I can say without a tinge of hesitation that the Hitman is among my top three videogame franchises ever. Losing count of how many times I’ve lost precious sleep hours creeping my way through their incredibly challenging and fun levels trying to come out undetected – and earning the ‘Silent Assassin’ rating – every new entry is like the dish I so anxiously waited to dive into head first. So when it was announced that Agent 47 and co would be getting a soft reboot in 2016 that looked – and seemingly played – incredibly, I was hooked right away to the idea of tackling his missions in an episodic format.
Fast-forward almost ten years and two games later, Hitman is at the highest its ever been in popularity, and for good reason: this current trilogy is ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. And with World of Assassination, the full-blown package that includes all three games and some of their DLC, it’s only gotten better, thanks to the inclusion of Freelancer mode, one of my Games of the Year for 2023, where I’ve spent 300+ hours across three different systems. With its arrival on Switch 2, I’m about to hit that achievement on my fourth, warts and all in this technically troubled port.
Agent 47 arrives on Switch 2 with pretty much the same content in his suitcase than other versions of World of Assassination, with all three games, including the bonus missions from both Hitman 2 and 3, Elusive Targets, Arcade mode, the aforementioned Freelancer mode, and a handful of other improvements that were introduced via updates before it hit. Unfortunately, even though World of Assassination is 2 years old and there have been a number of DLC packs released since 2023, none of them were added in this Signature Edition on Switch 2.
Still, there’s plenty of bang for your buck here, especially if you’ve never played any of these games before. With over 50 missions to tackle, the number of bonus modes available and Freelancer mode, which can potentially triple, nay, quadruple your playtime if you let it get you, this is very much a good deal. If it weren’t for some snags that can hopefully be fixed with a patch, taking our bald friend wherever you go will be an offer that’s hard to deny.
Also, it includes the special Elusive Target mission that was just recently unveiled at Summer Game Fest featuring Le Chiffre, again played by Mads Mikkelsen, the villain from 007 Casino Royale, in developer IO Interactive’s partnership with MGM and Amazon to produce the James Bond game 007 First Light. All signs point to it becoming paid DLC down the line, like the Sean Bean and Jean-Claude Van Damme participations, so give that a go as soon as you can.
The main issue is performance. In portable mode, the game just runs unevenly. That’s thanks to its uncapped framerate that varies the way FPS is handled during different situations during gameplay. The result is a noticeable dip and dive as the action or simply the environment happens to get too busy. There’s also a slight overuse of the HDR effect that comes back to bite World of Assassination in the butt as you navigate its menus and even the white text and graphical elements in the map give off too strong of a sheen.
Other than these complaints, there’s the inherent problem with the hardware itself. Much like the original Switch, the Switch 2 can get uncomfortable to play especially in longer sessions due to its heft, now that it’s a bigger and heavier system than its predecessor, and its equally middling Joy Con controllers. For a game like Hitman, where you could spend hours playing at a whim, these hardware kinks can certainly get in the way of your enjoyment, even more so if you are playing a mode like Elusive Target, where your progress can’t be saved at all during a mission.
Now, that particular nagging point would be problematic even if the port was perfect out the gate, and that’s what will decide whether you’ll want to play it portably or not. Docked and as a “normal” console game with a Pro Controller – for Switch 1 or 2, I played with my original one and it was fine – Hitman: World of Assassination on Switch 2 is perfectly fine. The loading times are on par with other systems, even the PC with an SSD, and visually, it only really loses to the latter, but come on, it’s got an unfair advantage of having continuously upgradable GPUs behind it, so I’m willing to look the other way.
With some more tender loving care from IO Interactive, Hitman: World of Assassination – Signature Edition will become a mandatory pickup to those who enjoy immersive, varied, and positively exciting experiences regardless where they choose to play it. It’s a goddamn modern classic.
