Hitman Episode Two: Sapienza Review

When Hitman first released containing just one mission (plus the intro missions), I was a little bit worried that it might not have enough content to hold up to a full review. As you can read in my Episode One review, I had nothing to worry about. It was announced that for the price of a full game you would get plenty of content to keep you going for the next year. So here we are with the second episode of Hitman on our hot little consoles and it’s just as good as the first, if not better.

Just chilling out by the ocean

Beautiful Sapienza

The latest mission, World of Tomorrow, is set in the coastal town of Sapienza, Italy where Agent 47 is tasked with, you guessed it, assassinating some targets. Whilst the premise doesn’t change from the first episode, the environment that it takes place in couldn’t be more different. Our favourite assassin is tasked with taking down Silvio Caruso, a brilliant bioengineer who, on behalf of the Ether Corporation, has developed a DNA-specific virus capable of targeting anyone in the world. Additionally (because what’s a man without a stronger woman), you will also have to terminate Francesca De Santis, the laboratory head on the virus project. Francesca has intimate knowledge of the virus project so must be taken out with Silvio to ensure the project’s destruction. Once the two spearheads of the project are eliminated Agent 47 will have to destroy the virus in its current state.

Where in Paris you felt constrained by the environment, the opposite is true for Sapienza. The setting is so intricately prepared and it’s hugely different to anything we’ve seen in any previous Hitman game. The sheer size of the town is the first thing you will notice, but just how impressively detailed it is means you can walk around discovering new and exciting ways to kill people for days. The sleepy coastal town contains multitudes of back alleys and hidden areas for players to scout out. Sure, you could finish the mission as quickly as possible using some methods but that wouldn’t be the Hitman style. Instead, players should acquaint themselves with the nooks and crannies of this massive map. Taking a stroll down a back alley and listening in on a conversation between two elderly gents may just reveal a route to death that you’d never have even dreamed of. In my exploration of this mission I’ve spent a good 5-10 hours just getting my head around it all and only completed it twice. Just as with Paris, Agent 47 is given plenty of different opportunities to help with the hits. I found myself relying on these less in this mission as I wandered around discovering new pieces of intel and many and varied weapons or tools to assist me in my ultimate goal – to destroy lives. I won’t go into the details of how you can achieve the assassinations but there are some real doozies in there.

Each of these missions is connected by an overarching storyline that we get snippets of with each new release. The story is quite vague at the moment but we’ve been given a few key characters to follow as we try to figure out the bigger picture. I for one am looking forward to witnessing the story play out over the next few episodes.

IO have upped the ante in the latest episode of Hitman, creating an immensely beautiful setting in which to carry out your objectives. The challenge provided is second to none and everything has been thought out beautifully

Once again the visuals are incredibly well done, as is the accompanying soundtrack. My wife even asked me what I was playing because it sounded really creepy (her words). The difficulty of this latest episode has really jumped to another level and IO must be congratulated on that aspect. Previous issues with connectivity I faced have all but disappeared and what we have is an incredibly stable, challenging game. As of May 13^th, the Elusive Target has been activated. As I mentioned in the review for Episode One, at regular but random intervals a time-limited target will appear and players will have but one chance to assassinate the target before they disappear for good. I am yet to experience this in my game but I’ll be sure to put in quite a few more hours over the coming months.

You’re never too close for a sniper rifle

Final thoughts

IO have upped the ante in the latest episode of Hitman, creating an immensely beautiful setting in which to carry out your objectives. The challenge provided is second to none and everything has been thought out beautifully. Additional challenges and contracts are just as good as the first episode and the replayabilty of Sapienza is staggering. I am extremely gruntled by this offering and eagerly await the next episode.

Reviewed on PS4