Hitman: Hitting Men

Just in time for today's fun, that's Holiday Hoarders completed and all of Hitman 1's content done. On to Hawke's Bay!

Year 2 stream just ended. Starting next week - January 20th!

• Elusive Target Arcade seems to stack targets, so you need to do multiple elusive targets in one go without falling any to pass each challenge, which unlocks New Stuff.
• PC VR
• Some graphical improvements that I won't see on PS4
• Hitman Trilogy coming to everything, and Game Pass
• Freelancer mode, a roguelike-inspired gametype that sees 47 globetrotting after one of several organisations you choose.
• Very briefly, right at the end: NEW LOCATION!!!!

OK, so the Year 2 announcement then:

• Elusive Target Arcade coming next week. You have to complete several Elusive Targets in a row, without failing, with additional complications or new requirements. These challenges are permanent, but you can only attempt them once a day, and more will be added over time.
• The entire Hitman Trilogy is coming to Game Pass, also next week.
• Lots of various PC-specific stuff, including VR, ray tracing and some other technical gubbins.
• New mode coming in the Spring: Freelancer. Looks like a roguelike version of contracts mode, you have to work your way through a series of targets across different maps with a persistent inventory and a safehouse base you return to. Hard to say at the moment quite how this is going to pan out but it's interesting at least.
• A sneak preview of what looks like a new map (some sort of volcanic island? It was pretty dark) due later in the year.

Clearly only the start of Year 2 stuff but a good set of announcements I think. At least it's not more Escalations.

Ha, first! (I posted quickly and edited in the details.)

Well, that was meh.

Elusive Arcade - it's just the Elusives from H3 again, don't care. I mean, they'll keep adding more but basically, that first reveal looks crap.
PC VR - don't care
Steam - don't care
Ray tracing - don't care

Freelancer looks interesting, but customising my safehouse… meh. It's not Happy Home Paradise. Will be interested to see how the campaign branches depending on what you do.

One new map at the end? Or was it a few? It all looked the same to me.

Oh well. I've still got H2 and H3 to play, plus the 7DS, so it's not like I need Year 2 to deliver immediately.

Freelancer looks interesting, but I don't know how much I'll enjoy not being able to bring my preferred loadout on missions after a failed attempt… I wonder what the save policy will be like…

Freelancer looks interesting, but I don't know how much I'll enjoy not being able to bring my preferred loadout on missions after a failed attempt… I wonder what the save policy will be like…

I like the persistence of it, I think - lose something or leave it behind, you don't have it any more. That's interesting. Requires thought, planning. But how it works, we just don't know yet

Both Elusive Target Arcade and Freelancer mode are ways to try and get more value out of existing content. That's good, but I don't know how long they will hold everybody's interest. The new map(s?) are clearly what everyone is waiting for.

I hope the new modes come with hundreds of new suits to unlock, at least.

Looking forward to the Freelancer mode safehouse having a walk-in wardrobe full of ridiculous outfits.

Looking forward to the Freelancer mode safehouse having a walk-in wardrobe full of ridiculous outfits.

/leading Kevin McCloud from Grand Designs around on a tour

'…and this is the room of a thousand knives.'

Woohoo to gamepass, I've liked the look of this for ages but never taken the plunge. More than happy to have a dibble for "free" though

You don’t dibble in Hitman. You play them for seven thousand hours and rename your forum to The Society of Gamesplaying Hitman Folk

I'll give it an hour

If you're not on board by the end of the freeform training mission, there's something wrong.

Does Hitman 3 start you with that, or dump you in Dubai?

I remember on Hitman 2 it started with Hawke’s Bay, THEN suggested you play the ICA Facility, which was a bit odd.

I only played through the first Hitman but I'm looking forward to seeing how smooth it is on both the next gen and through the H3 'upgrade' or whatever you want to call it. Gonna' see how far my modus operandi of 'get as close as possible to the target and shoot them in the head' takes me through H2 and H3.

Does Hitman 3 start you with that, or dump you in Dubai?

Oh, I don't know; but I assume the "Trilogy" edition will?

Servers down today ahead between 10am-2pm CET of the Elusive Arcade going live on Thursday. There go my lunchtime plans then.

(Finished all the challenges on Hawke's Bay before work today, so I'm off to Miami next)

Had fun making this. Any significant disagreement from the Society Hitmen?

I haven't played two thirds of those levels enough to judge, sadly. But the H1 ones, I've got less of a problem with Colorado and Bangkok than most people seem to…

No significant disagreement…

Hokkaido and Paris are for sure S-tier, but I'm less convinced by Berlin. Maybe it's just too dark and claustrophobic for my taste. I think Miami would edge it into S for me.

I'd swap Bangkok and Colorado though, and probably drop Mumbai down - it's fine, but I've never had fun with it.

Patch notes for today: https://www.ioi.dk/hitman-3-year-2-patch-notes/

Most notable: "We’ve resolved an issue where some Xbox players could intermittently lose access to content." Hopefully that fixes your problems, Mart.

