Agent 47 enters the show…
The campaign launches in 6 days - are you prepared?
Good Afternoon, Agents!
The campaign is launching next week! Before we go on the weekend break to rest up for the launch, we wanted to share a video teaser featuring the original Agent 47, David Bateson. Check it out:
2 days until launch. Worth following for the free gift if you think you may have any interest in this.
Pledge Tiers, Prices, 47-Hour Coin, and the Elusive Gift Box!
Pledge tiers and pricing are here! Get a full breakdown of what’s included in each option as we get ready to go live.
Good evening, Agents.
We expect all of you to be awaiting that call from Diana - and it’s only 2 days away!
Last week, we promised to drop the pledge tiers and prices today, and now is the time!
What’s the 47-Hour Coin?
To mark the opening of the campaign, we’re giving a limited 47-Hour Collectible Coin to everyone who backs within the first 47 hours. It’s a tradition we’ve carried across our campaigns, and a way of celebrating those who jump in early and help set everything in motion. When the 47 hours are up, the coin is retired, making it a rare piece for dedicated collectors and early supporters alike.
Elusive Gift Box - FREE for all backers
As a backer of this campaign, you will receive a FREE Gift Box filled with extra content. A token of appreciation for supporting the project. The gifts bring fun and exciting gameplay mechanics, options for difficult challenges, and many more cards to the game.
How does the Elusive Gift Box Work?
The Elusive Gift Box is where most unlocked Stretch Goals are collected. It starts with Hard Mode Guards and extra cards, and grows as new Stretch Goals are unlocked throughout the campaign.
Now let’s get into the pledges…
Pledge 1 - Base Game and Elusive Gift Box - €60 (̶€̶7̶0̶)
The Base Game includes the four player agents and the four base game locations: Paris, Sapienza, Hokkaido, and Haven Island. It comes with high-quality cardboard standees with detailed artwork, keeping the pledge affordable without compromising the experience. FYI, the base game also comes with a solo mode!
Pledge 2 - All Gameplay and Elusive Gift Box - €125 (̶€̶1̶4̶5̶)
Are you just interested in everything gameplay? This is your jam, then. This pledge includes the Base Game, Berlin Expansion, Signature Targets Expansion, and Elusive Gift Box.
Pledge 3 - All Gameplay and Elusive Gift Box + Acrylic Standees - €200 (̶€̶2̶3̶5̶)
Do you want to upgrade your board game experience with Acrylic Standees? Then this is for you. This includes the Base Game, Berlin Expansion, Signature Target Expansion, the Elusive Gift Box, and acrylic standees for the base game and both expansions. This pledge upgrades all punchboard standees to Acrylic. That’s +100 Acrylic standees!
Pledge 4 - All Gameplay and Elusive Gift Box + Miniatures - €220 (̶€̶2̶6̶0̶)
Are you interested in Miniatures and everything gameplay? Here you go. This includes the Base Game, Berlin Expansion, Signature Targets Expansion, the Elusive Gift Box, and miniatures for the base game and the two expansions. You’ll get a lot of miniatures in this pledge. It includes more than 50 miniatures! Yes, you heard right. It’s gonna be a heavy box.
Pledge 5 - All-In and Elusive Gift Box - Acrylic Standees - €330 (̶€̶4̶0̶0̶)
Do you want everything and also upgrade your standees? This includes the Base Game, Berlin Expansion, Signature Target Expansion, the Elusive Gift Box, Acrylic Standees for the base game and expansions (it’s more than 100 standees!), Neoprene mats of all locations, Component Upgrade Pack, and a Serialized Gold Baller Collector’s Card.
Pledge 6 - All-In and Elusive Gift Box - Miniatures - €350 (̶€̶4̶2̶5̶)
This includes the Base Game, Berlin Expansion, Signature Target Expansion, the Elusive Gift Box, Miniatures for the base game and expansions (more than 50 miniatures!), Neoprene mats of all locations, Component Upgrade Pack, and a Numbered Gold Baller Collector’s Card. PS, the Component Upgrade Pack includes small Duck tokens. Yes, they’re awesome.
Are you are Retailer?
We are adding a Retailer Pledge as well! Verified retailers can apply to gain priority access and work directly with our Head of Sales to secure copies of Hitman: The Board Game for their store.
Why are there fewer miniatures than acrylic standees?
The miniatures use a single generic set for guards, staff, and crowd to ensure consistency across all maps while keeping it affordable. The acrylic standees have location-specific artwork, giving each of the four maps its own visual flavor.
That’s it for this update. Thank you for the amazing support so far. Stepping into the Hitman universe has been a crazy journey, and being this close to launch is a bit surreal. We’re so excited to finally open the doors and show you everything we’ve been working on, cause there’s a lot to discover. Be ready, because we’re going live this Thursday at 4 PM CEST.
On YouTube, there are already some reviews of the prototype of the game!
I’ve been an orthodox Hitman fan since 2000, but I’m also a very active board gamer and I know this industry well pricing, production, all of it (I co-create board games myself). And I’ll say one thing: this campaign has absurdly high prices that are not matched by the amount of components and content to justify them.
