Indeed. I don’t like the Raver outfit.
The Raven suit fits in Berlin nicely.
I’m hoping the Envy suit blends into Berlin like the Scarlet suit to Chongqing.
3 Likes
As with several of the Deadly Sins seasons, I’m not entirely sure where this one is coming from, in the context of 47’s inner thoughts and beliefs.
The seasons of Greed and Pride were clearly his own views on himself, but was it that the felt he was too greedy and prideful, or that he should have remained focused on getting paid and should have taken more pride in his work? Sloth is completely unknown, as I can’t figure out if 47 felt that he was being too lazy sometimes with his work and taking the easy way out, or that he should have taken it easy more and not tried so hard to make things so complicated when killing his targets. Lust, I can’t tell if it’s from the perspective of his client or 47 himself, or in what context; that he wants to help his client express their lust, or express his own by helping someone else with theirs, since he can’t have any relationships. Gluttony, I’m virtually certain that it’s the client’s gluttony that 47 is serving and not his own, but again, is he thinking that he wasted too much time indulging the desires of his clients and not his own, or that he should have had only his clients’ wishes in mind instead of his own?
And now here we are with Envy. Is 47 revealing that he was always worried that someone else was better than him, making his entire existence meaningless? Or is he wanting to constantly better himself by finding assassins better than him and then upping his game to become the best, because he’s envious of any perception that someone else is better? It’s so hard to interpret what lens 47 is viewing these hallucinatory escalations through.
I’m sure it will be the same with Wrath; 47’s or his clients’? If 47’s, because he felt he never got to properly express his wrath, or he felt that he indulged in it too much and it’s not becoming of a professional?
4 Likes
So if you replace the NPC competing against you with an online competitor, this is a revival of multiplayer Hitman.
1 Like
So I just played a bit of the escalation.
I will start with what will be quickly seen by everyone, the items. And unfortunately they are not good. Especially compared to what was unlocked in the previous seasons. The knife is a knife, no poison in the hilt like many (including me) thought, the sniper is a Tuatara reskin, no special perks, even the jaeger 7 covert that will be unlocked this season for everyone is better for being subsonic and not just silenced like the green eye. I will grant them the beauty of their aesthetic. I can’t deny that they are pretty, but just reskins.
The Suit is great, it’s a unique design, it can actually blend in certain maps (alright maybe just Berlin). It has a certain charm, I like it.
Now onto the escalation proper.
The map was entirely reworked, but not in the same way as Sloth or Gluttony. It seems like every instance of red was changed to green, from the carpets to the curtains. Paintings were added, furniture and props were added/removed/modified. The map rework doesn’t have the same gameplay impact that the one for Gluttony had, but the change in ambiance, in the overall feel of the map is surprisingly impactful. Honestly that was some great job from the artists.
A large amount of the NPCs had their routine or locations changed. Empty areas are now occupied, and in general a lot of work was made to make the entirety of the map interesting to play (and kill) in. So I must give my full respects to the team.
The escalation is not Suit Only ! I’m genuinely glad for that. It immediately improves the number of possibilities and the amount of replayability. That was a great decision by the live team.
The gameplay loop is pretty interesting. You can actually finish the level without killing anyone (but you will be mocked for it), you can choose to kill some of the targets. Outside of death, I don’t think there are any instant fail conditions. Tools are given at the right place and at the right time. The loop just works. And is fun.
The escalation is closer to the Dartmoor Garden Show or a bonus mission that I expected. And I’m delighted by it. Kudos to everyone.
I really liked the fan service for the targets and how each kill conditions were thematically linked to the characters. They all use a different part of the map, so the whole escalation encompass every part of it (minus the fields I think). Including the less used area from the normal level.
The Rival is the best that could be done. It’s not the greatest AI ever seen in a game, but it does its job, and it does it well. It adds to the escalation, it can be random, it is fun to follow around if you want, it can be stressful in some situations, it just adds the right kind of spice.
I think the escalation will have some good replay value. I don’t know if it will be as much as Lust or Gluttony (with their randomization or open ended targets), but once you’ve done the saso challenges, I think you could replay the escalation like a normal map multiple times. Even more so when you look at the routine of the targets. They are not in a small loop, they all have multiple kill opportunities and a singular path. I believe this escalation will give us the impression that we normally have in normal map of learning and mastering the targets and the level.
Finally the narrator can swear. So the whole affair is automatically a ten out of ten.
20 Likes
I’m going to be in the minority for this, but I hate this one! This is exactly why I don’t play multiplayer anything. This isn’t Hitman. The timer, the rival, the fact that if you don’t act quick enough you lose the targets, this escalation is horrible for me and it’s actually likely I’ll never bother to finish it. I did the first one, failed the second level, and never even tried the third.
I’ve enjoyed every other sin so far but this one isn’t for me.
