Ì understand IOI’s motto of prefering open ended contracts that are user friendly to newcomers and can be completed in multiple ways, but seriously, there are already THOUSANDS of them. I really enjoyed the Puzzle Box and Mystery themed contracts more, and I think each batch of curated or featured contracts (if we do get a chance to submit again) should at least have ONE ADVANCED puzzle contract, where you can only get SA by doing it a certain way, or with certain gadgets. I know there are creative players out there with brilliant ideas, just burning to create a cool puzzle, but then it wont get featured, because it only has one solution. What do you guys think?
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I don’t like any restrictions whatever they may be.
Hitman is about freedom not about restrictiveness.
There are thousands of garbage contracts.
Luckily there are only a few of them in Featured.
Such contracts might be fun, but after a few failures it becomes annoying and all desire to play them just evaporates and personally I if I see that it will take another ten hours and thousands of restarts, just go and kill targets with a simple way like a pistol or fiber wire and head to exit. Sometimes I don’t even care about not spotted and other SA objectives.
And sometimes I just kill everybody who prevents me to get to exit.
Not all puzzle contracts are fun. Most of them just annoying
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While some of my favorite FCs happen to be puzzle contracts (Schizophrenia, Perfect Shooter Puzzle Remix…) I don’t mind most of them being “regular” ones, although I’m not a big fan of any / anys unless they have a really good briefing or strong theme to go with them. As far as I know IOI wants FCs to be accessible to the majority of players.
Besides it’s probably pretty hard to choose interesting contracts among the selection being offered, and way harder to understand at first glance which ones are puzzle contracts and which aren’t. I’d rather leave the selection of puzzle contracts to people who can manage to round up a few interesting ones in a single selection - Puzzle Box was a good example.
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If you like one, you should try my contract where you have to drown Zaydan, SA/SO, no ko.
I can’t remember the contract name but just do a custom search for 1 target in marrakesh and Zaydan being the target and see if you can figure it out.
I found it fun and challenging.
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Heavily depends on the contract itself, can be the most interesting contract you ever played and can be the most limited idea that there are 0 ways to go around and it’s pissing you tf off.
But in general I obviously disagree, not saying that every contract must be Any/Any with no complications, but at least allow the players to be creative with the game, don’t make it a linear puzzle with a single method or a linear puzzle that any other solution is very frustrating.
Freedom matters a lot with these games and it’s not fun when it’s taken away.
Since it’s unavoidable (and my own personal opionion) even your contracts work the best when they aren’t too limiting and players can go around the intented solution and solve the contract in different ways (for example the one you made for the pirates batch, three targets with explosives, obviously you want me to catch all three with a single explosive, but if I find 2 or 3 explosives to work for me better I’d go with what I enjoy more, and that contract was actually really fun).
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Honestly my main memories when i think of trying puzzle contracts is just getting frustrated over either not being able to figure out how I’m even supposed to do them or finding my solution too tricky and tedious to continue attempting it. In both cases I often just abandon the contract with a bad taste in my mouth. I really liked the most recent FC batch for the fact it was more open and I didn’t feel stupid for not matching creator’s specific criteria.
If contracts mode ever gets updated, I wish there was an option for creators to attach some sort of tags or difficulty/complexity/openness ratings to contracts (with filters) to more easily see which contracts might fit every individual’s tastes at a glance. As much as I dislike many puzzle contracts, I can totally see the appeal of them.
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Puzzle contracts can be interesting and I actually don’t mind some restrictions in contracts. I know Hitman is about openness but for the sake of individual contracts, restrictions can be fine if it provides a novel direction. The problem with a lot of puzzle contracts is that the tedium can set in very quickly for me.
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Different people enjoy different things, and Hitman can cater to many different playstyles. I think this is great.
Here are three videos featuring three contracts - they’re long, but interesting.
The questions I’ll pose to you: Are these puzzle contracts? Regardless of your answer, would they have been puzzle contracts if they didn’t have hundreds of entries trying to find the fastest routes?