For those who aren’t familiar with the topic, a few warning points:
The offered “All-in” (set 4), which includes all essential expansions and miniatures, is around $220. On top of that you’ll need to add shipping, which will likely be about $60, and then TAX/VAT for Europe (20–25%). That brings the total to well over $300.
If you look at other campaigns, for $300+ they usually offer a dozen or more expansions and hundreds of miniatures. Here, we’re getting just two modest expansions and a miniature set roughly 3x less content than something like Dawn of Madness offered at a similar price point.
Things like dual-layer player boards with recessed slots for components are standard in modern board games, yet here they are sold separately as a paid add-on. That’s hard to justify.
The Legacy target expansions (like Ort-Meyer) apparently won’t include full locations, based on the updates only cards and objectives with dedicated rooms. That means you’ll be placing Ort-Meyer into maps like Paris or Hokkaido. These two expansions add just 4 new targets and 1 new location, yet they cost as much as the base game.
The cardboard standees in the game feature artwork tailored to specific locations, while the plastic miniatures are generic. That’s also something worth considering.
I generally don’t play solo games I believe board games are meant for 3–4 players. In this case, solo play requires controlling multiple characters, which, in my opinion, undermines the Hitman feel.
I’m honestly very disappointed by how high the prices are and how certain elements seem to have been stripped out. Based on the content, the game with expansions shouldn’t exceed $150, yet it comes close to $300. Other games with similar content, miniatures, component counts, and gameplay style are about half the price.
Unfortunately, the publisher behind this game has only created ONE game so far, and there are reportedly major issues with delivering it to backers they still haven’t fulfilled it, yet they’re already launching another project. It’s worth reading more about this if you’re interested, just so you’re not unpleasantly surprised.
For comparison, let me show you a few campaigns that have recently taken place, are currently ongoing, or will be launching soon. Take a look at how much more they offer for $100-130tons of miniatures, expansions, and a massive amount of content.
Dawn of Madness
Zombicide
Sniper Elite
I’m very excited that a Hitman board game is finally becoming a reality that it’s being produced at all and overall it looks genuinely promising. Unfortunately, at the same time, knowing the board game market, I believe the creators have shown real GREED in how they priced this game.
“They’ve aligned the pledge tiers with today’s standards, but forgot that those standards are backed by a corresponding amount of content In this case, the amount of content offered in no way justifies such an extremely high price.
At these price levels, other games typically offer 5–6 expansions, adding hundreds of plastic miniatures, new missions, and hundreds of cards. Just look at the examples above. Hitman doesn’t even come close to half of that content so the question is: where are these costs coming from?
A combination of global tariffs and corporate price-gouging because no one will stop them from doing it.
Basically, you’re wrong - it can be stopped to some extent, and that way is through criticism and openly expressing opposition in many places. The problem is that a large portion of people simply don’t care.
I follow many campaigns, and I’ve often seen cases where significant criticism of a particular aspect had such a strong impact on the creators that they decided to change it - including pricing or unattractive pledge tiers. So it’s not true that ‘nothing can stop them’ - it can, but backers have to actually want to do something about it.
Unfortunately, in the case of board game campaigns, we’re dealing with the FOMO factor, which is a cancer of this industry. It works like this: people buy games, but what they’re really buying is the excitement around a new project - they freeze their money for 2–3 years. Publishers have noticed that there’s serious money in this, because they can essentially get an interest-free loan for several years. All they have to do is generate enough “excitement” among backers so that, driven by emotions and impulse, people spend money within a short campaign window - effectively buying a pig in a poke.
The fact that people don’t have a chance to try the game, see it, or play it - or even simply that it’s only available “here and now” - pushes them to back it impulsively, without really knowing whether it’s worth it. They’re buying excitement.
Creators take full advantage of this. They fuel that excitement with polished presentations and paid influencer videos. That wouldn’t be a problem if the prices were still rational and justified, like a few years ago. But now campaign prices are reaching absurd levels and are no longer justified by production costs.
People have shown that they’re willing to spend large amounts of money blindly and wait 2-3 years, as long as they’re shown shiny, flashy extras. So they spend without thinking. Then, when the game finally arrives years later, the excitement is gone, and the games end up being resold.
Unfortunately, this behavior is harmful to the industry - it signals to companies that it’s acceptable to charge more and more. In just 2-3 years, games that used to cost $40-120 at most now cost $120-400 for essentially the same thing - and that’s before tax and additional costs, which have also increased due to inflation.
At the same time, these games don’t really look better or offer more content - but the market has taught creators that people are willing to pay these prices, so why wouldn’t they take advantage of it?
This can be stopped, but it requires people to actively voice criticism and opposition, instead of staying silent. Only through visible, widespread criticism can creators realize that this model doesn’t work. But people are lazy and don’t want the hassle, so they just back projects and ignore the issue. And that’s how we ended up where we are.
In the case of this particular game - the price is clearly about 2× too high for what it offers, which is also obvious from the campaign comments, where almost everyone is criticizing it. And rightly so. MOOD has very clearly shown pure greed here - they adjusted pledge levels to current market standards, but didn’t adjust the content or quality to justify those prices. This kind of thing needs to be called out.
