One thing I find a little too peculiar about the game is how NPC health works. You can shoot them a handful of times and then throw a banana for that kill, sure. Yet when you’re trying to get out of a gunfight non-lethally you’d possibly need to shoot a guard in the leg. They let you know it hurts, but once they get up they act like nothing happened. Instead of making the guard limp everywhere, why not let damaged NPCs be healed by others?
Which NPCs are healers? Of course I’d want the Miami medics and Hokkaido medical staff to have this ability, but I believe it should also extend to significant guards (who certainly have some form of first aid training). These may include the red beret soldiers on Marrakesh, personal bodyguards (to make them a bit more useful) or a select few of the other “higher tier” guards like Penthouse Guard on Dubai, or Bodyguard on Hokkaido.
The healing itself would likely take place once an injured civilian is no longer panicked by whatever hurt them, or when a guard has finished being on alert. If a healing NPC sees them they should walk over there and get them to sit/lie down or something, then… give some first aid? Stick a plaster on them? Whatever someone could do without an operation to make sure the injured won’t bleed out from that bullet.
I’d be happy to answer any questions about this idea as although I can’t see it being implemented, I still think it is cool.
That would certainly setup another way to get around the map. Setup medical distractions to lure medical peeps over.
That would be great indeed. The healing part would be interesting, yes, but I would be more excited for what it could be a part of : a better social simulation. With more roles, and factions. A better social simulation, a more breathing independent world.
Now, like you, I don’t see how it could be implemented. I mean, it certainly could be made in a bit of a janky way in Hitman WoA, but properly… That would demand more rewriting of the AI I think. Especially if you want to implement more behavior (new animations, dragging wounded out of danger, having other NPC react…).
One way I could see something happen is parallel to the emetic poison behaviour : gained through a health trigger, new walking animation (“oh, not good”), but instead of going to a toilet, the NPC goes to the nearest aid kit / designated medic.
Another parallel I could see is the “subdued NPC wakes up without is clothes” behaviour. They then run to the nearest designated cupboard, and put new clothes on. In general, the knocked out mechanic is another parallel, with civilian going to fetch guards. Wounded would see guard fetch medics.
But all in all, you would still need to designate NPCs with brand new role. With a lot of QA.
I think that now that the trilogy is ended, and with it the core engine / formula / AI / etc, this would be a great place to look for what could happen next.
Not just as a new adhoc feature, but as feature of a larger social system. Because the WoA one really starts to show its limitation. (I’m looking at you, prison level that can’t happen)
at such the very ending of the life of the game clearly the developer won’t make any grand mechanic changes any more.
This would help so much! I have a couple of examples of shooting some one in the leg then 5 minutes later getting into another gunfight and shooting the same guy in the leg and he just keels over. I only have 1 question and it’s quite stupid but if you shot a medic would how would they react differently to any other npc, would they act different?
That is a pretty interesting question. Perhaps they could heal themselves if there’s nobody else to heal them, just slower.
That made me wonder what would happen if there were no medics nearby. I think in that case, the medic could be radioed in by either an injured guard or an injured civilian who has gone to a guard. They’d then go for a jog to them unless they’re a target’s bodyguard
Cool. If this mechanic was added it would upturn the entire game
I was having a little think about this after stumbling across this post on my profile, and I was thinking about pacified npcs. Perhaps on master mode, civilian first-aiders could also wake up pacified people? If the pacified person has compromised 47, I could see them alerting whoever woke them up, and then running to the nearest guard as usual.
What do you think?
- Specific civilians waking up pacified NPCs is suitable for any difficulty
- Specific civilians waking up pacified NPCs is suitable for master only
- Specific civilians waking up pacified NPCs is not ideal/balanced
0 voters
I wouldn’t mind it, but I don’t think it would change a whole lot. There are some maps with medical people who would make sense. Generally though the civilian finds a passed out person, runs to a guard, & guard wakes up person. This new system could actually work against the game if the guard is pretty near the civilian who finds an incapacitated person but a medical NPC is more near. The civilian will run to the medic who will wake up the NPC and then one of them has to run off to find a guard. It only saves the game time when it’s a medial person who stumbles onto the passed out NPC
I also think there should be a way for 47 to awaken a pacified person himself … That way you could isolate your target and do a live kill (i.e. drown, injected poison, fiber wire, melee, etc.) after waking them up …
Also, awakening an NPC, should not remove the red gun if they are there.