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Wow, this is AMAZING! Just goes to show: you can throw ANYTHING at speedrunners, and they will come up with a solution! However, I dont think these are puzzle contracts, they are more speedrunning challenges.
I both agree and disagree with you.
I find restrictions fun, as long as it’s not for the sake of being difficult and it’s logical…
Yeah, especially mandatory no pacifications, perfect shooter and 10 sec failure.
Really really fun
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There are so many people, so many opinions in this matter. Some like puzzles, some like speed contracts, some like long adventures with finding weapons, changing disguises, finding an inconvenient exit. I think that in batch Fc should be a variety of contracts designed for different players.
Personally, I do not like overly complex contracts like: Fall season 2020 or requiring special secret knowledge like Blocksmith.
By the way, @Steynkie1 , why did you create this topic? Maybe you will be the next FC curator?
Technically speaking, from the very first Hitman game on, every single mission (or contract) is a puzzle. Basically, we are speaking about the interaction of objects and their removal from the environment without further interaction with other objects.
If we’re talking about “puzzle” contracts, I don’t think it’s an appropriate designation. Each contract must be created validly (with the exception of the HCCE), so it’s more about the complexity of the solution. Very complex contracts can be tedious and tiring for many players. On the other hand, we have contracts that have no restrictions and are very flexible in their solutions.
I personally prefer contracts that are somewhere between these two variants. A bit of complexity and a bit of freedom.
Jeez no, I’m still a noob when it comes to Hitman, I just enjoy puzzle contracts, and I think each batch should include at least one.
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you forgot the fixed exit on the other side of the map
True, allocated exit is another restriction, though not that severe.
But if it’s a suit only or no disguise changes, that makes it like a hell on most of locations, I agree
The problem with a lot of puzzle contracts is they’re not actually puzzle contracts 
Those who don’t really know what they’re doing just slap a bunch of restrictions on something and say “Here’s a puzzle contract”. No, that’s a restrictive contract… a ‘challenge’ contract at best.
A puzzle requires an actual concept, a central premise, a problem to overcome, and of course at least one solution that isn’t immediately obvious. “Kill this guy with an axe in 60 seconds without knocking anyone out or changing disguise, or being spotted” isn’t really a concept or special problem, the answer to it is simply “Be good at the game lol”.
A concept/problem is “How do you reach this person behind an impenetrable door?” “How do you kill two people in different areas with one propane flask, when you’re not allowed to KO and drag them to a spot?”, “How do you get this guy into a body container when he’s nowhere near one?”, “How do you push this guy over the edge when he’s not near one and you can’t drag him?”. You’ll notice “be a really good aim/fast/good at hiding” isn’t an answer to these questions.
I’ve said it many times over the years: people regularly mistake challenge contracts (lots of restrictions, you know what to do but the difficulty is in executing it) and bug/troll contracts (requires niche knowledge of usually unintended/broken things in the game or requires deliberate frustration to complete) with puzzle contracts (You don’t know what to do and the point is to figure it out, without requiring the internet to point out a bug) and it gives puzzle contracts a bad name when people do that.
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Just stumbled on this “puzzle” contract.
@Steynkie1 now tell me please, how am I supposed to get Morgue Doctor and Resort Security disguises when I’m not allowed to pacify and I’m heading for Silent Assassin (that means I can’t kill anyone as well)?
This kind of shit “puzzles” are hardly would’ve been welcomed to the community and particularly in Featured Contracts.
Because you can’t do this contract SA and this is not the way the game was supposed to be played.
So, as I said before, there are a lot of shit contracts, and here you have an example
This is not a puzzle contract though, just a bad contract. A puzzle is by definition intended to be solvable.
Seems like the creator of this has their own view on puzzles and solvability.
So does bunch others “puzzle contact creators”.
Technically this is a puzzle contract, because you need to solve the mystery.
In reality it’s just a bad contract indeed. But the creators of such proudly name them “puzzle contracts”