Self-imposed rules, a preference for certain loadouts or kinds of kills, or just anything you do to enhance your personal enjoyment of the game. Inspired by Heisenberg’s thread on his playstyle.
I personally never use suppressed or subsonic firearms. Guns can be a bit of a Swiss army knife in this game, doing everything from distractions, breaking cameras, opening doors, sabotaging for accident kills to killing, all from range. I know ICA19 is in the default loadout, but I found including noise as a necessary drawback made me appreciate other tools more.
It no longer serves a mechanical function like it did in Blood Money, but I’m very fond of retrieving my suit before I leave a mission, and especially any fancy hardware like a custom sniper rifle. It’s just very 47 to leave casually in his suit.
I’d describe my playstyle as “traceless” whenever I’m capable of pulling it off. SASO, always retrieve all my gear before leaving, no/minimal non-target KOs and mostly using accidental KO methods, avoid stealing stuff on the map unless necessary, avoid using firearms/explosives/etc.
My top 3 kill methods would be falling, poison and fiber wire.
If I can make something explode I’m probably gonna make it explode. Even when I go for SA.
Apart from that I hate leaving guns around so I generally pick up all the dropped weapons and place them on tables when they’re too big to carry unconcealed. If I came carrying a large weapon in a briefcase I tend to leave with it though.
I do this too when I no longer want to carry a large weapon, or even when I want to declutter my inventory of concealable guns as well. It would be nice if we could place surplus guns into the weapon crates properly.
I don’t feel that I rely on firearms all that much. I definitely shoot more cameras than I do targets or even to make bullet distractions. If I’m going to shoot a target - I’ve got to make sure I’ve got almost anything other than the wimpy (but sometimes handy) kruegermier.
Yet, on the other hand, I do like sniping… Not that I have that many opportunities to do it. And I can also appreciate using loud firearms. They’re good for directing attention to where the noise came from, while the person shot might be behind where everyone’s looking.
For kill methods, I prefer melee, or maybe fiber wire (as opposed to firearms - as I mentioned above). Lethal is always an alternative if I won’t have time or a place to hide the body.
And more and more I’m leaving in the suit that I started the mission in. Unless it’s blending in as (another) NPC, like a cook, officer, janitor, etc. Then whatever disguise I leave in doesn’t matter.
I suppose all ^that’s pretty normal. I do value practicality over some weirdo concept of professionalism. I’ll run if I need to but I can still appreciate walking sometimes. KO whoever I might need to (and hopefully hide their body). I can also leave them where they are - as long as I know they won’t be spotted before I leave. If they don’t know who hit 'em, they don’t know. If I can tranq them I’ll almost always leave their body out.
Oh yeah. If a body can be found where it won’t lose (muh precious) SA Ratin’ I’ll let it get found. Like if I drown Victor Novikov in the toilet, or maybe an ET - I might turn on the faucet so another NPC will investigate the distraction, then they’ll find the body. I feel it’s being nice in a way. Or, as if to say, “You might want to clean this mess up.”
Take ‘The Black Hat’ ET. I start in the attic and shoot over to get the guard to run over to where the shots came from… When he cools down I’ll tranq him. Take his disguise… (do my thing) then come back to get my suit. Then I’ll shoot a loud gun (like the shotgun he brings over) so his body can be found and woke up. Wouldn’t want his wife and kids back home to wonder where daddy was.
Never leaving behind any suit or customized gear as evidence. Outside that, I’m flexible from doing SA/SO to varied ICA Assassin ratings or even some where I kill guards aswell but no civilians.
Social run : no running, no crouching, no vaulting, no knock out. Just walking, making yourself part of the crowd and at select point entering the right room to put on a placed disguise.
Staff disguise only/Security disguise only : because I normally use a mix of them, I found restricting myself to one type surprisingly refreshing.
RFID Triggered Explosive : I never used this item before, and it made me follow the targets to find the right bin (also a special mention to doing the hitman 2 challenge “A Curious Case For Sophia Washington” this way)
Since then I added the following :
sedative run : I bring the sedative syringe, and it is the only method I give myself to take a NPC out, and his disguise. Especially fun in master mode (since most placed disguise are removed in it)
no body hidden nor moved run : if I subdue a NPC, they stay were they are. No dragging, no putting in boxes or closet. Needs to be careful for them as a consequence.
prompt only run : no coin throw, no free aiming. All actions done come from a visible prompt. Makes you look much more for the fuse boxes, generators and other placed distraction. It also makes deleting evidence recording much more tense.
Most of them, I do at the same time. And like Heisenberg, I also like to leave the place as it was before. So either through a “loadout only run” (no item picking, it can be surprisingly tricky if you want to do certain scenario), or through a RP run (place back items at their place).
