But what’s fascinating about Hitman’s weapon roster is not its expansiveness, but that you don’t need to use any of it (and probably won’t want to). His tools range from bombs and sniper rifles to poisons and piano wire. The baldheaded assassin, Agent 47, can disguise himself in the clothes of almost any (male) character, and scramble up pipes and scaffolding to access restricted areas. Later missions include a bustling Mumbai market and an idyllic slice of American suburbia, where golden maple trees and neatly tended lawns conceal darker secrets in basements and attics. One is a sprawling chunk of Miami’s marina, thronged with people attending a glitzy supercar race. This may sound slight compared with 100-hour epics such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2, but each is a clockwork diorama that can be exploited and manipulated in dozens, possibly hundreds of ways. Hitman 2 offers half a dozen assassination puzzles for players to unpick. The game encourages you to think big and act small – the best weapon is usually not a weapon at all.
Assassination is merely the full stop in a much longer, player-driven story that rewards careful planning and punishes thoughtlessness ruthlessly. D espite boldly proclaiming its murderous intentions, Hitman 2 is as much about the avoidance of killing as the pursuit of it.
