HITMAN composed by Jesper Kyd

I still wonder, how different HITMAN experience would have been if Jesper Kyd was the composer. Many levels/ missions in HITMAN are diverse and we would have gotten some of the best score in gaming experience.

I’m sure Jesper would have produced a great score, but he’s moved on. It happens.

Personally, I think that Niels did a fantastic job and comparing it to an idealized hypothetical just gets in the way of appreciating that.

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Niels’ score for the WoA was better than Jesper’s score for the older games in the series, IMO.

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I’d disagree, Contracts alone had some absolutely incredible pieces (Swat Team, Slaughter Club theme, Double Ballers and the Hong Kong themes to name a few). Blood money also has some genuinely iconic pieces such as apocalypse, night time in New Orleans, Vegas, and Dance with the devil, while Silent Assassin has some good thematic work to match its slower pace.

Of the modern trilogy the only pieces that truly stick out to me in any way are the Paris theme, Patient Zero’s combat theme, the drivers lounge in Miami, Berlin’s club theme, and Hitman 3’s title. Even then most of them (excluding patient zero) don’t stick out to me in the same way as Kyds music did, it doesn’t draw me into the level that much.

Maybe it’s because of how the music is cued in modern hitman games or that the music has to fit levels that usually last 2-3 times as long. But it just isn’t the same.

I can tell that Niels has talent (I want to make sure this doesn’t sound like I think Niels is trash or anything). But in the future music should be woven more into the level if wants to have the same impact it did in the past.

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Different strokes for different folks, I guess. IMO “Invitation To Dance” from Mendoza by itself is better than anything Jesper Kyd has composed in his career, without even mentioning the likes of “Race Day In Miami” or “Isle Of Sgail” which easily top the best the older games have to offer for me.

It’s all subjective though, and fair enough to anyone who likes the music in the earlier games more than the WoA’s music.

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Hitlist of person who made this comment and those who chose to like it is uploaded 47. Good hunting.

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Perhaps many young people here in their 20s didn’t had a chance or will to enjoy older Hitman games. Whoever got into HITMAN recently wouldn’t have experienced magic of Kyd.

in terms of Hitman OSTs, i think Contracts will always be #1 for me. other than the Contracts and H2:SA soundtracks, i don’t care about Kyd very much. Blood Money’s soundtrack is terrible imo. meanwhile Niels is showing improvement, from 2016 to H2 to H3 (H3 being the best out of the trilogy for me)

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I’m in my 40s and my first game was Contracts in 2004, for info. :grin:

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I’m 21 and started with H2:SA, I’m on the same page as you :joy:

I like the older games, their soundtracks are nice, but to me it doesn’t beat the WoA, I enjoy the way it’s situational, changing depending on your location or action, and they feel more like they were truly made for the map they play in, and they include many themes, it’s very varied

To me people saying Jesper Kyd did it better, is like saying C47 did it better, it just looks like nostalgia speaking more than anything :man_shrugging:

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I’ve been playing the old games recently, and as a diehard Kyd fan, it actually felt weird. Kyd’s music is a little more aggressive compared to Niels, and I honestly prefer the gentleness.

(Granted Niels had the advantage of a dynamic score but still).

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I agree, my favourite theme is the one in the bank.

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I think that has to do with mission length and tension within missions, modern hitman missions can go on average up to 20 minutes on a stealthy SA or suit only run, you can’t really have a more bombastic score on longer missions because it doesn’t loop as well.

I also think Kyds music worked better when engaging in combat and had various kinds of triggers (ex getting caught in Contracts or Blood Money gave you Double Ballers or 47 Attacks respectively). Modern hitman levels didn’t really have that important component for the music to work with. The only level that really integrated that was Patient Zero, and it worked out great!

I don’t think Kyd’s music fits the new style in WoA, Niels has done great work.

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I have met Jesper Kyd personally and someone in the public asked him if he will ever come back for Hitman.
I think I remember he said IO didn’t called him or asked him but he also said that in this kind of business you will never know what could happen. So it was a 50\50 yes and no.

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I’m pretty sure (like, 95%, I read it somewhere) Jesper said that he liked what Niels did with the soundtrack in WoA. But some people must think they know better than the guy they apparently worship. :sweat_smile: I know that sounded mean. Sorry/notsorry.

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Can anyone share source on this. It’s nice gesture on Kyd’s part.

HITMAN is not a typical game. It’s not combat, battle royal or roleplaying type of game. It’s experience depends much on the engagement. And only visual and auditory senses are involved in that experience. So tweaking auditory senses by more dynamic and engaging music would do the trick imo.

I think Jesper’s contribution to the Series helped define the whole concepts and feelings of the Hitman World in the first place very well. So as you know: “Always the first encounter to a new experience is the most effective and meaningful one”, Then again the creators decided to redefine and reinvent this game whole through (Hitman Absolution is a transitional phase between old and new Series) from 2016 onwards as Seasonal Series which were quit successful on that regard too and I presume they needed a fresh musical language to describe it for the new era of gaming Audience that could be totally understood and respected, So to sum it up Agree with both group of you Kyd’s fans and Niels’ fans that each of Scores have their own shining moments as well as more Usual vibes, … to be heard and enjoyed!

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