Finally, less of a run and more of a exploration / musing about / planning run :
Intel RP run : I try to look into what could be a “real” run. So I cannot act on prescient knowledge. If I do something, I must have the intel beforehand. Either heard, or found. I also keep my way of walking around normal : no back and forth, blending, looking at places.
To give an example : here is the fugitive ET
Then, there are the time where I do something like that :
(all non-target stealthily fire wired, and thrown from elevator or balconies, the place is immaculate (no disguise taken), and the targets are non the wiser)
No gimmicks - no gun lures, bullet tricks, shooting NPCs in the leg to “distract” them, hopping on muffins, etc.
I only use two suits, generally. These are the Black Dragon and the tactical one with the hat. I rarely bother with any other suits.
Disguises are always encouraged and mandatory if the contract specifies no disguise changes (I have changed outfits after completing all the other missions objectives on the way out of the map just out of principle). I never bother going back to pick up a discarded suit before leaving the level (this may change in Freelancer if you lose suits by leaving them in-level).
I never use fiber wire or loud weapons unless I have to.
Silent Assassin is a goal, but not as important as just finishing the map. I may replay a map to eventually get Silent Assassin but if I lose that status, so be it. Ranks are not important, in general.
I don’t typically even look at the actual score when I finish a level and never look at leader boards.
Always pick up tools when they are found.
Kill non-targets only when forced to. Knock outs are always OK.
Running is absolutely fine if I’m being impatient. Some maps are too big to walk through.
Generally attempt to take out cameras and recorders. If I’m caught on camera and would otherwise be on track for Silent Assassin, I’ll make sure to take out the recordings. Otherwise, it’s not as big a deal.
My main thing is no shooting unless it’s the target, so no cameras, bullet distractions etc, i always try to limit KO’s, so temporarily getting rid of NPC’s, by putting a gun down or using emetics and i’ll always try to leave with all my gear, if i know i’m gonna use a gun to get rid of a guard i’ll use the Rude Ruby or the Ducky Gun because i don’t care about retrieving them but obviously if i’m going for a decent score all rules go out the window
I play without a loadout from time to time. I like to imagine getting a last minute call and not having time to prepare. It’s especially fun if you imagine 47 is on vacation. Really looking forward to freelancer and see how doable no loadouts are
Aside from that I generally restrict myself to 2016 gear. Kinda feel like emetic/concussion grenades are too OP and break some of the puzzles imo
Your mileage may vary, but I found that on PC with a mouse it was very quick to line up instantly lethal headshots even with wimpy Krugers at close to medium range. But my use of loud guns started as an appreciation for the Striker.
It’s a bit off-topic but I’d like a rework to non-headshot firearm damage. Damage seems to dramatically drop off with distance to the target. I shouldn’t need 9-12 assault rifle shots at long range to the centre of mass just to kill someone.
I get so caught up listening to different conversations between NPCs, that I sometimes forget to kill my targets. Instead I use a couple remote demo blocks to see how far specific non-targets can fly because I really find what they say very repetitive and annoying. It is as if I have heard the conversation before in one of the previous hundred playthroughs in the map.
I love the sudden chaos playstyle: Playing for hours sometimes tires me so that I need a short burst of change. So from time to time, some guards see me saving the game and know: “oh crap.” Then the level gets John Wick’d, always a no save - survival, phew. Feels better. Now back to Silent Assassin
Yep. I have no problem embracing the chaos. Especially if something stupid happens, I have no problem just shooting some NPC in the face in the middle of a crowded area.
Finally:
If I take a briefcase or coins in, I always try to bring in a different one than the last time. For example, if I brought the golden briefcase I’ll take the arctic toolbox or if I used the superior performance coin I’ll take the greedy little coin. I’ll sometimes match them to the map but mostly it’s so they feel included from time to time.
The thing that I’ve recently started doing is only picking up one of a specific type of gun at a time. If need to move guns or get more ammo, I drop the current one somewhere and then go back for the other; I’m not a fan of them merging into one in my inventory. I’m not even really sure why because I didn’t used to care but now it troubles me deeply and fundamentally…
Not that long ago I finished all main missions, bonus missions and special assignments using my SASOWOB method (Silent Assassin Suit Only Weapon on Back).
Basically I start mission with briefcase containing a large weapon (preferably Sieger 300 Ghost).
Once mission starts I instantly take out a weapon from briefcase and I’m not allowed to drop it under any circumstances. That basically means that every single NPC on the map is an enforcer and I don’t have a “breathing space” in non-trespassing areas.
That alone forced me to change my approach in many missions as opposed to regular SASO.
This method is really satisfying after figuring out optimal route.