him Upstairs poisoned food; should be fine. Easy. No problem.

Dubai Mastery 20, at last! @Garwoofoo, you weren't far off about needing to do every challenge - I think I had less than half a dozen uncompleted when I finally got there. I've just kept going back, though - but in my defence, I have watched the briefing video for Dartmoor..?

Just one Assassination challenge, one feat challenge, and the Escalations left, then that's Dubai actually totally done - until new Escalations or Elusive Targets show up.

Escalations? I only have one showing, that's the Asmodeus Waltz - which is the Deluxe escalation. Do you have others?

I've played Berlin a couple more times now and it might be my favourite of the initial three levels. It does something very unique - the initial playthrough is completely different to subsequent runs:

Spoiler - click to showFirst time through, your targets aren't marked on the map or highlighted in Instinct. So you have to work out who they are by observing their behaviour and trying to catch them communicating with their handler. It's extremely difficult, at least for someone as impatient as me. Subsequent runs have all 11 highlighted, making the level a glorious murder sandbox with 47 in his ascendancy and loads of ways of taking everyone down. It's brilliant.

I have to say I'm impressed by how different the first three levels feel - Dubai's a traditional Hitman level, Dartmoor is very scripted, and Berlin's a total sandbox.

Minor frustration of the day: how does knocking someone out, then dumping them in a canal, NOT count as a drowning kill?

That's weird. Similarly, I choked someone out and tossed them over a railing last night, and it gave me a melee kill credit.

I have two escalations for Dubai - The Asmodeus Waltz and The Phoenix Ascension. A quick Google suggests it's PlayStation-only (for now?).

I completed the first stage of Asmodeus, and it's quite cool - a guy wearing the unlocked suit teleports around the level, stalking your victims… or YOU!?!??!?!?!?!??!?1?!?!?1?

OK - that explains it. Fair enough, not like I'm short of content for now.

I went back and did the ICA Facility last night, the difference in picture quality between the old levels and the new levels is heartbreaking. All the Hitman 3 levels look like they've got the gamma turned up too high, there's a kind of grey film over them that really harms the look of the game. It's particularly noticeable in HDR but you get it in SDR too, there's just a different look to the new levels. I really can't believe that can have been an artistic decision, but then again I can't believe it was a bug that somehow wasn't spotted. Even YouTube playthroughs make it really apparent. Really hoping for a fix that at least makes the game look consistent, the Hitman 1 and 2 levels still look absolutely perfect.

Played quite a lot of Dartmoor last night and came round to the level. My first approach kind of soured things, I'd guess that you're supposed to go for the detective/murder mystery opportunity before everything else for it to have the most impact.
This will sound daft but I've never really been one for save scumming these games… Until now. So much fun. After completing all objectives I spent a few hours just working through the mansion taking out all the guards until only the family were left. Murderous lols.

This will sound daft but I've never really been one for save scumming these games

I usually don't, but if I'm doing a bunch of objectives that have similar setups I'll save and reload to skip all the manoeuvring.

I think it's almost compulsory, otherwise you'd just end up playing the same opening segments over and over again. Killing someone six different ways in the space of a minute is strangely satisfying.

First run on Dartmoor complete:

It's a bit of a maze (though I suppose so are they all, to start with), and Suit Only seems a near-insurmountable challenge (though I suspect I have an approach, if only for the case file…).

Really noticed that thing you were taking about with the lighting on this one, Gar - it wasn't so bad on Dubai, but some of the darker little passages around the house are almost impossible to see, and I was playing in a completely dark room. If the sun was up, the whole fucking thing would be basically invisible.

Yeah, the lighting on Dartmoor is really screwed up, although curiously I have the opposite problem: nothing's actually black, it's like the whole level is light grey. It's like they balanced the lighting for the foggy outside section then forgot to adjust it for the interior. Although all the Hitman 3 levels seem to have this issue to a greater or lesser extent. We must surely be due a patch soon, it'll be interesting to see which of their many issues they concentrate on.

V1.02 patch notes:

• Additional men to hit
• Increase of hitting against said men
• Pizza Boy outfit

Yeah, the lighting on Dartmoor is really screwed up, although curiously I have the opposite problem: nothing's actually black, it's like the whole level is light grey.

Sorry, yeah, same - it's just that it's most noticeable that everything is getting crushed when I get somewhere dark. The stairway to the top floor is particularly bad.

Interesting - I'm not getting that at all. Might be an obvious question but have you got the RGB full/limited values set correctly on both your PS4 and TV? Every time I've seen major black crush in a game it's been because of a mismatch in those settings.

I'm not explaining this well - it's not getting crushed into black, it's getting crushed into grey, like you described.

Ah, fair enough, yep that sounds like the problem all right.

