Hitman: World of Assassination [Review]

When I started to get used to the weird menus and granular presentation, I've begun to notice that Hitman: World of Assassination is much, much more than just a "good stealth game". I have never really played a Hitman game before, and my knowledge of the franchise was basically the shitty 2007 movie.

The "onboarding" of this game really sucks. Too many tabs, weird online requirements and obtuse offline mode (that at least exists, in Dec/2025, for the full campaign), as well as hidden menus with extra content and optional paid content. Honestly, choosing what to do in the game is a mess, and it shows that it was released in a weird schedule.

This game shuffled between so many models and publishers during its life, and while my experience with it is as just one game, World of Assassination – divided in three parts – originally, it was three different games. The presentation difference between the first part (the one with highest production value on the cinematics) and the others as well as the disjointed story made everything a bit overwhelming and confusing. This is the weakest part of the game: the packaging and the way the overall presentation works.

The magic actually happens right after all of these overwhelming menus, fortunately. A classy and fun tutorial sets not only the tone but almost all the important and relevant mechanics without being too invasive. The "immersive sim" vibes bleed through many systems of the game, like the disguise system that is so much fun to partake, even on the tutorial. I was in for a ride.

All the game stages are really good and memorable. The gimmick is that almost every destination is in a different location and country than the previous one, across almost all continents. The maps are mostly "diorama-like": small open worlds, some more vertical than others, and all have a myriad of stories and interactions that work in tandem with the stage's theme to guide me to my target.

It is by understanding these stories and interactions that the gameplay loop really forms. On the standard difficulty, most of these stories are tracked (and some aren't), but progressing through them can be challenging because it requires creative thinking and, literally, to wear so many different hats to even get closer and closer to the objective. But finding them is only half of it, knowing how to kill them is as important and fun.

The high level of complexity and NPC interactions is present on all the parts of the game, with iconic missions and scenarios that urge to be replayed. The ones I did, trying other paths, starts and mission stories were always really fun and indeed change how the stage is played.

Looking at a distance, one would assume that this game takes the stealth aspect very seriously, but Hitman does everything but. First, the enemies we put to sleep never wake up and not all enemies share the same "factions" so I could be wanted by some while being ignored by others.

Second, the disguise system not only creates infiltration scenarios, but also narrative situations, that are often funny and over the top, be it with far away assassinations, deadly massages, waking up as a dead man in a funeral or the occasional unknown sip of poison. The target is always in danger, most of the times, unknowingly.

Apart from the opening and ending cutscenes of each mission, most of the gameplay is diegetic, that is, given to me at the same time that it is given to the main character, from interactions between NPCs outside cutscenes, item descriptions and good old deduction. Yes, a bit like Dark Souls. While this approach works when the stage is on, outside of it, it may make everything feel a bit too simplistic.

The briefing for the missions is basically "go there, kill that person, get back alive", but it is within the little interactions and secrets of the stages themselves that the narrative tries to evolve. It doesn't always work, and in the beginning, it feels a bit directionless.

It is only later in the campaign that all the moving pieces click together, and finally the story pays off. By the end of the game, I was satisfied with the events of it, even considering all these problems. Playing it as a single game and not as "three separated releases" makes it easier to like it, though.

The simpler but challenging stealth is paired with a very unforgiving combat system. Playing it on VR (with the PSVR2), the action is actually faster and easier to perform, but still, being caught is often dangerous and deadly. On the standard difficulty, there isn't a limit to saving the progress, so I saved often to try different approaches. It worked for me, and it is nice to have other difficulty options that may limit saving. It would be better to have a "custom" category, where I could remove the story hints but leave the infinite saving. Regardless, I had fun with the challenge I choose.

There's tons of free side missions that I'm yet to perform, as well as countless stories that I'm interested in going back to. It is a very replayable game, with an extensive VR support, that works really well apart from the occasional collision bug here and there.

Hitman: World of Assassination is one of the best games that I've ever played, unfortunately cluttered by its menus, hidden content and weird always online requirement for some systems. The uneven presentation and story also makes everything a bit rough, but by the end of the third and final part, everything works well together. It is really good.

9/10