Sure they’re not the most versatile tool, but there are locked doors in pretty much all levels, and I’d rather try and get in quietly, rather than brute force my way in with a crowbar.
Not every level needs lockpicks though, You can very reasonably get away with not bringing them in most of the H3 maps, but 2016 and 2’s maps…not so much.
In my mind, it’s “I’m glad I brought this in with me” more than anything else.
The rewards do make some sense if you do the ingredients one at a time. If you do the grapes first, for example, the rewards make getting the fish slightly easier. I think the reverse is also true. Whatever ingredient you do first gives the items that are supposed to make the other ingredient easier to get. If you do all of the ingredients at once though, you just end up with a bunch of stuff that you have no use for.
Paris, Marrakesh, Bangkok, Colorado, Hokkaido, Hawke, Whittleton, Sgail, New York, Haven, you can easily get away without, and most locked doors in the maps not mentioned have no one around so you could just crowbar them.
Don’t get me wrong, feel free to always bring one if you like, just saying it’s never neccessary, and there are better alternatives. Imo always bringing one limits your loadout.
Well that was underwhelming 
Tried my best to make Level-3 of this Escalation kind of difficult, but it’s just too easy…
Suit Only/Silent Assassin/Ghost Assassin
No KO
No Instinct
No HUD
No Coins
No Subdue/No Pacify
No Distractions Of Any Kind
No Cameras/No Evidence Destroyed
All Bodies Hidden
Not A Single Huh? What? Hmmm
All Objectives & Extra Objectives Complete
The way these levels are designed, I would think that no item is actually “necessary” to bring in with you. There is always an alternative in-map to whatever you’d bring in unless you’re specifically trying to do something unique.
Bangkok and Hokkaido require keycards, which is why I use the disposable scrambler instead, where appropriate. WC just has very few enforcers to see you smash open doors, New York is also keycard-based (though mercifully the keycards are easy-ish to get to on the map), and Haven is practically open for the most part.
I bring lockpicks in part because It just saves time in general, and I already have three other slots I can take items I want in, plus a briefcase. I don’t think the lockpicks or keycard hackers are a dead slot or anything.
Same here. There is usually an easy way.
@Dribbleondo If you’re really stuck, shoot a fire extinguisher. Or use a crowbar.
Frote7 is right. In most cases there are
a) often an alternative entrance through a window or
b) a crowbar somewhere to enter or
c) an explosive device (fire extinguisher / remote explosive) to open a door if you need it
d) you can use an smg to open the door.
If I don’t have loadout requirements for kill conditions, then the most useful item IMHO is the remote emetic device inside of a suitcase, then the sieker or other emetic device. If I know of propane flask somewhere then I often carry the breaching charge, or a lethal syringe where you create an automatic accident kill without having to hide a body.
In addition to what everyone said, most locked doors/lockers have a key somewhere or on someone. With it either a room to navigate stealthily or a NPC to knock out. Which are not efficient but fun. Did a few key only runs and they can be interesting.
So, since there is at least one crowbar on every level (except I think for Hawkes Bay but the key is right there by the pool), is the lockpick never worth taking?
Are there any other levels besides Hawkes Bay that don’t have at least one? Given that the crowbar can be used as a non-lethal melee tool (and thrown), seems like it’s certainly one of the most useful tools in 47’s inventory for sure.
I don’t know if the issue here is “is the lockpick worth taking?”
Obviously there’s going to be a way around nearly every door in the Hitman Trilogy, and so bringing along a lockpick does take up what other equipment you might want to bring.
I think what @Dribbleondo was just getting at was that it’s annoying to come across a locked door and not be able to get through right away, so having a lockpick that can quickly, and mostly stealth-ily open them is useful and saves a bit of time having to track down a key or explosive or ledge to get around.
Obviously @Frote7 is perfectly fine with not taking it because he knows the maps like the back of his hand, he’s a pro at getting around small issues like this.
So, I think the Lockpick it just a convenient tool to bring rather than something necessary or useful 100% of the time.
I went back in the escalation. There is something intriguing about it, from the “make your own menu with the guards”. I tried to pick them from different places, went in the block, used the bubble gum instead of knocking out…
I think it’s one of the most worked on escalation to date.
There are a lot of small but significant changes in the level for gameplay purposes and to give the player more opportunities tailored for the tools and need of the escalation.
There are a bunch of fuse boxes (with wires added to make them blend in naturally), some more bins to hide the bodies, crates to crouch and hide behind, eating and drinking routines added, NPCs added during the escalating levels to make use of the sedative gum and I think a few cameras were deleted to make some part of the navigation non frustrating for a suit only no silenced pistol at first escalation,…
I will check if that was the same in the previous escalations, but I think it’s a first on that scale. Either the change were made for the large number of targets or I saw them because it.
In case I miss the IOI Insider question thread, @Clemens_IOI , I am curious on the amount of gameplay fine tuning made here.
I think it’s just “to each their own”. I only ever bring the lockpick and the coin. I almost never bring anything else (except for Hokkaido where the lockpick is replaced with the keycard scrambler. That’s pretty much the only loadout I ever use and everything else I just find in-level or do without.
I don’t think I can really prove this, but it feels like each escalation essentially outdoes the previous one. While Dubai’s Greed escalation was Ok, the later ones just keep getting better and more involved. Some of them may not be everyone’s cup of tea (I personally didn’t like the sloth mechanic) but in general, the longer the Sins go on, the better they seem to get.
Couldn’t put it better myself.
Breaching charges are quite useful for explosive kills and opening doors, which, while I rarely take them, is a good way of keeping on the down-low and opening a door.
As things go, the convenience of the lockpicks/ scramblers greatly outweighs the fact I can bring in another item, one that I may not even get to use anyway. I get the sense in H3 that the devs realised how often players took the lockpick, so they rebalanced the levels to not need them so much.
I am in total agreement. IOI has balanced the game fairly well so as to ensure that no item is really over-powered (now that they nerfed the double breaching charge and the electrocution phone), and that they provide more than one solution for every situation or map.
The limited load out is a key mechanic in Hitman. It appears that IOI has generated maps so that lock picks and key cards are often, but not always a valuable item in your limited load out, but if you don’t have one in your slot and you are in an existing map, there are ways of finding a work around, instead of having to re-plan your mission with a new load out.
What impresses me the most is how well balanced and polished Hitman is across its 20 maps. It mostly goes unnoticed but IOI has had a team iterating on tweeking all aspect of Hitman for each location over many years, and it shows.
Everybodys right about this topic. All the stuff ive read i agree with, so a rare good discussion on the internet