On the positive side, I did stab an old lady in the neck with a unicorn horn. #JustHitmanThings

I've got a save right before Spoiler - click to showrevealing whodunnit, too, so I might just do that the other way for the challenge unlock before I try another approach properly.

There are at least three ways to resolve that.

Oh? Spoiler - click to showI found all the clues and stuff, and it only gave me two options. Presumably I closed off some possibilities by confirming certain alibis?

The third level of the Asmodeus Waltz is pretty tough, but I was doing pretty well - until I ragequit it after discovering the location (mentioned above) where you can jump the rail but 47 doesn't grab on the other side, and fell to my death with 3/5 targets killed.

Spoilers/solutions for the murder mystery:

Spoiler - click to showYou can blame it on Emma, you can blame it on the butler, or you can convince Alexa Carlisle that the death was a suicide.

If there are any more solutions, I haven't found them yet.

Oh, maybe there were three, those do all sound vaguely familiar.

Spent a while exploring the manor and completing challenges - Gar, have you done the version where Spoiler - click to showyou convince her that Zachary killed himself after finding the letter in the hidden room? I wasn't expecting the result.

Also managed both SASO and Sniper, but still only at Mastery 15. There are a few other bits and pieces I think I know how to approach, though, so hopefully I'll be able to eke out 20 again before moving on. I'm sure it didn't take this much effort in the last two games…

Yep, I did that one, best "ending" of the lot I think.

I hit 17 on Dartmoor before moving on. They have definitely ramped up the requirements for hitting 20 this time round, and it's particularly tough without any escalations, challenge packs or special assignments (yet). I figured with both this and Dubai, I'll enjoy them more coming back to them fresh, than I will slogging away at them now for the sake of hitting 20.

Reckon I've got one more run on Berlin maybe before hitting a similar point. I've done Silent Assassin and I've got some ideas for SASO but it's going to be an epic challenge to try and actually pull it off. Probably one for later. But I do have a couple of scripted kills that I really want to try and work out before moving on.

For Sniper Assassin - it feels a bit cheaty but can you (in theory) knock someone out then shoot them at point blank range with a sniper rifle? There's one obvious vantage point in Berlin but it doesn't let you get everyone as some targets simply never come above ground. And if you get spotted can you still get Sniper Assassin or is there a "Silent Assassin" requirement inherent in there somewhere? I'm not 100% clear on what the requirements are.

Sniper Assassin is killing all targets with a sniper rifle without being seen, but yes, point-blank on a pacified target counts. I did that on Dubai for the Spoiler - click to showkill both targets with one sniper bullet challenge - I organised the meeting upstairs, knocked them both out with a fish, then dragged one on top of the other, and boom. I seem to remember doing the same for another mission in one of the previous games, though I forget which.

There's one obvious vantage point in Berlin but it doesn't let you get everyone as some targets simply never come above ground.

From memory, it's usually necessary to move around to get Sniper Assassin. Paris has a pretty easy spot to get both targets if you trigger the fireworks, but I don't remember any others that didn't require a bit of repositioning.

And if you get spotted can you still get Sniper Assassin or is there a "Silent Assassin" requirement inherent in there somewhere? I'm not 100% clear on what the requirements are.

You don't need Silent Assassin for Sniper - bodies getting found, for instance, will cause you to fail a Silent run (unless they're accident or poison kills), but not Sniper. If you're ever seen as Suspicious (or caught on camera?) I think that fails it.

Also managed both SASO and Sniper, but still only at Mastery 15. There are a few other bits and pieces I think I know how to approach, though, so hopefully I'll be able to eke out 20 again before moving on. I'm sure it didn't take this much effort in the last two games…

One thing I noticed while flicking through the menus was that Whittleton Creek now has 20 levels of mastery whereas in Hitman 2 it only had 15. I haven't checked to see whether they've rolled some of the challenge packs into the main set (which would help a bit) or whether this is simply an oversight but either way that's going to be a tough one to max out now.

They've rolled most of the challenge pack rewards from the previous games into either Mastery or the Escalation Track challenges.

I think you can get caught on camera for Silent/Sniper, as long as you destroy the footage afterwards?

That definitely works for Silent Assassin, yes.

You can also get spotted by the target before you kill them.

https://twitter.com/IOInteractive/status/1357328058001338369?s=19

Boom.

So: two more deluxe escalations, two regular escalations, new featured contracts and an elusive target in Sapienza (The Deceivers - is this a recycled one? Regardless, it's new to me).

No patch until February 23rd though - I'm genuinely surprised about that.

The Deceivers were a Legacy Elusive Target for Sapienza in Hitman 2, but weren't part of the 2016 run. I've not done that one, either. Glad they're leading with one of the maps we know inside out, at least.

Played Berlin for the first time last night. Not much to say other than I really loved it. It's like IO went "we have confidence in you, the player, to be able to parse everything here and have a good time with it."

Super satisfying.