Unnecessary kills should be always highly discouraged

I mean the main reason for their not being silent assassin as a consistently required or encouraged component is that the rogue like system will propose certain situations or targets where it can be impossible to truly do silent assassin, especially when you layer on lookouts, alerts, and assassins on top of that. Also it’s fun to break away from the dichotomy of “silent assassin” versus “literally anything else” and the mechanics can go in different directions than what we are used to

Besides, it’s nice to go back to the codename 47 esque days where there is no true ranking system other than the risks and mission costs associated with being sloppy

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There really isn’t any “score” though. It’s just experience awarded. Maybe there will be a leader board or an actual score in the full game where people use their accounts though.

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I think it’s great we’re finally getting a gamemode where silent assassin isn’t always the objective. Yeah that’s the style of the regular game, but it absolutely limits the way you play a lot. It makes sense that you’re supposed to be a true professional in the campaign, but these are just freelance jobs.

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yeah i’m really out of the loop on freelancer but it sounds fun.

yea but that dont work?

I mean it might work in some instances, but in the syndicate leader missions, your target will try to escape and the levels are huge.

Escaping targets in the main campaign wasn’t a big problem, but with 8+ suspects all over the map, vciolent shootouts are mostly a mission fail simply because the real target quickly runs to an exist before you can reach him…

As far as I know they can use multiple exists and there are mostly too many to just rig all of them. Or maybe you can but then that’s a whole different challenge and not an oversight.

Right. The Showdowns aren’t the time or place to do that. I could’ve worded that part of my post better… But (I was meaning to say) that’s what they were doing before the showdowns… That’s what they were referring to as “filler”.

Well, yeah. It “works”. Re: the rounds before the showdowns. Just go in, and shoot whoever you want in order to get to the main (known) target. Just like shitting your pants “works” when you’re nowhere near a toilet, then just get a fresh pair of clothes later because you can’t be arsed to have a little patience.

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Okay yes, before the leader showdowns it works

I mean the very first level of the very first Hitman 2016 has a challenge for bringing down the ceiling lamps on the runway and killing several dozens of the runway audience. So that’s a pretty ridiculous concern to have at this point.

And what about Diana? Do you think the way she is portrayed goes along well with this high collateral damage kill?

Yes, but you’ll get an awful rating, so the game is telling you are doing a bad job. Now with freelancer collateral damage is no more a penalty, it is a point of prestige.

I am not telling anyone how to play, I just expressed my thoughts and feelings about this drastic change of direction which impacts also 47 character. May be my idea of 47 is different from others have, but to me while he has no remorse, he does not enjoy killing for the sake of killing. If he has no choice, he would kill non targets to complete the objectives but he takes proud in doing a good job.

So I hope that the next iteration of the franchise will still consider unnecessary kills as a negative.

Anyway I have nothing more to say, if someone wants to say something I hope it will be in a respectful and constructive way.

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I disagree. The entire campaign, all the elusive targets and most escalations and contracts in the the game all punish non stealthy approaches and promotes silent assasin. That’s fine, that is how Hitman is supposed to be played as a professional. However Hitman is also about having the choice to kill in whatever way you want, and it’s great that we’re finally getting a gamemode where silent assassin isn’t the only encouraged method to finish a level.

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This is so similar to the Chaos system discussion in Dishonored.

People striving to be “morally good” avoid using most of the gameplay mechanics and tools because there is always a looming shadow of bad ending. In our case, bad rating.

That’s why going away with SA at least for Freelancer makes it way more creative and open for experimentation than the main game. All the tools gathering dust in your inventory have a purpose now.

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Great comparison. The game has two different paths (Dishonored) but the second one is avoided by many for being “the bad way” which simply means: Less gameplay, less fun. That’s why I love the new Freelancer approach: Do it your way, play in different styles. Play like you want, play how it it most fun to you and not how the game tells you to do it.

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My thoughts on this are that if you blow your cover and go on a killing spree, it will more often than not end in a dead 47 and a failed mission. As long as 47 doesn’t get superhuman strength or intense body armour, it probably will never be to the player’s tactical advantage to go on killing sprees. Furthermore, look at at the ‘mass evacuation’ mechanic seen in Paris once Novikov has been killed by the lighting rig. I think that a similar effect can occur in other maps should you cause too much chaos. For some people that might be enjoyable, but for me it makes the game much harder. Some targets go into perpetual lockdown for the remainder of the mission, which hardly makes for satisfying gameplay.

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I’ve been replaying C47 and it’s nice that you don’t get punished for killing guards but you lose alot of cash for killing non combatants.

You can play however you like but there is an optimal route. I just love C47 and I feel like Hitman has become very gamey…too much gamey in fact. The freelancer mode was good fun, a fresh of breath air.

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I get that the main game is about being a man literally genetically created to be the most professional and efficient hitman, and definitely the most professional and efficient hitman in the world would probably be someone who is basically a ghost that only kills the targeted person and leaves without a trace.

However this game’s biggest draw is still the variety and the choices you get to make in killing your target. Sometimes the most fun way to kill a target isn’t the most efficient and professional way. Sometimes the most fun way to kill someone isn’t the least messy, and sometimes the most efficient way to kill someone isn’t the most challenging way you could kill them. So while it thematically makes sense to punish playing less stealthily, it does encourage you to limit yourself in your approach.

That’s why I think Freelance is a great idea, the limiter isn’t always just “be stealthy” anymore. You perhaps don’t have the exact same freedom as on a regular mission because of kill conditions, but you are also not always bound by the same limit of always being punished for making a mess. Also completely realistically speaking, if someone were putting contracts on people in real life they would probably not ALWAYS want the target to be killed as discretely as possible with no way of knowing it was a murder. It absolutely makes sense for Freelance missions to have different kill conditions to please client demands.

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