So finishing up the DLC content as I’ve mentioned earlier ended up not taking very long at all. By my count, the DLC content includes two full maps with their associated missions, two Sniper Assassin maps and four Special Assignments set on the existing maps. However as I omitted writing about the Sniper Assassin mode at all in my previous post, I’ll include the first map of the set here as well.
I’ve never been a big fan of any of the variants of the sniper only mode but I have to admit that the work that went into these maps is impressive. They are truly massive and it’s possible to zoom into them, including through windows into the interiors of buildings to an incredible level of detail. The possible object interactions that you can kick off just by shooting them with your sniper rifle is overwhelming and naturally the scripts that control the behavior of your targets are affected by these interactions as well. I’m still not a big fan however as the logic behind these interactions are very obtuse and largely discovered by the fans only through trial and error. For example on the Siberia map, it is possible to get both targets to eventually fall asleep by shooting at a pill bottle on the table and then a bottle of alcohol. The challenges for this mode involve guessing at all kinds of these interactions and getting things right means replaying it over and over again to memorize the right set of actions at the right time that will provoke the set of reactions you want. Like others, I did wish that the Siberia map were playable normally as it would be amazing to have one of 47’s missions set in a prison.
The two new locations for full missions are New York and Haven Island, both of which are considered part of the main story. The need to actually play them to get the full story is questionable as I think only the final cinematic matters for setting up Hitman 3. Otherwise the targets are only peripherally connected to Providence. Of the two locations, I loved Haven Island as it’s just really cool to have a mission set on a luxury island resort and the island is pretty big. It has everything you expect on such an island, the individual chalets, restaurant, gym, massage center, medical clinic etc. plus of course the nefarious base hidden underneath it. I didn’t much like New York as a location as it consists entirely of the interior of a bank. I do concede that its tiered security levels offers some interesting gameplay possibilities and I love that the best disguise for that map is arguably the prospective job seeker. As he is new, no one else knows what he looks like and so no enforcers will challenge him.
I think both locations are significantly more difficult than most of the missions in the main game as even the secondary characters that you might want to knock out to steal their disguises or possessions can be difficult to get to. The bank vault in New York is disappointing however as it’s talked up as being a tough nut to crack but it’s really easy to penetrate without any disguise. It’s also far easier than the alternative of getting the USB drives from the three different guys. I do note that achieving sufficient mastery on Haven Island unlocks the Sieker 1 pistol which fires a single dose of emetic poison. This tool makes the entire game much easier as you can isolate and take out any single NPC you want regardless of their usual scripting. It honestly feels too powerful as it makes many types of opportunities completely pointless but I suppose it comes at the very end of the game so that’s alright.
Finally we have the Special Assignments which are new mini-missions set on the previous maps. I was looking forward to these as I enjoyed the extra missions that were part of the Patient Zero campaign. Unfortunately these are in no way the equivalent as they are really tiny missions that use only a tiny portion of the original map. For example, A Silver Tongue basically only uses a parking lot of the Miami map. They’re terrible and you can immediately how little work was put into making them. About the only saving grace is that the original maps are so good that these mini-missions give you more reason to explore corners and shortcuts in them that you never realized. For example I never realized before this that it was possible to climb from the parking lot up to Maxwell Ritter’s office in the Miami map. That’s awesome!
On the whole, I found the DLC content to be mediocre. I loved the Haven Island map and found the New York only average. But everything else was either not very appealing to me or just awful. There are still the Escalation Contracts to do of course but that’s a rabbit hole I’m not willing to go down as I’ve had more than my fill of Hitman content already. I will leave this saying basically the same thing I did after playing the previous game. I will definitely get to Hitman 3 eventually since I really do love the franchise but not for a while yet.