Agent 47 has had a bit of a tough time of it since his outstandingly popular cult classic outing in Blood Money. There was a long wait for the sequel and when it arrived most were disappointed by his new lack of options. In all honesty Absolution is my guilty pleasure because despite almost all fans of the classic hating it I actually enjoyed it. It’s easy to forget all the good things Absolution did right and the ways it moved the franchise forward. A quick note to avoid confusion, the new game is called Hitman so I refer to Hitman himself as either Agent 47 or 47 through this review. Yeah, thanks for that one IO.

One of the greatest ways Absolution did that is in its control system. The new cover mechanics and just about every way in which Agent 47 interacted with his environment was a vast improvement over previous titles that finally brought Agent 47 into the modern gaming era. That’s something that has been kept very much alive in Hitman. The lessons learned from absolution are well implemented and realised without too much tinkering or interference. True, there are a lot of good features to Blood Money and some of 47’s older games but the controls are not one of them.

All those who hated Absolution can rest assured that Freedom is the order of the day. Almost everybody agrees Agent 47 needs some choices in his techniques. Why turn up to a party and simply shoot your target then calmly walk away when you can elaborately create a trap involving some kind of falling chandelier? Try though I might I cannot think of an answer to that. Nor can I resist poisoning my target or drowning them in a toilet. There’s something sadistically comical to playing as 47 when this kind of freedom presents itself.

Hitman has done some soul searching and found the magic still alive somewhere deep within. Agent 47’s latest outing makes a triumphant return of the ridiculous, hilarious and elaborate methods of execution we have all come to love. The open world for you to explore is ridiculously huge with options presenting themselves at every turn. There is no chance at all that you can complain at a lack of choice anymore. It seems that someone listened to the fans and more importantly acted on it in a significant way.

One of my favourite features introduced in Absolution was the challenges that catered totally for OCD geeks like myself to go and squeeze every last drop of gameplay possible. Luckily Hitman offers the same feature but with the reinstated freedom and open world level design they are far more relevant. With Absolution you basically had to complete the level in the wrong way or in a totally impractical way. With Hitman it simply encourages you to take a look at what’s possible in the level and explore every avenue open to you. It makes far more sense, it’s far more fun and adds a ton of replay value.

Which is a good job because as it stands there is only one level available in Hitman. Oh yes indeed. If you hadn’t heard Hitman is going to be an episodic release. Oh. Dear. God. If there’s one thing fans love more than anything it’s a single player game that drip feeds content over time. It’s undeniable that there is plenty to do in Paris (the only currently released level) but that really isn’t the point. To have listened to the fans and taken feedback to create a better game this is a sure-fire way to revert any of that progress and basically piss everybody off. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong or even if it makes sense, fans don’t like it. It’s hardly like the gamer community is subtle about expressing opinions either.

I’m a little torn on my opinions because there really is so much to do with even the single level but that’s only because I’m willing to replay it so much and find everything there is to find. More casual players will be left waiting after only one mission which seems unfair. It’s definitely a strange choice that has the community divided. I’m willing to forgive and forget given how good the release is but really I’d rather wait until everything was on offer.

Visually Hitman is definitely a nice looking game. It doesn’t have that punch that Absolution had when it first arrived but that’s entirely due to the inherent limitations of an open design. The detailing and intricacies of the map make a far greater impact in the long run than stunning visuals with no interaction – I’m glairing at you The Order 1886. Hitman has correctly prioritized substance over style which pays off once you let yourself get sucked into the atmosphere. Lighting adds a subtle layer of realism over everything that really helps set the whole thing off.

It’s nice to see a return of the old values in this way. The Hitman HD collection that was released a few years ago was met with joy by pretty much everyone and that ran on visuals a couple of generations old. Frankly it’s difficult to care as you reveal your sawed off shotgun from a bunch of flowers and for a brief second feel just a little bit like The Terminator.

The greatest design features from best-of-the-bunch Blood Money run strong through Hitman. The freedom is back allowing for some beautifully elaborate ‘accidents’ as well as simply cracking out the fibre wire and garrotting your target in whatever disguise fits best. Absolution hasn’t been totally forgotten either and the mechanics that were established live on in Hitman with a few tweaks here and there. Thankfully so do the challenges that allow you to replay a mission almost endlessly to explore its more intimate details and test your skills.

The only real negative lies in the episodic release schedule. It’s not all that bad given how much content is packed into a single level and once all the pieces are released the pain will die down but I’d still rather see a full release. It’s a bit of a shame to make such a good revival for Agent 47 only to irritate fans on release with something like this. As I said it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong, it’s the fans negative feeling that remains and it’s tarnished the release of an otherwise outstanding game.

Hitman is moving forwards by moving backwards and checking out what it’s done right in the past. The best of Blood Money and Absolution have come together to make Hitman a brilliant package. There’s huge potential for the future too as maps get added to expand the open world. If you can get over the slightly tedious episodic release Hitman reminds us why Agent 47 is still one of the greats.