6 Likes
I get you here. I personnaly liked it but it’s a very particular game mode.
To you, and anyone with the same viewpoint, I would recommend to not play the escalation as a “I need to do a perfect run” escalation. Maybe just trying to have more than the rival and losing some target to him, allowing the use of disguises, or anything else with less restrain could make it a bit more fun.
I genuinely hope that the next season will be more for you.
2 Likes
Oh, I wasn’t even trying to do anything perfect. I don’t care about SA or SO rankings (though there are challenges for this one to do exactly that).
3 Likes
Alright so i think we can all agree that was the best escalation so far right? Absolutely loved it. When playing thru it at first I was cynical. I thought there would be minimal changes to the map, but they added a ton of NPCs and details which changed per level. For example you get the poison maker in level two but when Emma Carlisle isnt in three it removes the poison maker. I was fine with puzzle targets with only a couple of solutions but I expected more, but then level three’s targets were a little more in depth and kind of cool. Managed to get a good solution with Rutter with the sniper by KOing him in the bush. I also thought it’d be cool to kill the rival after he’s done but dismissed it as something IO wouldn’t do, then it happened and I was really satisfied because it told a cool story which is what escalations are great at. It built up a good rivalry with this piece of AI
The best of three gimmick was extremely cool. I was genuinely challenged in the later levels which was great. I think this and Lust are the two most challenging escalations in the new levels. I loved the way the targets had their iconography in the map, it’s like they wanted to redecorate to feel at home. The reskin of Mendoza is really pretty
The escalation is a really clever reuse of one of the trilogy’s best designed levels. What’s funny is the thing that lets it down is what the previous three escalations has done well and that’s unlocks. Lust had a cool crossbow and a nice suit. Sloth had the snail. Gluttony had gum and a nice looking shotgun. Envy goes backwards and the suit sucks. I’m glad it isnt a smart casual reskin but it’s the gaudiest of them all
5 Likes
pretty fun. There are a few targets I highly dislike, namely Rebecca and Maxwell. Only way I’ve managed to kill them SASO is by causing a panic and hoping rng goes in my favor and gives me a window to kill them.
2 Likes
RNG in Mendoza? You don’t say! 
I’m looking forward to it even in a map that I can’t stand.
2 Likes
Really enjoyed this one, and could make for a fun mode for other levels. The changes to the aesthetic of the map are great as well. Overall last few Seasons have allowed for some fun experimentation and this one really goes forward with it
Though wish the rival was a different assassin from the WoA series for each level like the Cashmerian or Corvo Black maybe even Lucas Grey at the end 
3 Likes
I’ve got a question about the Rival:
does he only attempt one scripted kill on each target?
For example, I poisoned Hector’s wine glass. The Rival came along, saw what I had done, stamped his foot and flounced off. He made no attempt whatsoever to stalk or intercept Hector before he could return to his wine, which I found a little disappointing. I’d have preferred a dynamic opponent, or at minimum someone who would have a variety of possible approaches to each target.
2 Likes
Yes, he looks for an opportunity during one-two cycles of a target, sees an opportunity and goes with it.
2 Likes
Exactly. Nothing replaces the intelligence of a real player. #RIPGhostMode
1 Like
Overall, a great escalation. What I especially like is that the time constraints do not allow spending much time on each target, because the Rival is out there to get them. The best portrayal of that was the 2nd level, where I had to disrupt his plan by triggering the trap before the target got there. Otherwise, there’s simply not enough time.
Unlocks are meh, but that’s okay, the fun factor of this escalation is beyond what other Sins have managed to deliver.
1 Like
I only played level 1 and will get back to it later tonight but I don’t see an issue with timing.
I checked the rival once and he was walking. Does he walk the whole time? If so, you can forget he’s even there 
From my 2 minutes of playing, I can only say that Mendoza looks much better with the Envy theme*.
*I still think Mendoza is an awful mission and contracts map
The timer issue is completely on me. There was another thread on here yesterday I think where someone was complaining about the time it took to get from the radio tower in Berlin to the gate. They had claimed it was 45 seconds so I timed it and it only takes 31 seconds. I just forgot I left the timer on so that’s on me.
I do not like competition. I don’t play sports and don’t watch them. I don’t play multiplayer games either. The rival could have taken 20 minutes to kill the first target and it would still have bugged me. His existence in the level causes me stress. I find myself making all sorts of stupid mistakes and ended up getting shot to death because the only thing on my mind was this stupid rival who could be lurking somewhere.
5 Likes
That makes sense then, I also don’t like sports (playing or watching.) Competitions don’t bother me but I don’t play multiplayer anymore. Halo 3 and MW2 and 3 were the best we’ll ever see IMHO.
Anyway, this would definitely suck for someone who is bothered by multiplayer/competition.
Did you enjoy Lust? That was a lengthy one for the first few runs.