So, after some back and forth to make the game recognise that indeed I haven’t failed and should be able to continue on, I finally managed to finish the Ellipses and the Codices.
I’m not going to go too much on the current technical issues. I am certain they will be soon resolved (and they are certainly not helped by a surge of players).
But I am going to give my opinion on the game mode as it is inteded to be, as it is designed. Because I think some at IO will read the thread to see the returns, so it would be good to give something on this intended part of the experience. (hello Travis, love the rest of the game, lots of good work and great level design)
I did not have fun completing the contracts. I have no desire to replay them a second time.
Simple as that. The complications restrict too much. It changed the elusive mission too much to the point of loosing some of their substance and the fun and exploration they could give.
I play Hitman for its openess, for its level design. I play the ET to be able to have the pression of assessing the situation and act on the pressure points. Not to always tell to myself “no, this will arbitrarely fail the mission”.
Some of the stages are so restricted that I can see only one (unfun) way to do them. No (fun and explorable) replayability. No poison, no accident.
Worst for some the best way to pass the stage is to use the emetic briefcase. One of the most lackluster way to play the game.
Half of the gameplay possibilities are just not allowed.
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The Codices is still relatively open. Of the three contracts it’s the one I could see myself replay to try to do some other runs. It does allow for sniper assassin after all.
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The Ellipses just doesn’t even allow for accident kills with its “all bodies hidden”. I wanted to see if it was possible to eliminate the Collector with a propane flask thrown in a fireplace (as a prompt exist to do this kind of sabotage), but I can’t. It’s fiberwire in the locker room, and nothing else.
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The Deceits is just a large no for me. The restrictions are too much of an hindrance. Not just an hindrance to the missions, but an hindrance to the fun of playing Hitman.
We already have escalations for the challenges. Restricting one try every 12 hours, and forcing ordered playlist is enough of a twist on the ET formula to make them retain their prestige, their challenge, their “oh dear now I have to wait or loop around the playlist to redo this one in a different way”.
As I said before, the ethos of the game mode might not be to make us replay the ETs, but to give a challenge that happens to use the ET as the framwork. A kind of “more in depth and complex escalations”. But it just spoiled the ETs. If this was the objective, then the design is genuinely good.
But, if this was the objective of the game mode, then the communication around it was a miss. If not a breakdown of communication of intentions. Because it was not what I understood the game mode to be. I thought it was going to be mainly the ET with a side of challenges, not the reverse.
And if the intent was to create curated contracts, each with their own narrative, then it is also a miss. Maybe if it was a general twist applied to all stages (accident only for all stages, poison only…) it could have been better. Right now it’s just adding more and more negative to the gameplay and not exploring a gameplay narrative more and more in depth (as the best escalation can do)
Optional complications or general themes, please. I just want to play Hitman.