Hitman Go Review (Logan)
Master of deadly craft in a different format.
Hitman GO is a turn-based puzzle video game developed by Square Enix Montreal and published by Square Enix.
Story
Agent 47 does what he does best, and that is assassinating people. In GO he travels to multiple different locations to infiltrate them and eliminate specific targets, but there is no bigger connection nor plot behind it.
Gameplay
Each chapter of the game is presented in form of a board game, with 47 and his enemies being miniature figures, moving through grid-based levels filled with lines and nodes. Main goal is reaching the end of the level, either by getting to final node or by eliminating a target.
Outside of main goals, majority of levels contains additional two objectives you can complete, varying on a stage to increase replayability and challenge. It can be collecting an item, completing a level in specific amount of turns and so on.
Completing mentioned tasks grants you stars required to unlock further chapters.
Between you and your objectives stands a decent amount of obstacles in form of guards featuring different movement patterns.
At the start you will be introduced to one type of a guard, but as you progress the game will bring more enemy variants and additional mechanics to spice things up, such as throwable items or disguises.
You can eliminate enemies by moving onto the node they occupy during a turn.
It's a turn based game- after your move all characters on the board perform specific action depending on their type, some might move to another node while others can turn around to look into another direction.
If you get stuck on a level, or you have a problem with completing one of the bonus goals, you can use hints.
Playtime, replayability and other gamemodes
It took me 6 hours to complete every objective in the game, but keep in mind I do have experience with Go games as I've played both Lara Croft and Deus Ex titles before. So for a newcomer I would add one, maybe two additional hours. It also depends on how much time you are willing to spend on puzzles until you decide to use hints, and if you want to go for all objectives or not.
Previously mentioned additional objectives are a great reason to replay certain areas of the game.
No other mode beside single player.
Definitive Edition
This edition contains additional two episodes that were released post-launch, with one recreating St. Petersburg chapter from Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, further pleasing fans of 47's adventures. It also features improved visuals, and removes all in-game purchases options!
Pros and cons
Fantastic board game aesthetic and pleasant visual presentation are two things that stand out. Mix that with simple gameplay mechanics and decent difficulty curve that will respect you yet not overwhelm to make this title available to almost everyone- whether you are a fan of Hitman or you look for a decent puzzle game, you will find something for yourself.
Additional content and improvements over mobile version, including removal of pesky (and way overpriced) in-game transactions is a big plus.
Only negative is that some levels cannot be completed without killing non-targets, one of the key elements Hitman franchise is known for.
Final words and conclusion
Unfortunately there is no actual Hitman board game inspired by GO or featuring similar artstyle/aesthetics available to purchase, which greatly displeases me.
A successful and fresh take on well known series, Definitive Edition of Hitman GO brings pleasant artstyle and enjoyable puzzles from mobile to PC in improved version.
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