Top 50 Favorites: #20
All the different ways you can sign yourself up for a garotte to the neck. Whether it be a high-end fashion show, military coup, or the cover-up of an unscrupulous celebrity's transgressions - the respective trigger being held often has matching fingerprints that are unable to be washed off. The inhuman, dangerous things people will do for knowledge - and how we reckon with them. Pathologizing/humanizing Agent 47 so successfully after the huge misfire of Hitman: Absolution's story seemed like an impossible task but by God they've done it. The concept of "just enough": Drip-feeding you only what's necessary about these people piecemeal, going only ever so slightly more in detail with each new piece of info ended up being such a profound choice in the end - opening itself up so many more windows and always has you pondering. I remember the episodic nature of this being criticized on release, but I honestly think it's the best way this sort of gameplay can be delivered. And even if it wasn't, it'd be hard to complain with mechanics this tight and humor this macabre (the always-online requirement sucks though). There are a seemingly infinite amount of ways you can take out your targets in this - in such gorgeous, meticulous environments no less - this is the first one of these that really felt like the Hitman series had finally gotten to where it had been trying to land for the previous 16 years. Unlimited retribution, a playground of calculated violence. This is more like it.
All the different ways you can sign yourself up for a garotte to the neck. Whether it be a high-end fashion show, military coup, or the cover-up of an unscrupulous celebrity's transgressions - the respective trigger being held often has matching fingerprints that are unable to be washed off. The inhuman, dangerous things people will do for knowledge - and how we reckon with them. Pathologizing/humanizing Agent 47 so successfully after the huge misfire of Hitman: Absolution's story seemed like an impossible task but by God they've done it. The concept of "just enough": Drip-feeding you only what's necessary about these people piecemeal, going only ever so slightly more in detail with each new piece of info ended up being such a profound choice in the end - opening itself up so many more windows and always has you pondering. I remember the episodic nature of this being criticized on release, but I honestly think it's the best way this sort of gameplay can be delivered. And even if it wasn't, it'd be hard to complain with mechanics this tight and humor this macabre (the always-online requirement sucks though). There are a seemingly infinite amount of ways you can take out your targets in this - in such gorgeous, meticulous environments no less - this is the first one of these that really felt like the Hitman series had finally gotten to where it had been trying to land for the previous 16 years. Unlimited retribution, a playground of calculated violence. This is more like it.