How do you play the Hitman games?

[Krombopulos_MK]

I've had a great time playing Hitman in the past, but never get very far into them. I get hung up on thoroughly exploring the first couple levels, and then burn out and stop. So I'm curious, do you beat each level thoroughly and then move on or do you beat the game and then replay levels? I want to try again, but also want to set myself up for success.

 

[Javier23]

Kind of a mixture of both? With the Hitman games there really is no right way to play them, it's all about having fun with the sandbox whichever way works for you best. The only thing I'd suggest anyone to do is to disable the guidance for Opportunities entirely.

 

[brawndolicious]

Go through every mission, trying my best to at least get a Silent Assassin rating but not sweating it too much. Followed by a dozen playthroughs where I look for every path available.

 

[Kinsei]

I play the missions thoroughly then move on in the newer games, due to the episodic nature of Hitman 2016.

In the older games I would play through each stage once before redoing any.

 

[Kadzork]

Each mission in order and then revisit each to get as much unlocked as possible.

You can't go wrong with any method really as there is so much to see and do in each map.

 

[FliX]

I will replay a mission a couple times before moving on, not necessarily to completion though. Will then return to missions over time as I feel like it.

 

[RowdyReverb]

The only thing I'd suggest anyone to do is to disable the guidance for Opportunities entirely.

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Even if I've never played a Hitman game?

 

[Remeran]

Even if I've never played a Hitman game?

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It makes they game way harder but also make for the most memorable playthroughs in my experience. You will spend way more time in each level getting to know the ins and outs.

 

[super-famicom]

I thought the poll options were going to be
- kill only the targets
- kill fucking everyone

 

[FakePlasticTree]

Silent Assassin, Suit Only on the hardest difficulty. It's always fun for me to figure out how to do it, and I love stealth.

 

[FliX]

I thought the poll options were going to be
- kill only the targets
- kill fucking everyone

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Try 1, and do 2 if you fail at 1, easy.

 

[NemesisTheory]

Option 2. Exhaust the challenges, get full mastery etc then move to the next one.

 

[hog]

Waited to play the full trilogy together in sequence in Hitman 3. Not really replayed any of them, I'm not into that so much. But I loved playing through them.

 

[kubev]

I don't replay the missions unless it's to refresh my memory regarding what happened up until new content was released.

 

[Javier23]

Even if I've never played a Hitman game?

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Yes, unless you're having lots of trouble with the game, in which case you can freely turn those back on for as long as you need straight from the Settings menu without restarting. When you enable the setting the game basically guides you through every step of assassinating the target by taking advantage of one of different "story missions". They are more scripted events, kinda like any mission in a Rockstar game. You can still do this without the UI help, it will just feel a lot more organic as you find out how to do it yourself. There's plenty of clues. Or you can just get rid of the target literally any other way you see fit - walk up to to them and shoot them in the face, drop a heavy something on their heads, poison them, etc, etc.

 

[Thorn]

I beat a mission once then maybe do it one more time a different way. I'm highly allergic to replaying content and I hate that about myself.

 

[Yossarian]

I jumped onboard with C:47 back in the day and just used to fuckabout mainly. Completed it, but rarely played it optimally.

H2:SA through to *spit* Absolution, I would move on from a level once I got Silent Assassin rating. Then I'd go back through levels and find alternative assassination methods or fuckabout.

With the WOA trilogy, I turn off all the extraneous stuff (waypoints, mini-map, challenge hints, etc) except Instinct (well, I didn't use it for H2016), and then get SA on every level.

When I went back through, I'd turn everything back on (except waypoints. I think guidance ruins the fun) and complete the challenges on each level before moving on to the next. I'd occasionally pop in to Escalations, Sniper Assassin, ETs and Contracts to keep things fresh. Once I hit Level 20 on everything, I just popped in to fuckabout, just like the old days.

Even if I've never played a Hitman game?

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I'd say so. Do what you will, but the tutorial walks you through the typical gameplay loop and how to think about a level pretty well. Guidance does all that thinking for you.

At the end of the day, it's a morbid puzzle game more than anything. A large part of the satisfaction, at least for me, comes from working out ways to whack peeps and then executing it (no pun intended). I usually spend my first couple of runs of a new level exploring and watching the target's route to spot kill opportunities.

It can be pretty overwhelming, so don't be afraid to use the guidance at first; i just think using it for the whole trilogy would mean you miss out on that feeling of satisfaction of having puzzled it out. 🙂

 

[AllThingsPurple]

I don't move on to the next level until I've achieved mastery, however this approach dis make me burn out after beating 1 and 2 back to back, still need to go back to 3

 

[SunshinePuppies]

With a computer

 

[J-Spot]

I like to get to level 20 mastery before moving on to the next mission. This approach did end up causing me to burn out midway through Hitman 2 so I ended up just doing a single run of the levels in the back half + DLC. I liked the levels in 3 a lot more and went back to going for full mastery again.

 

[sephghast]

I just wanted to beat the game. I loved that the game didn't give a shit about me having fun. I would just sneak in, find the perfect silenced shot from any distance I could, and hit the target and run away. Didn't find it that fun to find the interesting ways to kill and that was okay. It's fun just for me to sneak in.

 

[Junior Asparagus]

At the very least I play through each level enough times to do complete all the mission stories before moving onto the next one. Then I look through the Challenges and see if there are any interesting ones I want to try. I usually don't care about getting Silent Assassin.

 

[stn]

I try to take the silent assassin path in every mission, then I replay the ones I particularly like.

 

[TulioHenriqueBC]

I usually go for silent assassin first, and then try suit only. After that I move on to the next map. When I replay them I go for the challenges and special assassinations.

 

[Otakunofuji]

I jump around to whatever missions look fun and totally ignore the story. They're just sandboxes to me, I don't care who the targets are or why I'm murderizing them. I will replay fun missions in different ways just to see different stuff, but I don't worry about overall completion.

 

[Hazz3r]

With Hitman 2016 I went through each mission to completion before moving on, I enjoyed it, but I definitely preferred my approach in 2 and 3 of going through the whole thing once and then tackling the game however I wanted in whatever order I wanted.

 

[Fisty]

I don't move on to the next destination until I hit mastery level 20. Digging into Paris in VR was what put the series at the top of my list

I've been playing the trilogy for the first time with Hitman 3 and I'm just wrapping up Whittleton Creek

 

[Huskman]

Vicariously through others videos online.

 

[Koukalaka]

H1 I played each map thoroughly due to the episodic release - it was something I quite liked about the release format, although I suspect I'm in the minority there.

H2+H3 - I did a "instinctive" playthough of each map - not necessarily taking the fastest route, but also not spending loads of time trying to set things up or doing specific challenges. I then went back to individual maps and played through them more intensively.

 

[Musubi]

I just wanna do a completely blind run on every map and get through the game trying to feel my way through it to try for a Silent Assassin and then I'll go back through and try different things later.

 

[Clay]

Kind of a mixture of both? With the Hitman games there really is no right way to play them, it's all about having fun with the sandbox whichever way works for you best. The only thing I'd suggest anyone to do is to disable the guidance for Opportunities entirely.

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I tried that with the first of the current Hitman games and it just didn't work for me. I ended up not really liking the game, the levels are so big and have so many nooks and crannies that it was hard to find stuff with Oppotunities turned off. But with them turned on I wasn't discovering anything, the game was constantly showing me "Did you know you could go over here and find a uniform to get into this building? Did you know you could poison this food?" Etc and it felt like I was just arbitrarily choosing what to do.

 

[panama chief]

Follow the mission markers for the first kills. I'm bad at stealth.

 

[GMM]

Play every mission a couple of times and then 100% every map after finishing the story, only look up solutions for challenges that are obscure Easter eggs.

 

[garion333]

Even if I've never played a Hitman game?

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I suggest leaving guidance on for the first couple of Hitman missions you play so you learn the ins and outs of the mechanics, but then turn em off once you're comfortable. Makes the levels less gamified-feeling and more open map immersive sim like.

 

[garion333]

I tried that with the first of the current Hitman games and it just didn't work for me. I ended up not really liking the game, the levels are so big and have so many nooks and crannies that it was hard to find stuff with Oppotunities turned off. But with them turned on I wasn't discovering anything, the game was constantly showing me "Did you know you could go over here and find a uniform to get into this building? Did you know you could poison this food?" Etc and it felt like I was just arbitrarily choosing what to do.

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May I suggest leaving the Opportunities on but completely ignore them until you (potentially) get stuck?

 

[cognizant]

Play the campaign map by map. Then go back to the first map and play it until a) I've done all missions, and b) I've got all related trophies. Move onto the next map, do missions and trophies, etc. Afterwards go back to the 1st map and do as many challenges as I can, before getting bored then move onto next map, etc.

Hitman 3's lack of missions was disappointing, and I found its maps subpar. Hitman 2 remains the best Hitman game for me.

 

[ghostemoji]

In Hitman 3 I maxed out my mastery in a level before moving on to the next one. In previous games I'd just play around in a level until I was bored and then move on to the next one.

 

[Clay]

May I suggest leaving the Opportunities on but completely ignore them until you (potentially) get stuck?

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It's been a few years, I thought they popped up like notifications though, seems like it would be hard to just ignore them.

I just saw the thread that they're all coming to GamePass, I'm definitely going to give them another shot.

 

[Joffy]

Once through a mission with everything off then I go back in and try to knock out as many challenges as I can. Both elements are really fun, the first is thrilling and the challenge clean-up makes it more like a massive puzzle game.

Unfortunately it means I've had the trilogy for a year and I'm only up to Miami but I dip in for big sessions every month or so

 

[SaintBowWow]

I replay the missions before moving on but this has caused me to never get past the third mission in Hitman 1 even though I own 2 as well. When the trilogy drops on GP I'm going to play each mission once before returning because I've learned my lesson.

 

[Jeronimo]

I tend to go through the mission once trying to get silent assassin, learn some of the layouts, think about different ways to approach it, try to complete a bunch challenges as I go. Finish the mission. Move on to the next and repeat.

Finally replay the level months later and remember some of it, but find different options and play around with some of the unlocked gear/starting locations I didn't have before. This way I can focus on a level, or try a different one when I want because I've played through them once.

 

[We_care_a_lot]

It really depends. some of the levels I will poke around in and they just don't gel with me so I'll move on to find one that's more interesting. I definitely think not all hitman levels are created equal, each game usually has one or 2 spectacular standouts and then others of varying quality.

that's not to say they are bad, I still think the overall quality is exceedingly high, just that there are usually a few that I enjoy much more, that are elevated to a whole other standard due to the design of the levels or the objectives, the flavor text and characters, etc

 

[Jacknapes]

Tend to play each mission, explore around for any opportunities. Usually find more than one on my first play, so any future plays i know there are alternatives to try afterwards. I do try to go for Silent Assassin first try, but doesn't always work out.

 

[Foffy]

Play the games knowing that they're not one-and-done games like Max Payne. When the first game in the recent trilogy came out, I played every mission before moving onto the next because of the episodic format. After that I just went through the campaigns in full, and then only replaying one location at a time to get the most out of them.

 

[Kevin Shields]

With these new ones, I play until mastery 20 and then I move on. Hitman 3 I may have not done this fully because I wanted to see what happened in the story, but on replays I at least get to 20. I feel one playthrough is completing about 3% of the level on maps like Mumbai which are just chock full of content

 

[Jaded Alyx]

I get hung up on thoroughly exploring the first couple levels, and then burn out and stop.

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[toomanyalmonds]

All, then go back through. Now that I think about it, I don't know why though. It probably would be easier to redo the mission immediately.

 

[Anastasis]

I've had a great time playing Hitman in the past, but never get very far into them. I get hung up on thoroughly exploring the first couple levels, and then burn out and stop. So I'm curious, do you beat each level thoroughly and then move on or do you beat the game and then replay levels? I want to try again, but also want to set myself up for success.

Click to shrink...

Great thread. I imported 1 and 2 from my PS+ collection into Hitman 3 starter edition on PS5. Completely finished the boat tutorial and then became completely unmotivated trying to do the same in the Cuba mission. Maybe I need to just move on and find levels I like to live in to complete.

 

[donpureevil]

Beat the game, don't replay the missions

 

[abellwillring]

Play the mission and move on. Sometimes I'll replay it later if I know I could do better, but I'm not an achievement completionist type. I just play games to have fun and progressing in the story is the fun part.