HITMAN World of Assassination

Plan, Adapt, Execute

Hitman World Of Assassination although being a hub for Hitman 1, Hitman 2, and 3's levels, it's kind of referred to as a separate game, especially since IOI is done with Hitman after the 3rd installment, at least for this trilogy. To sell you the Hitman games, I don't even have to say much but give you an open-level map where you have one or two or even four targets you have to eliminate, or push them to eliminate themselves, each other, etc. You have a puzzle map where instead of solving puzzles, you try to kill your targets the most efficient, sneaky way possible by stealing other people's disguises to blend in... or the intrusive thoughts win and you push civilians over a railing. Come on, I know you did it. Everyone did.

Although these games follow the same loop, the way the levels are structured does not make you bored (unless you try to master all levels like I am, that can really be dragging), since each level has a unique gimmick that makes each mission fresh. For example take Hokkaido, where the disguises are a key to open the door, or Isle of Sgail where you can't eliminate the Constant, or Sapienza where you even have to destroy a virus, or for a final thought take the last level of the game where you are on a literal moving train. The game also delivers a bit of dark humor here and there that makes the assassinations especially funny while at the same time gives 47, our main character, some personality too.

Story of a shadow

While the story of Hitman WOA isn't anything mind-blowing, it is certainly not bad, and I personally enjoyed it. Although it's kind of disorienting how Hitman 2 ditched the cinematic scenes, and changed them to stills, I still didn't mind it that much to be bothered. Without much spoilers: Once a test subject of a facility/lab known as Providence, where they tried to create skilled assassins, 47 came out as the best of the bests, a human, without emotions, empathy, a tool that listens to orders, and has a crazy reflex, kind of like a superhuman gets involved with the ICA where they ask him to kill people who can destroy the world, or did things that could lead to that outcome if it continues. Even though this is the ICA's initial motive, later on they get to know a person named as "The Shadow Client" who seems to hunt down Providence, and after 47 discovering that he not only knows The Shadow Client, but lived with him, since he was his only friend, Lucas Grey. With him, they decide to hunt down Providence, with the main target being The Constant, the one who created Providence, and 47 too.

Hitman WOA also offers a new mode called Freelancer, which is technically a Rogue-like mode, where you complete missions that seem to increase in difficulty, but you get to decorate 47's basement, with that allowing you to go into these missions with stronger and stronger gear.

The only real problem with Hitman's WOA is that to get the best experience out of Hitman, you have to buy the most expensive edition, which is the Deluxe, which gives you two extra maps, and also gives you bonus escalation missions that truly makes this game act like a puzzle game, as Escalations give you the same situation over and over again but with different alterations. For example: Escalation 1 gives you a task to shoot out the cameras if you do get seen, that's it, but Escalation 2 gives you the same task + an additional task that says: "Kill every target with a knife", what this does is you immediately lose the mission if you kill the target with a gun. Some of the escalations are good, but there are extremely tedious and painful ones, where this mode is really for the more experienced Hitman players.

Overall Hitman WOA is the best stealth game of all time, without a doubt, making stealth not only unique, but redefines the Hitman games, and give them a new meaning and charm, which ended up being so big that if there's ever going to be a 4th Hitman game, I would bet my money on that it would look just like this with perhaps bigger, better, or more possibilities, with not really touching the main formula. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.