Any idea if my standalone Hitman 1 progress will transfer over to the Game Pass trilogy?

Sadly not. Only Hitman 2 progress could be imported to Hitman 3 - and this Trilogy pack is basically H3 with all the DLC.

Dohhh. Okay. I think I'll skip Paris and Sapienza for now (hopefully it lets me!). They're the only two I've played, and I've played them to death.

Well the new Elusive Target Arcade mode seems completely knackered.

I went into the mode and one of the three contracts was already marked as failed. I did the first level of one of the others, and when I came back out to the menu, all three were now marked as failed!

I was able to go back into it from one of the Featured tiles in the main menu, though, and it let me play the second level. After I'd done that, all three contracts were then marked as available.

No idea what's going on but I'd expect a hotfix fairly quickly…

The mode itself seems fun, even if it is just a cross between an Escalation and an Elusive Target. Still, the ones available are a good mix of ones we've seen in Hitman 3, some I remember from a couple of years ago in Hitman 2, and some that are completely new to me. And the escalation format means you're more inclined to play it fast and loose rather than restarting after each slight hiccup. I like it.

Been playing a bit of Mendoza over the last couple of evenings. Up to 17/20 Mastery, with SASO done, and starting to struggle a bit to work out how I'm going to max it out with what's remaining.

It's such a weird level. It's far too big, and huge chunks of it are essentially empty. You always seem to end up running around the sides of the main building for ages and ages without anything interesting happening. There are whole areas of the map, like the underground security area and the sniper nest, that are almost completely unused.

Then in contrast, the Mission Stories are massively scripted and take ages to play out. In other levels the Mission Stories tend to provide interesting opportunities for creative kills. In this, they just walk you through the whole process.

It just feels unfinished, I guess. Like they were planning to put things in all that empty space, or do something with the underground corridors, and then ran out of time. Did the plot-critical stuff and shipped it out the door. A huge shame, given it's the last "real" level in the trilogy.

It's not terrible. The mansion is a fun space, the wine tour can play out in a number of entertainingly gruesome ways, and the Deadly Sin (Envy) for this level is actually one of the better ones. It's just a shame that, together with Chongqing and Romania, the back half of Hitman 3 goes out on such a flat note.

The real trouble with Mendoza is how difficult it is to get around – like you say, there's a lot of traipsing between locations through empty space, but they're all Restricted zones with different disguises required, so even exploring the place takes a lot of hit-and-miss testing of boundaries.

I think, though, that a lot of Hitman 3's levels – or at least the missions in them – suffer from being narrative-first. IOI were intent on making the plot Matter in a way it really hadn't before, and that seems to have restricted the opportunities for creativity in the third game as a whole, but especially in those closing missions.

Probably a long shot but is anyone getting a temporary server outage error right now (Tues 25/01, 17:48 CET / 16:48 GMT)? I've not played since before Year 2 launched, I've done the update and now the game doesn't work. That's rather worrying.

They were doing server updates earlier today to fix the Elusive Target timer problem, maybe they over-ran?

Nope, it was fixed around lunchtime.

It's not my internet connection either, that's working just fine.

Additionally: choosing 'Use Offline' as an option makes the game crash once you get past the title screen. So this is just fucking wunderbar.

Well I hope it’s just a temporary thing… but you may not be alone.

Sounds exactly like my issue. Great. Sigh.

Quick Resume seems busted for me at the moment (won’t connect to server) but the game is fine on a fresh boot. Sorry dude.

Weird how it’s affecting some Xbox players but not others. I wonder if it’s connected to your previous issues somehow.

Someone in that thread said something about it being connected to the 7DS DLC but I dunno. I'll keep trying. I don't know it I can be arsed to delete and reinstall everything again, but the original poster suggests even that doesn't work.

Been having some fun with the much-overlooked Sniper Assassin mode over the last couple of evenings - specifically, the Siberian prison level.

I'd tried this mode before and somehow completely overlooked that you can zoom in with the d-pad, so of course I'd written it off as impossibly difficult and not returned to it. Yes I'm an idiot.

It's actually really fun, every bit as much of a puzzle sandbox as the main levels. I'm having fun gradually working my way through the challenges, although I haven't got a clue how to do a lot of them. Each playthrough seems to slowly unpeel a bit more of the level though.

It's a weird mode, almost completely hidden away in Hitman 3, yet they did three full levels for it. It's lost its co-op functionality and no-one ever really seems to talk about it but as a diversion it's actually pretty good.

I'd tried this mode before and somehow completely overlooked that you can zoom in with the d-pad, so of course I'd written it off as impossibly difficult and not returned to it. Yes I'm an idiot.

Only if the rifle you're using supports it. So, you might not have overlooked it, you might have just been using the wrong gun.

Zoom plus deep breath (which you can do with a half-depression of RT, but I prefer to do with a fiddly combo of holding LT to aim and LB simultaneously) is the only way you can do half of the sniper stuff ever. It's essential here.

