Elusive Target #39: THE HERBALIST (ft. Snoop Dogg) (27 August - 27 September 2026)

Which model is that is the midnight black suit still broken in trespass areas

Starting right from the beginning: THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING 'BOUT! (With tha gangsta voice). This is how all Celebrity Elusive Targets should look! IOI has raised the bar so high with this one that I can’t imagine the next ones being even slightly less ambitious. The way this mission is designed is how every mission with this kind of content should have looked from the very beginning!

I’m taking back what I previously said about this DLC not being worth its increased price - because at the time, I never even suspected that IOI would make something this good. I simply assumed it would be yet another Celebrity DLC with slightly altered mission aspects - something the studio has already gotten us used to.

For the first time in a long while, I felt what I love most about Hitman again - exploring and discovering a new place, learning its secrets, possibilities, and dialogues. I’ve really missed that, and this mission reminded me just how much. I absolutely LOVE it!

IOI didn’t just add something that is worth the money - they added something that made an ordinary mission feel fresh again by utilizing a section of its map in a completely new and refreshing way. In my opinion, this part of the island had been poorly utilized up until now. Considering how much space it occupies on the map, there were surprisingly few options there. This DLC makes excellent use of that aspect.

To emphasize why I like this mission so much:

  1. An old section of the map is utilized in a completely new and fresh way.
  2. A huge number of unique ways to eliminate the target, which aren’t forced on you and are naturally integrated into the mission. Every previous Celeb ET felt like something that had been adapted to fit the environment at the lowest possible cost. With this DLC, though, it feels like the map’s environment was actually modified to fit the DLC. This is a whole new level of quality and freshness!
  3. Mission Stories have been added just like in a proper main mission, and they’re genuinely interesting.
  4. An interesting target who isn’t over-the-top (like Eminem) and actually fits his role very well.
  5. A very large and interesting activity/patrol route for the target, giving you plenty of opportunities.
  6. Every part of the location and its potential is utilized. Every room has a purpose, something happens there, and there are no empty or gameplay-less areas.
  7. Various lore elements and characters from other missions are integrated into the mission, making the world feel even more believable - the poisoner woman with the cookies from Whittleton Creek, Tim Quinn from Quantum Leap, etc.
  8. A lot of new and interesting Challenges.
  9. Very thoughtful level design where you actually have to play around with the puzzles to discover different approaches. The solutions aren’t simply handed to you; they’re well thought out.
  10. Even something as static as destroying the farm has four different ways to accomplish it! And each of those methods offers a lot of freedom in itself. You can destroy the crates manually, but you can also shoot them from a distance with a sniper rifle. You can poison the farm with different types of poison instead of being limited to just one. The remote destruction through the computer can be done from several different locations, and the USB drive can be obtained in multiple places, etc. Fantastic!
  11. The assassination methods fit the game’s atmosphere and the character’s personality really well.
  12. New types of interactions.
  13. A new type of mechanic related to the escort.
  14. I really like how many situations in the game are tied to additional dialogue and character comments - for example, changing the music as a DJ, etc.
  15. The mission is extensive enough that it even has room for an area outside the main “area of interest,” with a separate cabin belonging to the woman and her cookies, which has also been redesigned.
  16. The target isn’t isolated like The Undying. You can take him out in many different ways and in many different locations, which gives you a much greater sense of freedom.
  17. Tons of new and interesting dialogue and funny little scenes.
  18. Safehouse unlocks as decorations that no longer interfere with the other decorations, while also referencing different parts of the map. The Airport Bar one is absolutely brilliant!
  19. Adding the ET as a standalone mission in the form of a Special Assignment is something we’ve all been waiting for for a long time.
  20. A lot of new starting locations in new roles, which are nicely tied to the challenges that unlock them.
  21. The items in the game are also thoughtfully integrated into the level design. They’re not too easy to access, but they also don’t force you to waste time looking for them. And as someone mentioned earlier, the mission doesn’t require you to bring them with you - everything is already there; you just need to have a bit of fun exploring.

But, just to keep things from sounding completely rosy, here’s what I think could have been improved:

  1. The music at the party is bland. There’s nothing particularly memorable about it, and it’s just as annoying as the gym music. It doesn’t evoke Snoop Dogg for me in any way. A massively missed opportunity.
  2. The unlocks are generic and don’t really add anything to the game. The duck you can unlock as a standalone item is actually the best item of the season and does a much better job of capturing the character’s vibe. I understand the microphone being a reference to “Mic Drop” as a hidden joke, though.
  3. The only functional item among the unlocks is the cookies, because you can throw them without attracting NPC attention, and there are five of them, which makes for a pretty cool way of distracting several people at once.
  4. I don’t understand why you can’t find a “joint” anywhere in this mission. It would fit this mission better than almost anywhere else, and yet there are joints in other missions but not here.
  5. It’s great that they added so many Achievements/Challenges, but I think there was potential for many more - things like Chameleon, getting a kill while disguised as a DJ, crushing the target with the farm shelves, etc.
  6. The Arcade challenge isn’t demanding on any level whatsoever. Adding a restriction against using firearms is just as pointless as adding a “don’t use screwdrivers” restriction. It doesn’t make the mission any harder in any meaningful way, and I never felt like it actually imposed any kind of challenge on me.
  7. The thumbnail for the Special Assignment is just a regular screenshot, when it could have been designed much better. Considering the other Special Assignments, this really doesn’t look like much effort was put into it, and it ends up looking pretty cheap.

