Hitman 3 is dead… sort of at least. Hitman 3 concluded the trilogy started 7 years ago. From now on you can only buy Hitman World of Assassination. The game packs all the content from the 3 games and a lot of extras. One of those extras, Hitman Freelancer, is the focus of this review.
Hitman World of Assassination
IO Interactive made it possible to combine the three games in one through different upgrades presented as DLC (or special editions). I came on board with the second game and fell back in love with the silent assassin immediately. Adding the missions from the first game was the next logical step to enhance my Hitman experience. When the third game came out, I could once again update the game to feature all the missions from the previous two games. At that point, this wasn’t as straightforward anymore. With different iterations of the base games and extra DLC not always included it became an accountant’s job to figure out what update/DLC you needed in order to get the full trilogy. IO Interactive realized this and rebranded Hitman 3 to Hitman World of Assassination including (almost – apart from the deluxe DLC) everything from the trilogy right from the start. The sheer amount of content included makes this the best bang for your buck if you’re late to the Hitman party.
Hitman Freelancer
Beyond making the ultimate Hitman package, IO Interactive went above and beyond and added Hitman Freelancer. This new mode is a new and creative take on Hitman. Agent 47 and Diana Burnwoord have lost the backing from the International Contract Agency (ICA in short) and are on their own. This time they operate from a bunker underneath a house. Syndicates are still needed to be taken down but this time around intel is scarce as are the means to execute such a job. With limited intel and limited tools at your disposal, you are more or less on your own.
Taking out a syndicate won’t be as easy as just taking out the top dog. You need to do your own recon and gather more intel to lure the leaders out in a final showdown mission. Every gun or tool you pick during one of the recon missions is brought back to the safe house and can be used in subsequent missions. If you happen to fail a mission, you’ll lose every bit of gear so be careful how you plan out your mission because this time the consequences are much more devasting when failing.
Showdown mission
After assassinating some syndicate members, you’ll gain enough intel to take out the leader in a showdown mission. This adds another spin to the original gameplay. Through the previous missions, you’ll have intel on the looks of the leader and on some of the tells – for instance if they have a sweet tooth or are smokers. At the start of the showdown mission, you’ll have a few potential suspects. It’s your job to deduct which one of these suspects is the leader and assassinate them to take down the syndicate.
Same maps, a whole different approach
Hitman Freelancer lets you play Hitman on familiar ground while giving you a new experience. With the absence of the ICA and the roguelike gameplay, Hitman Freelancer is a much more demanding game mode. As a returning Hitman fanatic, I genuinely had a hard time adjusting to the new mode. New players should first familiarize themselves with the original gameplay and get to know the maps before they attempt the Freelancer mode. A good knowledge of the different areas will give you the advantage to survive. Veterans might be happy to know there is also a hardcore mode that will force you to complete the otherwise optional objectives forcing even more creative ways to assassinate.
Homebase hub
Playing Hitman the original way is a pretty rewarding thing on its own. Chasing all the challenges on each map is what kept me playing for hours. I used a fair bit of trial and error to get each challenge done on a certain map. Hitman Freelancer doesn’t allow that luxury. Dying results in you having to start all over again. The only certainty is your home base. Failing is not optimal but at least you’ll earn some Freelancer ranks and unlock more commodities in your home base. Some of these can give you a boost in you next mission making that one good-but-not-quite-good-enough run worth it.
Conclusion
Hitman World of Assassination is a great package with loads of content. The added Hitman Freelancer mode adds another layer on top of an already great series.
