Hitman: Absolution – Agent 47 and Accessibility

How do you feel when I tell you that one word Hitman: Absolution embodies is "accessibility?" Are you offended? Does your innate gamer rage come out and spur you to a message board, where you can properly lament the day games were challenging and worth playing?

If it does, you're wrong. Really wrong. Hitman: Absolution is accessible, yes, but in all the ways that come from understanding a franchises strengths and failings. Agent 47's adventures haven't been neutered and you aren't going to be coddled by the developers so you can get that coveted "Silent Assassin" rating without breaking a sweat. Absolution looks like a refinement; it's the result of developer experience and a desire to make players feel more empowered than ever as they embody the world's deadliest person.

The key to being an amazing assassin is being able to adapt, improvise, and overcome. Agent 47 has been doing this since the original Hitman in 2000 and longtime fans are likely familiar with his arsenal. He still garrotes enemies, or can execute them with a quick neck snap or deadly pistol shot, but he can also grab random objects in the environment and put them to use. He might come across a statue and use it to bash in a skull, or pick up a cross and bring some righteous fury to the temple of a would-be opponent.

Agent 47's many gameplay options intimidate. I felt it when I jumped in to the series with Hitman: Blood Money (late to the party, I know), so I can only imagine how much of a slog it must feel to people who don't play games every day. Sure, Hitman: Blood Money's user interface told you if you were able to use an object in close proximity to you, but you didn't know you could use it until you were inches away. I can't tell you how many times I found myself slapping my forehead after realizing I could have used something like a rag or weight to kill my mark in a really cool way. I recognize that part of the fun is figuring things out for yourself -- that you're taking on a situation the way you choose to -- but there's a big difference between having options that I'm aware of and only picking the path I did because I couldn't figure anything else out.

To address this and make Absolution more accessible, the developers have made prompts appear more readily and put them in places that contextually make sense. In Blood Money any options you had appeared in the upper left corner, while in Absolution they appear where they make the most sense. For example if Agent 47 can drag a body the body will have a prompt on it that tells you which button to press or hold. Or if there is an impromptu weapon it'll have a prompt on the object and maybe even two more prompts on an enemy to tell you all the ways you can take him down. Just like the fans want, Absolution gives you a ton of options, only now it makes sure you're aware of them without having to scour the world like a bumbling fool.

I'll admit I wasn't a fan of the Instinct mechanic when I first saw it. Instinct is a finite resource that allows 47 to see enemies through walls, predict the paths they'll walk, and see places he can interact with the environment. Essentially Io Interactive's take on Batman: Arkham Asylum's Detective Vision, I felt like it made avoiding enemies a bit too easy. But then I thought about it and realized it makes a lot more sense than the way you planned out you path in the past.

In Blood Money you could bring up a map on which enemies were represented as wandering circles. Agent 47 still had magical premonition that allowed him to see through walls, it was just done in an archaic fashion and completely removed you from the action. Now all you have to do is tap a button and enemies glow, as do ledges you can pull yourself up on. No more hunting for places you can climb or walking up to objects wondering if you can use them. Instinct makes the entire experience look a lot more fluid, and Agent 47 a lot more of the badass he's supposed to be.

I know for many hardcore, long-time Hitman players out there that Instinct seems like it's making Absolution too easy. Well, if you really feel that way you can always turn it off in the options. If that's not enough, you can play on what's currently called Purist mode. Here the entire user interface goes out the window, along with any other assists, in what Io hopes will satiate the sadists in the audience.

Even sadists should be happier with the less omnipotent AI in Absolution. In Blood Money I can remember more than a few times where I'd end up shooting my gun or get caught killing someone and have every last guard alerted to my presence. Well in Absolution some levels come divided into different sections wherein you can take out the section's guards in whatever manner you'd like -- so long as you keep them from alerting the rest. For instance I watched 47 roll up with an axe, bludgeoning one guard before quickly running down another before he could run for help. It seems like Io is making a game that makes logical sense the crash of gunfire doesn't carry forever, after all), and looks a lot more forgivable and fun for it.


The quest for accessibility, for opening up the game to a wider audience, also looks like it will come in the form Absolution's pacing. You know why people who don't play many games, or don't play games at all, love the Uncharted series? Because it's like an interactive film where they can participate in lots of action-packed scenes, but also sometimes just sit back and enjoy the spectacle of a very directed sequence. Absolution has a bit of both, it seems. The earlier demo Io showed at E3 had a portion with a chopper gunner shooting at 47 that felt super scripted, while the level I saw in an orphanage was more akin to the older levels of the Hitman franchise; less about watching what was happening and more being an actor in the moment and determining the course of events. I think a wide audience of people will be better suited by alternating pacing. Blood Money was fun with its sandbox style levels, but the missions didn't have the same moments of stress and tension Arthur pointed out in his E3 preview of Absolution .

Not that Absolution won't have sandbox style levels. Io hasn't shown anything quite like what I expected as a fan, but I'm told there will be missions that put 47 in an environment with a bunch of objectives and leave you to figure out the way you want to do them. So far the levels I've seen seem much more linear, with rooms that let you do it your way rather than stages in their entirety. As a fan I want to be upset about it not being more akin to previous games, but I'm going to give Io a chance to prove to me that the story they want to tell justifies the more linear parts of Absolution. The development team has already sold me on their work to open it up for a wider audience, proving that the word "accessible" doesn't have to be a dirty one.

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