Checked at lunchtime: not only has Xbox Hitman started working again without them making an announcement, but my 7DS woes are finally over and I can acces everything. Hurrah!

Sadly, I'm too wrapped up in Nobody Saves The World currently, so getting back to hitting men will have to wait.

Did I read they're putting out the same Elusive targets again (Heartbreaker is next), but they'll be 'Year 2' versions that are different, with new rewards and challenges so we can do them again? I mean, sure, but… well. Lazy.

7DS

Surely letting that slip is in breach of your NDA?

Did I read they're putting out the same Elusive targets again (Heartbreaker is next), but they'll be 'Year 2' versions that are different, with new rewards and challenges so we can do them again? I mean, sure, but… well. Lazy.

Yeah, I'm not even sure there will be many/any differences to the targets themselves apart from new challenges. It does seem a bit low-effort, another couple of Hitman 3 targets wouldn't have seemed like too much to ask for but I guess we're just getting them all over again.

7DS

Surely letting that slip is in breach of your NDA?

Shit, I mean Swatch. Swunch. Swipt 2: Electric Boogaloo.

I wonder how many people play this as intended, exploring the levels again and again. Every achievement I get at the moment is a rare one, which suggests most people are barely scratching the surface.

A friend of mine works as a game developer, and it hadn’t even occurred to him to replay a level. He’s done the first three levels once, killing the targets and considering them finished.

I wonder how many people play this as intended, exploring the levels again and again. Every achievement I get at the moment is a rare one, which suggests most people are barely scratching the surface.

I won't move onto a new area until I've done every challenge and part of the previous one. Does that mean I'm missing anything? Possibly! I might overlook a unique approach to killing certain targets that isn't tied to a challenge, an Easter egg or something else. But I think I'm pretty thorough. Some people just want to consider a game done and then move on.

It's not really the same ballpark, given it's a live service game that's meant to be played endlessly (maybe not all that different then?!), but a lot of the achievements in Sea of Thieves are rare with less than 0.05% of players having got them. I suspect Hitman is the same…

It's not really the same ballpark, given it's a live service game that's meant to be played endlessly (maybe not all that different then?!), but a lot of the achievements in Sea of Thieves are rare with less than 0.05% of players having got them. I suspect Hitman is the same…

Only 68.74% of players have the achievement for setting sail in Sea of Thieves. I often wonder what kind of person plays a game with "sea" in the name, then doesn't think to get on the boat.

"Boy, this island is small! Where's all the rest of the game? Oh, well…" logs off

EDIT: The most common achievement in Hitman 3 is Unseen Assassin, for assassinating a target without getting spotted; 28.86%.

Checked the Heartbreaker. Was convinced they were making changes to the level and adding new rewards, but no - it's identical, and my only available rewards are a total of 6,000 XP if I get him Silent Assassin. So… meh.

My commentary on here will be about six years behind everyone else, but just finished three runs on Colorado. I hated the first run – too much going on, the house is very busy and cramped, and the forced single exit to get to a plot point was a pain. (Especially considering I'm not following the plot.)

It became much more fun on subsequent runs; the nitroglycerin in particular looks like it's going to be hilarious. And I can't wait to unlock a silenced sniper for that water tower. Overall I could have done with one fewer targets, though.

I skipped Marrakesh completely. It seems to have an entirely separate 'fortress' bit that makes the whole thing feel like two very small levels, rather than the big, grand stuff of Paris and Sapienza. I'll go back to it eventually for the unlocks, but I wasn't enjoying it.

I skipped Marrakesh completely. It seems to have an entirely separate 'fortress' bit that makes the whole thing feel like two very small levels, rather than the big, grand stuff of Paris and Sapienza. I'll go back to it eventually for the unlocks, but I wasn't enjoying it.

Yes, the "two fortresses" design is a style of Hitman level you'll see again, most notably in Chongqing. Not my favourite either. You might want to try the bonus level for Marrakesh instead, A House Made of Sand, which is set at night in the bazaar area and is much better than the main mission.

Did you skip Bangkok too? That's a big old hotel, not as grand as Paris but I like the level a lot anyway. I'm a sucker for Hitman levels which feel like real places - which Colorado never does, for me.

Oh yes I did play Bangkok, enjoyed it. I've managed to poison the wrong food bowl three times now, despite watching which one Frank(?) uses.

The hotel was stunning, I wondered if that atrium was based on a real hotel. My only complaint about the presentation is the voice actors. Why do all the Thai staff have the same accents as the militia in Colorado? (I know why, but c'mon.)

I think I'll use Mastery 20 as my 'end point' for playing the levels, but for now I'm running through each one four or five times and following the story missions. (And doing a fair bit of save scumming, which almost feels to be in the spirit of this game.)

I managed to poison the wrong food bowl three times now, despite watching which one Frank(?) uses.

He uses a different one in each loop.