Hot take I know, but Colorado is actually so insufferable. In total, I have 2000 hours in Hitman 2016, of which a grand total of 60* have been spent in Colorado. For the mathematically unastute (like myself) that’s 3% of my time in the game, relative to Marrakesh’s 21%. I got to master 15 (to get the dope sniper) and gave up it was so miserable. I basically had to enable cheats to have any fun on the map, that is I made a save where the ‘Human Candle’ easter egg was active and basically grinded xp until I hit level 15. I can thank Colorado for 2 things: the Sieger 300 and the silenced full auto pistol.
*Of which 20 hours have been spent in ‘The Vector’ I’m not kidding
If you want Mastery 20, your best bet is to grind out any challenges you haven’t completed yet. The XP from those is a lot more than the XP you can grind just by killing people.
Personally, while Colorado is one of the more restrictive maps, I find it’s not that bad (if you’re not trying for Suit Only) once you figure out which disguises are allowed where.
On the other hand all those Suit Only, Silent Assassin Only etc challenges give a good ton of XP towards desirable Mastery.
If to follow dosens of youtube SASO guides, it won’t be that incompletable
Yep, never got the “hate” for Colorado. At first, it is a little difficult to get around without no save areas, but once you know where what is, it is a fun map.
Something a lot of people seem to do to grind mastery is to make an easy contract (like “kill the 2 guys to the right of the default starting point” which can easily be done suit only) and then play it over and over till they’re at 20. I dunno how much XP you get this way since I never did it (I got pretty much all areas to 20 through challenges) but if you find the main mission and its 4 targets difficult to handle that’s something to consider.
The total experience points possible for just doing the “Challenges” (feats, assassinations, challenges, etc.) for Colorado across the main story mission, The Vector in the Patient Zero campaign and the one in the Sarajevo Six campaign is about 187000 experience… which, at 6000 experience points per mastery level, would get you to Mastery 20 plus 11 extra levels. You could skip a full third of the challenges and still get to Mastery 20.
I would strongly suggest focusing on the challenges and not worrying about contracts or other “small” experience missions.
Much the same applies for all the rest of the normal maps, although with less margin for some of them. New York is the only one where you’d have to grind additional XP on top of the challenges: it has only 100000 XP available from challenges, enough to get you to Mastery 17 with 14000 left to go before reaching 20.
P.S. For people who played it in Hitman 2 and transferred progress, you might have up to 34000 extra from the Professional and Master difficulty versions of The Classics challenges, which was enough extra to reach Mastery 20. These don’t show in the UI, but still count towards the total.
If navigating it is an issue… There is a “mostly safe” path. This would be the part where I post a .jpg edited in MSPaint with a red line showing said path… But figuring it out yourself is half the fun.
Be aware of spots on the fence/wall that allow you to jump over. There are grassy areas more towards the inside/center that are strategically placed for sneaking around. Traversing some of the more open areas are a matter of timing and patience. Even getting into the house Suit Only is definitely possible.
Here’s a neat-o trick. Let’s say you get into the back window, SO. The hacker and guard are discussing “The guy!..” (tied up in the basement). Now, you could wait there behind the barrier… OR throw a large object (yes, instead of a coin) into the other room so that it can’t be seen where it lands. The hacker will stop talking because he seen (whatever) being thrown, then go to check the noise of said object landing. The guard will turn his back and the hacker will be in the other room instead of standing there to see you move. It’s great if you’re in a hurry to get to… I dunno, one of the rooms on the 2nd floor.
I believe if you just throw a coin, the guard will go check it (being an enforcer), and that will leave the hacker to wait for the guard to come back so they can recite their scripted lines.
Speaking of tough missions, let’s take Bangkok. Getting to Jordan Cross SO is doable. It might take a combination of distractions and patience, but it is actually doable. I’ve been playing all the missions on Master Mode lately, getting some good times. /brag
Bangkok, Colorado, and Sgàil are the three that people usually name as hardest to SASO.
Even ignoring SO, though, Colorado seems to stress people out. Four targets is still a lot, and you’re likely to want to use at least two or three different disguises to get all of them.
For Jordan, I’m guessing you’re climbing the pipe and getting him in the recording booth, or on his way there past the bathroom? IMO it’s easier to get the cake topper from the kitchen and place it to trigger that mission story. There are only two NPCs in the party room who ever look towards the cake; you can place it and get back to hiding when Colin goes towards the window, then just wait for Jordan to come down, have a tantrum, and kick everyone out, isolating himself for an easy kill.
There’s also a wallbang, throwing an exploding golf ball or the like at the ceiling below the recording booth. I don’t count that as a “real” method, but others do and might bring it up.
You can do that alright, but if you want a grind, you need to follow specific circumstances and conditions which is tied to a challenges which give you XP, mastery and unlocks.
Without completing them you won’t be able to unlock new gear, new levels of mastery and will be stuck where you are forever.
Isn’t it the initial subject of your query?
And by that wording I meant that any mentions of cheating is not welcome on our forum
/brag