The much-hyped second episode of Hitman has finally arrived. It is even bigger, better, and way more exciting than the first episode. This time, Agent 47 is tasked to assassinate some highly dangerous targets in a villa off of a coastal town in Italy. If Paris was a walk in a park for you, this Italian level could properly challenge you in terms of stealth, tactics, and patience.
The first thing you’d probably notice is that the environment is sunny, bright and warm. Agent 47, being appropriately dressed according to the weather, packed a nice, fitted polo as default attire, which for some reason resembles the outfit that James Bond wears in Casino Royale in the Bahamas. The player begins the level by reading a newspaper on a bench across the villa that you are supposed to infiltrate. However, sometimes the direct and obvious approach is the worst approach in Hitman. The Mediterranean sun is the worst enemy for Agent 47, as the visibility is high in broad daylight. Therefore, shooting your way in isn’t an option.
As you explore the area surrounding the villa, you’d be amazed at the fact it’s almost as big as an open-world game. There are restaurants, cafes, antique shops right across the streets from the villa. Towards the edge of the the town, there are also important buildings that contain vital clues and offer opportunities to facilitate the infiltration. And most important of all, as you guys probably already guessed, is the possibility to finally use a sniper rifle and eliminate targets from a distance. The Paris level was almost entirely indoors, making a sniper rifle unusable. In the Italy level, there are many great spots one can set up a sniper’s nest to observe and hunt the targets at great distance.
The difficulty in Italy level is also greatly increased. Mission objectives are not simply eliminating targets, but also performing certain tasks. Enemies are more diverse, and in key areas there are usually more than two enemies guarding points of interest. Disguises are less effective in the Italy level as well. In my entire playthrough, I couldn’t find an outfit that let me stroll freely in hostile areas. However, nothing is impossible. One needs to have a keen eye for clues and enough patience to wait for the right moment. As usual, there are almost infinite amounts of approaches in this level that one can do to complete the objectives. Some of them are hilarious. I particularly enjoyed scaring people by making them believe an area was haunted.
As for the story, it is still developing. Agent 47 is given a typical, ridding-the-world-of-baddies kind of mission. But somehow I feel there is more to it, but our Agent was biologically engineered to be ruthlessly efficient to follow orders, so it’s understandable that he doesn’t ask any questions. We will have to see what happens in the future episodes because the main villain is definitely an intriguing character.
Summary
In conclusion, the second episode of Hitman pushes the game to new heights. It features vast open-world-like exploration, intel gathering, and best of all, beautiful scenery. If you liked the previous episode, you’ll like this one even more. I hope IO Interactive can top this because they’ve raised the bar considerably.
Xian was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 162 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative.