How do you play the Hitman games?

[Gelf]

I still play them as if the games where episodic like the first season was. I keep playing the same level over and over increasing my mastery of them, only moving onto the next when I've at least done all the main ways of pulling off the assassination and have unlocked all the starting points.

If I played straight through I wouldn't learn the levels so well for replay, and I have to replay because you can miss so much if you only do the mission one way. Whole areas could be skipped.

 

[jtb]

I get a little too caught up on beating levels Suit Only and/or Silent Assassin so I don't experiment with different costumes as much as I'd like.

 

[jokkir]

Play them until I get the marker and move on to the next one.

I usually take forever trying to figure out how things move and react to one another.

Though, I noticed it's really easy to take advantage of the NPCs without people noticing and makes the game not as fun.

 

[Island]

As someone new to the series who bounced off it twice before really hard - I have been enjoying going through the opportunities. It helps me get a sense of what is possible in the sandbox, how the AI works , plus gives me little vignettes of backstory etc... there is still room for improvising as you go, and it has been a nice onboarding experience. Once I am done with Hitman 3 on Gamepass next week - I think I will go back and replay all the missions and just muck around.

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

Mastering a level is the most fun part of the game. It's also great to do that because you can get better stuff to use in later levels you haven't played yet.

 

[CHC]

For the first time I'll replay a mission a couple times then move on.

But later I'm a dogged completionist. I have 100% on Hitman 1 and 2, and I regret nothing. The challenges are all just so fun to orchestrate. I haven't gotten around to doing 100% on Hitman 3 yet but I certainly will at some point.

I do really feel that anyone who plays Hitman as a one-and-done type experience is absolutely missing out, not just on the actual content, but on the essence of the game itself. They are designed to be explored in layers.

 

[Kyari]

I played the levels through once for the story, with mission markers off to try and organically find a creative story kill, then replayed them all endlessly once I wrapped the story

 

[Greywaren]

I usually did a couple story missions in each map before moving on to the next one, then went back to finish what I had left to do.

 

[RiOrius]

Does shamelessly savescumming count as replaying a mission? If so, then yeah, I replay the missions all the time.

If not, I tend to play each mission only once.

 

[julia crawford]

I stopped playing them, they're just not for me. I really love stealth games but in these games i felt like i was missing a ton of the game by playing pure stealth, and if i wanted to just explore the games were still punishing me so i just wasn't having a lot of fun.

 

[Sprat]

I play through each level once then trade it in

 

[Deleted member 37011]

1 . Beat the game.

2. Replay missions trying to do challenges that I think look like fun.

3. Replay the missions going for Silent Assassin Suit Only.

4. Replay the missions going for Silent Assassin Suit Only on Master difficulty.

5. Kill everyone challenges.

6. Jump into Featured Contracts and other contracts.

 

[smocaine]

Beat the game, get a feel of the missions and replay missions depending on how I feel.
I may be in the mood for Paris one day, and Sapienza the other. Am I in the mood for indoors/outdoors, small/large, sunny/dreary, story-driven/sniper, etc... I don't really chase challenges.

 

[toadkarter]

I'll play each map in turn, and if I enjoy the map, I'll replay it a few more times to see the various different ways that you can reach your objectives. Then once I finish the campaign, I'll go back and meticulously try to get all the achievements / challenges / whatever they're called in each map. It's one of those few games where I think the achievements actually enhance the enjoyment of the game due to the way the challenges are phrased, as they are vague enough to intrigue you to find out more. Kill a man with a golf ball? Shoot a plane down with a cannon? Hell yes I want to figure out how to do that!

 

[Ringten]

Play mission, be sneaky, fuck it up, go guns blazing and die. Repeat.

 

[thetrin]

When I FIRST started playing, I would follow hints to elaborate kills, but found the game was holding my hand too much. Later on, I would just follow a hint only if I found it on my own, but otherwise would find weird and inventive opportunities to kill my targets. I usually find a single method that works, and then move on to the next level. I've been meaning to go back and and try a bunch of different kills.

For the most part, I abuse the disguise system, and choose garrote wire as what I'll take into the mission. ONCE in a while I'll take a silenced pistol, but 9 out of 10 times I take garrote only.

 

[Silverstoned]

Kinda both.

When I see the results screen and get an idea of other ways I could have done it sometimes I cant resist.

 

[Gunny T Highway]

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

Click to shrink...

I try to do the first the best I can. If I get caught then I do the second.

 

[bes.gen]

beat the game, don't even replay the missions much.
kinda feel like im not getting my money's worth doing this, but don't really like repeating stuff.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

I play a map once, then immediately do SASO
Then replay it a ton more and then play the next one

 

[Dezzy]

I played the main campaign from beginning to end, nothing extra. I played the trilogy all at once so when I was done with Hitman 3, I was already burned out on the series.

 

[Santar]

Usually with a controller, though it works well with a mouse and keyboard too.

 

[s y]

I got mastery of two locations/missions in the first game and got burned out on the whole series.

 

[Phoenix4]

100% the first mission (as it's usually on a smaller map), then complete the rest of the missions once or twice

 

[Moff]

Beat the mission in silent assassin, then the next one.
after all the missions are done I replay the first one until max mastery, final playthrough of the mission with silent assassin master mode
then the next one
after the last one I consider the game done, I don't bother with achievements

 

[KDC720]

The new games are really all about replaying the missions.

First run is just exploring + improv, turn the guides off and don't do the mission stories. Second is going for SASO or doing challenges. After that it's just other challenges for mastery or goofing around.

There's like so much content if you want to go full completionist in these games it's kind of nuts.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I basically will try to unlock everything in a level before I move on.

 

[Martinski]

I play the story objectives and then i do other fun stuff in some levels i enjoy most.

 

[Dyno]

I play through each level once to complete the story. I then do each level to mastery level 10 while restricting myself from using lockpicks or electronic door hackers. I also tend to try do challenges without using lockpicks etc either. Tbh I like entering a level with nothing but a sniper in a briefcase most of the time and often spend an hour just exploring often even on replays as I don't look stuff up at all with this game.

I've done virtually everything apart from a few challenges in the final full level in H3 at this point, other than SASO which is last on my list. The new game modes should hopefully give it a bit more lifespan for me as its been shelved for a while. I don't wanna reach the point of actually running out of stuff to do.

 

[TheBored23]

For 2 and 3 my approach was to limit myself to one location per day; that way I felt I wasn't rushing along too much. Then I go back for other objectives, but mostly so I can open up new options for contracts mode, which is where I spend the bulk of my time.

 

[CabooseMSG]

I dont, they're too free form for me. Not exactly what I'm looking for in a game most of the time

 

[arrado]

How I play this game? I slap people with a fish

 

[Pulp]

I like to master every level, but not necessarily 100 % them. With Hitman 2016, the episodic releases made me spend much more time with every level, so I kept with that in later releases.

 

[AstronaughtE]

I've only played hitman 1 but I plan on continually running through the story but playing it different each time.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

First time through, turn off all story hints. Play each level once.

Once the game is finished, go back and try to find some of the interesting things I can find.

Then eventually turn on story guides and try to fill in the challenges I haven't done.

Crazy amount of content to explore.

 

[RockyBalboa_]

Run through them then replay them when the "season" is complete. Granted my experience was Hitman 2 first, then Hitman 1 and finally Hitman 3.

I try to stick to the optimal playstyle (silent assassin, suit only) but sometimes the faster sloppy path works best. I recently Silent Assassined my way through Colorado/Freedom Fighters (used a youtube guide for better timing with certain actions) where previously I would Rambo my way through (kill a few to get detected, hide and mow down more as they chase after me).

 

[EvilBoris]

I play them through and just go off and do the story missions on each level , then come back and go for all the challenges and feats for the mastery

 

[The Gold Hawk]

My game time is usually spent trying to stuff 30 bodies into one bathroom whilst dispatching each guard/worker/passerby that keeps coming in to investigate the toilet I broke and can't turn off, as I frantically try to find the good disguise I dropped on the floor and accidentally replaced with an ill fitting Kimono.

How do I play them? Poorly. Poorly is the answer. I basically play Agent 47 as if he was Austin Powers.

I don't know, I have only played Absolution fully and half of Hitman 1 (the new one). I do the mission, try and do as much side stuff as I can in one go, kill the targets and leave. I find aspects of them frustrating enough to not want to go back and replay once I'm done

 

[PunchyMalone]

I replay levels too many times. I finished the first level of Hitman 3 in a bunch of different ways and never even tried the second mission lol.

I'll get back to it, but I get too comfortable with the map and curious about what I can do. Then get overwhelmed when I start a new level. Its a ridiculous problem but I always love my time with the game.

 

[Anatole]

Kirk Hamilton wrote up the best way to play Hitman imo:

Hitman 2016 Taught Me A Better Way To Play Hitman 2

Usually when I play a single-player game, I go through it from start to finish. I play each new level after the last one, until I stop playing or get to the end. That’s not how I played 2016’s excellent episodic Hitman, however, and it’s not how I’m playing its fantastic new sequel.

kotaku.com

Hitman Season One: The Kotaku Review

It’s the middle of the day, and I’ve spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out how to kill this stupid cameraman. You’d think it would be easy, but I have to make it look like an accident and I can’t harm the newswoman he’s working with. Much harder than it sounds.

kotaku.com

 

[Jawmuncher]

I play the mission the way I can blind, then replay them for the "achievement" related way.

 

[francium87]

I never replay missions...
Kind of a waste I know

 

[Toybasher]

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

Click to shrink...

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

Click to shrink...

This.

 

[Bitch Pudding]

Until H3, I just played the campaign and only went the extra mile in Sapienza, because that location is so awesome.

With H3 I started going serious, maxed out every single location of the triology (reaching Lv. 20, incl. every of the classics challenges), and now I'm just 4-5 escalation missions away from completing every single one (Online Level now ~480).

So basivally went from "where does a certain Era mod get so many points?!" to beating him regularly in the leaderbord without even trying :P.

I also play the elusive targets. What I barely do however are the Sniper missions, they make fun on your 1st 1-3 runs but maxing them out feels like an ordeal.