To sum it up: I absolutely love it! This DLC has reignited my desire to come back to the game. I had a fantastic time playing it, and it only made me hungry for more!

Honestly, this is exactly what I want from Hitman - new missions that bring that whole experience of discovering fresh possibilities, new dialogue, and exploring the environment. Even on a smaller scale.

I expect every Celebrity ET that has been released so far to be redesigned in this way, with new Challenges added and the mission made available as a Special Assignment. That would also give me a reason to buy The Wizzard, which I haven’t purchased because I already own The Disruptor.

THIS IS THE BEST DLC SINCE HAVEN ISLAND/THE BANK. I WANT MORE!
IOI - Keep doing fine work!

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Nice to see you like the content, wish all the people complaining about this season’s Celeb appear in Games too frequent and the recent assignments being too cheesy and lose all their seriousness can see the same thing - Most of whom haven’t even play the game and only judge by the teaser/others’ gameplay

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The upstairs room containing one guard and one civilian has several Cannabis Joints placed on a table that you cannot pick up, but that you can poison so that Cyrus Cane will get poisoned the next time he visits that room and smokes one.

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I can confirm that’s also the case in French. These dialogues are not translated into French.

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I don’t usually post my own gameplay, but I was really proud of this run and wanted to share it. SASO no KO

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Really impressive using the bombs to lure his bodyguards away. Good run!

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Yeah that was a clever little move.

Also I had no idea there was a climbable vibe there.

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Is it a coincidence or on purpose?Just found this


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Thats why i’m so impressed with that mission,.how many possibilities are putted in so small DLC.

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Another silly SASO no KO I made.

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Still havent found this out

Is some tutorial thing I guess intended for first timers playing through the demo. Occasionally some tips would pop up on your screen based on your actions, like If you get inside a crowd there would be a message saying “hey, you can hide in crowds”, or if you pick an emetic poison you’ll get one that says “emetics make people go puke” and so on.

I believe they are the same tips that appear when playing through the yacht level for the first time because they use 47’s face from 2016.

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Well, I’ve completed all challenges for the SpecAss except for the three that require the tour. Gonna do those soon. I’ve actually found the Ricin and Juice and Cane de Grille challenges to be compatible with the HPP, both an accident and a direct murder method, and so I can use either of them when I do the actual ET. However, I’m more interested in finding a way to take him out with the equipment like the A Personal Blend challenge sets up. If it’s possible to get him down there without taking the tour and get him into place to trigger it, then I can figure out a way to get around the NPCs I need to get out of the way. But if anyone knows a way to get Cane down there without the tour, short of just using the gun lure, let me know.

I fully experienced all three variations of “The Herbalist”: Elusive Target, Arcade, and Special Assignment.
Personally, I found the content to be excellent.

The Special Assignment brilliantly addressed the complaints I’ve always had about Elusive Targets—specifically, that they felt “un-HITMAN-like” and lacked replayability.
It offered elements that encourage repeated playthroughs, such as multiple distinct challenges, the ability to save and load, and beginner-friendly routes via Mission Stories.
It reaffirmed for me that replayability is the true heart of the HITMAN experience.

In Arcade mode, I appreciated the return of “No Ballistics” and “Delete Evidence”—complications that had been removed from contracts like “The Ellipses” and “The Genera”—showing that these modifiers haven’t become stale.
While these complications might feel underwhelming to veteran players, they could spark interest in restricted-gameplay modes like Arcade and Escalation among newer players.

Reflecting on the mission, a few things stood out to me:
The inclusion of introductory tips for beginners—likely aimed at those drawn to the game by the Snoop Dogg collaboration—made a great impression.
The Mission Stories were also well-designed; thanks to the helpful guidance system, even newcomers could easily grasp the mechanic where following the prompts leads to a perfect assassination opportunity.
I always welcome this kind of consideration for less experienced players.

I discovered numerous assassination opportunities,

but what personally impressed me most was that both the assassination itself and the objective of destroying three fuse boxes could be accomplished from the top of the radio tower while maintaining a “Silent Assassin, Suit Only” (SASO) rating.
In the end, I chose to carry out the assassination in the restroom instead.

The only downside was the absence of challenges like “crushing the target in a container during the tour” or “electrocuting the target while acting as the DJ.”
It would be great if these were added later as challenges with some sort of reward.

Also—just a minor point—I wish the “Mission: The Herbalist” and “Mission: The Undying” had been included under the “Special Assignments” tag within the main menu’s campaign section.
At first, I didn’t realize you could access them from the destination menu.

Finally, regarding the DLC: while the price ended up being a bit high, it’s just barely within an acceptable range. That said, to be honest, if the cost goes any higher, I’d probably have to wait for a sale before buying it (haha).

I hear that special missions will continue to be added for the celebrity Elusive Targets, and I’m really happy to see more exciting content on the way.

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That’s insane fucking run, good job! Didn’t know you could sabotage the electricity to kill the crops.

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After a week, The Herbalist has the worst update rate on the TV Tropes page of any CelebrET we’ve had. Hardly anything has been added to it since the third day. Compare that to how quickly, say, The Banker or The Harbinger got a flood of entries numbering in the dozens during their first week. I’d think, considering how generally well-regarded this one is, there’d be more entries already about everything encountered in it.

You can return the invitation to Gunk to trigger the tour to run without 47, but it only gets him as far as the tasting room. It doesn’t get him into position for A Personal Blend.