a surgical to the point of slender sequel

The 2016 soft reboot of Hitman adopted an outsized back-to-basics approach, returning the series to open-ended stealth missions, and across bigger levels than ever before. It fine-tuned familiar systems to create the most playable, accessible incarnation of the series yet.

The momentum that Hitman had coming out of their Complete First Season release continues with Hitman 2. IO has seemingly listened to fans and given them exactly what they wanted with a ton of new gadgets and items to use.

47 is back, although this time around it's almost as if he never even left. Hitman 2 is a direct sequel to the episodic Hitman , but it's also very much a second chapter, a continuation of the adventure that started back in 2016.

Over the years, stealth games have steadily inched away from stingy trial-and-error gameplay and embraced a more freeform approach that allowed for messy recoveries. Hitman has also given players that ability but not without sacrificing that elusive, perfect hit that takes planning, grit, and a...

Intricate assassinations that encourage replayability and reward strategic thinking; Dense but open environments with many different routes; The wealth of modes exercise the game's stunning freedom; Tongue-in-cheek humor and silly; self-aware dialogue

Static cutscenes with flat storytelling; Multiplayer; although still in beta; is a bit undercooked; Tags

doesn't add much of note to the structure of its predecessor and thus feels more like Hitman 1.5 than a full-blown sequel. But that's not a bad thing. By offering more of the deepest, fullest stealth sandboxes in gaming in one single package rather than six episodic ones, it earns its keep.

With 2016's episodic experiment firmly in the rearview mirror, Agent 47 is back with another full itinerary of places to go and people to execute. While Hitman 2's globetrotting adventure suffers from the same shortcomings as its predecessor, the new locations and clever assassination opportunities...

After a 2017 split with Square Enix, the fate of the Hitman franchise was left in the air following a successful episodic first season of Hitman. As fate would have it, IO Interactive lived on with ownership of the Hitman franchise, resulting in Hitman 2 .

Lots of content; Great for beginners or veterans; Technically sound; Plenty of playstyles

Slightly inconsistent graphics; Overwhelming amount of options

Death has come in many forms: the barrel of a rifle, a barber's razor, a tattoo gun, a faulty gas valve. Death has come for every one of 47's targets, several of their guards, a few police officers and, ok, a couple of innocent bystanders too.

Tightly designed levels; Fun stealth gameplay; Not as punishing as before

Not as punishing as before; Lots of gadget repetition

In the quiet of a Vermont suburb, the crowded slums of Mumbai, an Eyes Wide Shut -esque party for rich people (minus the sex), a race track in Miami, or a working class town in Colombia, you might see bald-headed Agent 47, with his signature barcode on the back of his head, skulking about.