Besides that, the game itself looks really interesting and cohesive, but unfortunately the price is overpriced, and that alone makes me decide not to back it. I don’t want to contribute to supporting these kinds of practices. Even though I really wanted to support this game, the company’s pricing policy put me off.
Explicitly, you’re wrong. I said no one will stop them, not no one can, and I was careful to phrase it that way. And by “no one”, I’m referring to this currently in power right now. Nobody with the power or authority to do so is putting into place any laws or penalties for corporations to price-gouge at will while hiding behind the actual inflation as an excuse to raise prices higher than inflation itself would do alone. Once inflation goes away, they then lower the prices, but not as low as they were prior to inflation because they raised them higher than inflation caused, so they still profit from charging more than they need to, just because they can, because no one will stop them. So part of the reason for this game’s high cost is because the cost for making it and sending it out to people is high right now on its own, and also because they can, and they’ll continue to push each new thing a little more expensive until someone finally clamps down on it.
The “official trailer” is out.
The campaign is live now and Cartoonishly has made an amazing #sponsored animation!
It’s doing well so far.
As a not very board gamerey person, I’m quite surprised on how these board games are sold. Having the {seemingly} main source of income through “crowdfunding / backers” instead of traditional sales with all the gimmicks and fomo is definitely alien to me. They reeeeally pull out all the kind of questionable moves to get as much from you as possible. Otherwise, I’m liking the trailers and art style, although looks a little ai at some angles to me. I’m pretty sure it isn’t and is just a really unfortunate tainting of the style. I really thought they would showcase gameplay front and center on the page, but there isn’t any. I can’t remember seeing any in major promo material earlier too. That kind of makes me feel stronger about my opinions. Anyways this is AI though:
BTW Bitterball, when you copy YT URLs, the &si=blahblahblah is a tracking thing and I’m pretty sure that is why the video didn’t have an embedded preview.
Tracking thing doesn’t effect the embed because id been accidentally including it for years and only really learnt bout it a few months ago
UPDATE - Announcing 2 new Stretch Goals!
Wow, you have already unlocked the first 3 stretch goals! Let’s keep the ball rolling…
Good Afternoon again, Agents!
The ball just keeps rolling! Looks like you are the best agents after all.
Announcing two new Stretch Goals
Let’s ride the wave - it’s time to add even more awesome cards to the Elusive Gift Box!
Goal: €230.000 - Unorthodox Pack
Who doesn’t want more “creative” tools at their disposal? This pack populates your game board with a collection of seemingly random objects - but nothing a true assassin cannot weaponize. Add the Unorthodox Tokens to your normal loot supply and see how you can turn a Football Boot into a weapon.
Goal: €250.000 - Easter Egg Opportunity Card Pack
If you know, you know. In the spirit of Hitman’s easter eggs, we have created extra event and opportunity cards referencing some of the wackiest moments players might remember from the video game. Add these to your game for a little extra… chaos… and fun!
Final Notes
That’s it for now, but fear not! We’ve got plenty more in store for you. It’s getting late in Denmark, so this will be the final update for tomorrow. We will be back again tomorrow with even more awesome updates!
We’ll leave you to stretch!
The MOOD Publishing Team
I’m not very familiar with this type of publishing, aside from a single Kickstarter (book).
Will the game and add-on materials be available only via this campaign during May? Or can the game be purchased later in stores?
It will be available later yes. There is even a “retailer” pledge option for vendors to purchase and subsequently sell on. What will probably not be available after the campaign are things like the “Elusive Gift Box” content - optional extras exclusive to backers (although it says the retail edition includes this so maybe some will be for sale).
Thanks for the compliment Blossom 
Was so so stoked to have gotten to work with Mood Publishing for this! It was hard to keep it a secret for so long hahaha.
Also, I know firsthand that they did not use AI art for any of the Hitman board game stuff, seeing as they let me use various assets as refs and I got to see things evolve as it went along. (It’s also funny that you mention AI in the first place - someone at Mood mentioned to me unprompted that he was vehemently against AI. Not to say his views reflect everyone there, but that was the general impression I got at least. They value real art).
…It is disappointing to see that little AI thing you screencapped at the bottom there, though.
The game genuinely looks like a lot of fun and after seeing a remote demonstration of it, it really solidified that for me. It is most certainly worth backing tbh
Thank you Floople and Cartoonishly for replying! Gosh I just looove the animation soo much and really love seeing more foliage this time round! You’ve got me hoping for that board game decor for the safehouse now. 
I’m gonna steal @magicdave94’s job of posting the updates here and share some of the new stretch goals if anyone is interested:
Another unboxing of the prototype/preview box, this one from Ian Higton (formerly at Eurogamer):
The art does look a bit more like the Sgail area but it’s definitely supposed to be the Sapienza skeleton given the card description mentions a church too. What about the name is odd? idk what they are officially called.
Not allowed to, sorry. 
Would rather not risk summoning the ICA here
Doesn’t the Sapi one give you a Battle Axe, or am I misremembering?
