HITMAN: Definitive Edition Review on PS4, Xbox One and PC: Every Sandbox in One Box

Released May 15, 2018Reviewed on Xbox One SAlso on PlayStation 4, PCDeveloper IO InteractivePublisher Warner Bros. InteractivePrice at launch $59.99 USD

HITMAN: Definitive Edition is the most complete way to play IO Interactive’s 2016 reinvention of the series, and the reinvention is the reason to care. Few stealth games trust the player this much.

What HITMAN: Definitive Edition contains on PS4, Xbox One and PC

The name hides a complicated history. HITMAN launched in 2016 as an episodic game, one location at a time. IO Interactive had just finished the final Season One episode in October 2016 when its owner, Square Enix, announced it was withdrawing from the studio and looking for a buyer. In 2017 IO’s own management bought the company and went independent, and in April 2018 it signed a worldwide publishing deal with Warner Bros. Interactive.

Square Enix had already released one collection, the HITMAN: Game of the Year Edition, in November 2017. The Definitive Edition is the second, now under Warner Bros., and it gathers:

• HITMAN Season One: Paris, Sapienza, Marrakesh, Bangkok, Colorado and Hokkaido, plus the ICA Facility
• Game of the Year content: the four-mission Patient Zero campaign, three themed Escalation Contracts with unlockable weapons, and the Clown, Cowboy and Raven suits
• Summer Bonus Episode: extra ICA missions in Sapienza and Marrakesh
• Blood Money Requiem Pack: the Requiem Suit, the Pale Duck Explosive and the ICA Chrome Pistol
• 20th Anniversary Outfit Bundle: three outfits nodding to Freedom Fighters, Kane & Lynch and Mini Ninjas

PS4 owners get one extra: HITMAN: Definitive Edition on PS4 also includes The Sarajevo Six, a run of bonus missions spread across the existing maps.

One practical warning. On the physical Xbox One release, the single-use code in the box did not download everything in one go. Content on the Xbox store is split into groups and individual items, and the code covered the items but not the groups. Until everything was found and installed, the main menu kept advertising the Game of the Year Edition that the box already included. Warner Bros. acknowledged the problem, which did not make it less annoying on day one.

Six sandboxes, built on Glacier 2

The package is enormous, and the maps are the reason. Rather than Unreal or Unity, HITMAN runs on IO’s own Glacier 2 engine, built for large spaces and big crowds of non-player characters, each with a route and a routine. Simply walking every corner of a map can take an hour or two before the real planning starts.

The levels range from good to excellent, and the best ones are the most believable. Paris, Sapienza, Marrakesh and Bangkok mix ordinary civilians with guards and private security, so there is always a crowd to hide in and a reason to be somewhere. Colorado is the weak point: a militia camp that is hostile almost everywhere, which leaves little room to wander. Hokkaido’s sterile clinic looks striking but feels thinner than the four before it.

Story and Opportunities

The plot technically follows Hitman: Absolution, but it never asks for homework. A newcomer loses nothing by starting here. The story is light for most of the season and then back-loaded, with its biggest revelations arriving near the end to set up HITMAN 2, released in November 2018.

The heart of the story missions is the Opportunity system. These are hand-built scenarios that open a unique route to a target: attending a birthday, posing as someone the target has never met, slipping into a role the level has quietly prepared. They are multi-step, often funny, and the most crafted part of the game.

Bonus missions vary for exactly that reason. Patient Zero, the Sarajevo Six and the one-off missions such as the Home Alone-themed Holiday Hoarders reuse the existing maps with new dressing. Only The Icon, A House Built on Sand and Landslide come with Opportunities, and they stand clearly above the rest.

The side content that never ends

• Challenges are split into Assassinations, Discoveries, Feats and Targets. They award experience per map and unlock weapons, outfits, starting points and item drops. No single run can finish them all.
• Escalations add named targets with a required weapon and disguise, then stack Complications across five rising stages.
• Elusive Targets are online and time-limited. Complete one objective and there is no restart: fail and the target is gone. With the game two years old at this point, the 26 Elusive Targets were returning in ten-day windows, including The Wildcard, where the target is Gary Busey.
• Contracts are player-made hits on the existing maps, ranked on worldwide leaderboards.

How it plays

HITMAN is a joy to play, and it teaches itself well. The training missions layer the systems one at a time: basic controls, then Instinct mode (back from Absolution, it highlights targets and opportunities), then the environmental systems, then Agent 47’s advanced moves. IO’s designers later walked through that layered onboarding in a talk at GDC.

After that the world is a sandbox. A target can be pushed off a balcony, hit with a thrown screwdriver, poisoned, or lured to a window by a fire alarm and shot from a rooftop, and each map adds methods of its own. Any playstyle is allowed.

The scoring is what shapes it. Shooting through the third objective in Sapienza to reach the exit gives a score of zero, and seeing that zero next to friends on the leaderboard is a strong argument for fewer bodies and more patience. The game nudges players toward the silent professional rather than forcing it, and the generous save system makes experiments cheap.

Controls, graphics and sound

The controls are the main complaint. There is a lot to remember, and in a tense moment it is easy to draw an illegal weapon in front of a guard. Gunfight mechanics should matter little in a game where one silenced shot is the ideal, but the cover and shooting systems still feel stiff next to more modern action games.

Glacier 2 earns its keep visually. Each level loads once and often opens on a striking vista, as in Sapienza or Bangkok. The lighting is excellent, and the real scale shows from the top of a sniper tower in Colorado, where every enemy across the map can be picked out through the scope without a stutter. The mission briefings have style to spare, and the interface is clear. Sound effects and environmental audio are strong and useful in play; the music and voice acting are competent and forgettable.

The review verdict

HITMAN: Definitive Edition opens the series to players who never thought stealth games were for them. Its four best sandboxes are among the finest levels in the genre, the side modes provide weeks of replay value, and the scoring quietly teaches patience. Play it for the Opportunities, then stay for the leaderboards.

Who it is for: anyone who enjoys planning, watching patterns and improvising when the plan breaks. Who should wait: players who want snappy third-person shooting, because HITMAN punishes exactly that.

Questions readers ask

What is the difference between HITMAN Game of the Year Edition and the Definitive Edition?

The Game of the Year Edition (November 2017) bundled Season One with the Patient Zero campaign and extra suits. The Definitive Edition (May 2018, published by Warner Bros. Interactive) adds the Summer Bonus Episode, the Blood Money Requiem Pack and the 20th Anniversary outfits on top of that.

Do I need to play older Hitman games first?

No. The story follows on from Hitman: Absolution, but it does not lean on it. New players can start here without missing anything important.

How many locations are in HITMAN: Definitive Edition?

Six main locations from Season One (Paris, Sapienza, Marrakesh, Bangkok, Colorado and Hokkaido) plus the ICA Facility training ground.

Is HITMAN: Definitive Edition worth it on PS4?

PlayStation 4 owners get the most: on top of the shared content, the Sarajevo Six bonus missions are exclusive to that platform.