Hitman 2 (2018 video game)

Hitman 2's gameplay is similar to that of the previous installment, being an action-adventure stealth-based game. Players control Agent 47, a contract assassin working for the International Contract Agency (ICA), in a third-person perspective, as he travels to various locations around the globe to eliminate high-profile criminal targets. The game features eight missions, which are set in distinct locations.[1][2] Summarily, the missions of the game take place (in order) on Hawke's Bay in New Zealand; at a racetrack in Miami; the fictional village of Santa Fortuna in Colombia; the slums of Mumbai; a fictional Vermont suburb of Whittleton Creek; and the fictional Isle of Sgàil somewhere in the North Atlantic. The game's downloadable content introduces the fictional Milton-Fitzpatrick bank in New York City, and the fictional Haven Island resort in the Maldives.

The game introduces concussive gadgets, which can be used to render an NPC unconscious, and reintroduces the briefcase, which allows the player to conceal and carry large weapons, such as sniper rifles, in public without arousing suspicion.[3] The game's announcement was accompanied by the release of a cooperative multiplayer mode titled Sniper Assassin, available immediately to those who pre-order Hitman 2. This mode was also bundled with all copies of Hitman 2 when the game released.[4] In this mode, players are tasked with eliminating targets using a sniper rifle within a set time limit. In addition to Agent 47, players can also play as ICA operatives Knight and Stone, both of whom have access to unique ammo types.[5] The online multiplayer aspect of this mode is scheduled to be removed from the game at some point before the release of Hitman 3, with the other multiplayer mode, Ghost Mode, being taken offline on 31 August 2020.[6]

As with the game's predecessor, Hitman 2 features the time-limited "Elusive Targets" missions. British actor Sean Bean portrays the first Elusive Target in the game.[7] Players can also download all of the chapters from the first Hitman if the player owns it or has bought the content as downloadable content for Hitman 2,[8] which allows playing it within Hitman 2's improved engine, and adds gameplay improvements such as allowing non-player characters to see in mirrors.[9]

Following the events of Hitman, Agent 47 embarks on a mission to hunt the mysterious "Shadow Client" for Providence, a secretive organization that controls most of the world's affairs. 47's employers, the International Contract Agency (ICA), have formed an uneasy alliance with Providence to stop the Shadow Client, whose actions are causing global panic, and 47 has agreed to help in return for Providence revealing his past. He begins by eliminating one of the Shadow Client's top lieutenants, Alma Reynard, in her home in New Zealand, and tech mogul and Providence defector Robert Knox, along with his daughter Sierra, at a racetrack in Miami. Meanwhile, the Providence leaders descend into consternation as several CEOs and business tycoons associated with the group are assassinated. The Shadow Client is formally identified as Lucas Grey, the former head of security to deceased Providence key-holder Eugene Cobb. Grey, from his hideout in Central Europe, pursues his own plans with hacktivist Olivia Hall, intending to recruit 47's help in his quest to destroy Providence.

In the village of Santa Fortuna, Colombia, 47 assassinates the three leaders of the Delgado Cartel, who have been using their smuggling network and business connections to aid Grey and his militia. 47's handler Diana Burnwood reports the mission's success to Providence while visiting the graves of her family in Surrey. Flashbacks reveal that she witnessed her parents being killed by a car bomb after they attempted to bring the company responsible for her brother's death to court. Grey and his team steal an item from an Ether Corporation lab in Johannesburg, and his militia use a hostage situation to publicly reveal Providence's existence to the world. Meanwhile, 47 is sent to Mumbai to eliminate Grey's lieutenant Wazir Kale and two of his associates.

47 follows Grey's trail to Romania, and finds him at the same asylum where he was created by Dr. Ort-Meyer. Grey reveals that he is also a genetically-engineered clone created by Ort-Meyer, causing 47 to recall how he befriend Grey, then known as "Subject 6", as a child, and the two vowed to take revenge on those responsible for turning them into assassins. After this revelation, Diana meets with Grey and Hall in Berlin, where Grey reveals that Ort-Meyer was a member of Providence, and that the organization is controlled by three executive members known as the "Partners" and their second-in-command known as the "Constant". After Grey and 47's original plan to take down the Partners failed, they decided to erase 47's memories, though Grey was able to escape before his memories were wiped. Grey's objective is to capture the Constant, as he is the only person who knows the identities of the Partners. His only lead, however, is that 47 knew the identity of the first Constant from when he visited Ort-Meyer decades earlier. Grey reveals that the item he had stolen in Johannesburg was an antidote that may counteract 47's memory loss. Initially reluctant to work with Grey, Diana eventually abides by 47's wish to take the antidote.

The antidote allows 47 to remember that the first Constant was a legendary KGB spymaster known only as "Janus". In order to get close to Janus, Diana files a false report implicating Janus as the true Shadow Client while claiming Grey was just a subordinate, giving 47 the necessary pretext to assassinate Janus, who is living in the Vermont suburban town of Whittleton Creek after retiring. While carrying out the hit, 47 finds evidence that Janus was planning to meet the Constant at a gala held by the "Ark Society", a plutocratic survivalist group founded by Janus during his tenure as Constant. After Hall pinpoints the location of the gala on a remote island in the North Atlantic, 47 travels there to capture the Constant and eliminate Zoe and Sophia Washington, the newly appointed chairwomen of the Ark Society, who each hold a trigger for a chip that will release lethal poison into the Constant's body if he is compromised.

After the mission, the Constant is taken to a ship to have the poison chip surgically removed, and be interrogated about the Partners' identities. After he reveals that they are each representatives of the three families that founded Providence—the Ingram, Carlisle, and Stuyvesant families—47 and Grey leave to track them down. The Constant is left alone with Diana, and proceeds to taunt her by saying she doesn't know everything about 47. A final flashback implies that a young 47 was responsible for the death of Diana's parents.

The game was announced on 7 June 2018 during a livestream by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.[10] Hitman 2 was released on 13 November 2018, although those who have pre-ordered the game's gold edition or collector's edition directly through the WB online store gained access to the game four days early: on 9 November.[11] Unlike its predecessor, Hitman 2 is not episodic.[12]

Following the game's initial release, two paid expansions were announced, each adding new locations, missions, sniper maps, outfits, and weapons. Gold edition owners get both expansions included while silver edition owners get only the first expansion.[11] The first DLC location, set in a bank in New York City, was released on 25 June 2019.[13] The second DLC location, set on an island in the Maldives, released on 24 September 2019.[14]

An early bug in Hitman 2's release, often referred to as the "homing briefcase", occurred when a briefcase was thrown at a target, the briefcase would spin and fly towards the target slowly, even if the target moved around the level.[16] The homing behaviour is an intentional feature of all thrown mêlée items in Hitman, but the speed was unusual.[16] While IO patched the speed out in update 2.14 (about four months after release), the developers acknowledged the bug later on, and added a special briefcase item, the Executive Briefcase MKII, that has the slow-homing speed restored, and was released on 8 August 2019 as part of the "Best Case Scenario" challenge pack. This briefcase item tracks the target it is thrown at a slow speed, slower than it originally did.[17]

Hitman 2 received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[19][20][18]

GameSpot gave the game a positive review writing, "Hitman 2 is a familiar experience, but in the Hitman world, familiarity is an incredible strength".[21] The Verge praised the game writing, "Hitman 2 is the most refined and rewarding game in the series" noting it was a flawless execution.[22] The Guardian gave the game 4/5 stars, writing, "Assassination missions that reward subterfuge – such as wearing a giant flamingo suit or loosening a racing driver's wheel – make this a surprisingly creative sequel."[23]

• Official website