The Vampire Magician is not somebody you want to mess with.
Nintendo fans finally get a proper chance to enjoy one of the funniest games in recent memory.
With the Switch 2’s launch lineup being light on new games, it’s up to publishers and developers with good ports to help fill in the offerings for Nintendo’s newest console and handheld hybrid. Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition is one of those bigger games that brings an impressive package with three games’ worth of content from one of the best franchises over the past decade that is certainly a lot of value for your dollar. There are some caveats to this collection on the Switch 2, but there is still a lot to like.
Over the past decade, Hitman has been my favorite series that started with a great base with the episodic HitmanSeason One and only got better with the two sequels to make it one of the best trilogies in recent memory. This comedic stealth action series brings with it a very tight gameplay loop with Agent 47 working his way through each map to take out one or more targets that his handler is instructing him to kill on behalf of their client, which can be done in whatever way you want or with the help of mission stories that you can follow to setup some cool or interesting ways to finish your job. With each level, you have a ton of challenges that ask you to explore the map to find side areas you may not have otherwise seen and use objects outside of your core arsenal that helps you do more cool things in these areas. Pick up every object you can carry, find new outfits to let you access new areas, and sneak around in smart ways so that you can find the best ways to get to your targets for some of the best stealth combat around.
Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition offers some amazing intros to these missions.
Outside of the campaign mode, there are the Elusive Targets that offer a limited time challenge that tests your skills to take out new targets on the maps with just one chance to complete it. Target Arcade brings back those Elusive Targets for a second chance without the time pressure. The other spins on your typical are the Contracts that are player or developer made targets among everybody on a map and the Escalations that task you with completing a job a few times as it adds more targets or complications to up the difficulty. The Sniper Assassin mode is still here from Hitman 2 that is an underrated part of the game as you observe a few new maps from a distance as you try to complete new objectives for a new challenge.
The best side mode of this entire package is the roguelite Freelancer mode that sets you up in a safehouse with your greatest test yet as you take on new sets of contracts to take out various Syndicate members around the world. You start with a basic gun and a garrote in your base and as you complete jobs and level up, you unlock more rooms in the safehouse and more weapons for your arsenal that are wiped should you fail to take out a Syndicate. Freelancer is such a wonderful mode that adds a lot to the game when you’ve played enough to not have any fear of the main campaign missions.
On the Switch 2, World of Assassination: Signature Edition unfortunately is the buggiest version of Hitman I’ve seen so far. I’ve had a few hard crashes back to the dashboard and a few visual bugs that are not a huge deal. The worst issues I’ve had are the weird moments where the game bugs out and a number of mechanics stop working at the same time, which includes the ability to walk through doors, NPCs not being able to detect me trespassing or find me during alert moments, shoot enemies, and the worst thing is that I can no longer lock-on to people or cameras that remove a number of options for what I can do on a mission. As bad as that sounds, it’s also an extremely fun way to play the game as somebody that has put hundreds of hours into these maps to be able to walk around undetected while stabbing or knocking out as many NPCs as I can. You can check out my Twitch stream archive when I started playing the Switch 2 version of the game where my first run in Paris bugs out in that way, though I’ve had it happen a couple times since then. The game looks good enough and runs well enough, but there are definitely some moments where the framerate can struggle a bit during loading screens and high action moments that give me fears that it’ll crash.
Sometimes you get to be yourself in your Freelancer safehouse between contracts.
My other issue with this game is that isn’t a great fit for the Switch 2 with the fact that it requires an online connection at all times, and it is not lenient on that front. I have mostly played this game in docked mode, but I’d recommend handheld players try to stay in good internet areas or plan on saving often so you lose as little progress as possible. The storage situation is another issue I have with the Switch 2 since the physical edition is a game-key card, you’ll be giving up about 25% of your internal storage for this one game. At least Hitman gives you a ton of value for that space, but those of us that have balked at the added storage cards for the time being have to deal with these kinds of consequences. The other nitpick I have is that this is a game designed for playing on a TV or monitor, so it can be hard to properly take in all of the information it can offer in handheld or tabletop mode on such a small screen with no graphics or accessibility options to make things easier on that front.
In spite of those negatives, Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition is still an incredible game for those Nintendo fans that have missed out on any part of the Hitman experience over the last nine years. It’s an awesome package that is much better than what was available on the original Switch with the streaming version of Hitman 3 that had such limited appeal. I would not say that the Switch 2 version is what I’d recommend over the other consoles or PC where I’ve seen far fewer bugs and crashes than what I’ve seen so far here. I’d be more interested in playing this on Switch 2 if the IO Interactive account system allowed cross saves between the other versions so that I could continue my progress, but starting over again from scratch unlocks is just a bit too much time for me as a veteran of the trilogy.
Nintendo fans finally get a proper chance to enjoy one of the funniest games in recent memory. With the Switch 2’s launch lineup being light on new games, it’s up to publishers and developers with good ports to help fill…
The Vampire Magician is not somebody you want to mess with.
Nintendo fans finally get a proper chance to enjoy one of the funniest games in recent memory.
With the Switch 2’s launch lineup being light on new games, it’s up to publishers and developers with good ports to help fill in the offerings for Nintendo’s newest console and handheld hybrid. Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition is one of those bigger games that brings an impressive package with three games’ worth of content from one of the best franchises over the past decade that is certainly a lot of value for your dollar. There are some caveats to this collection on the Switch 2, but there is still a lot to like.
Over the past decade, Hitman has been my favorite series that started with a great base with the episodic HitmanSeason One and only got better with the two sequels to make it one of the best trilogies in recent memory. This comedic stealth action series brings with it a very tight gameplay loop with Agent 47 working his way through each map to take out one or more targets that his handler is instructing him to kill on behalf of their client, which can be done in whatever way you want or with the help of mission stories that you can follow to setup some cool or interesting ways to finish your job. With each level, you have a ton of challenges that ask you to explore the map to find side areas you may not have otherwise seen and use objects outside of your core arsenal that helps you do more cool things in these areas. Pick up every object you can carry, find new outfits to let you access new areas, and sneak around in smart ways so that you can find the best ways to get to your targets for some of the best stealth combat around.
Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition offers some amazing intros to these missions.
Outside of the campaign mode, there are the Elusive Targets that offer a limited time challenge that tests your skills to take out new targets on the maps with just one chance to complete it. Target Arcade brings back those Elusive Targets for a second chance without the time pressure. The other spins on your typical are the Contracts that are player or developer made targets among everybody on a map and the Escalations that task you with completing a job a few times as it adds more targets or complications to up the difficulty. The Sniper Assassin mode is still here from Hitman 2 that is an underrated part of the game as you observe a few new maps from a distance as you try to complete new objectives for a new challenge.
The best side mode of this entire package is the roguelite Freelancer mode that sets you up in a safehouse with your greatest test yet as you take on new sets of contracts to take out various Syndicate members around the world. You start with a basic gun and a garrote in your base and as you complete jobs and level up, you unlock more rooms in the safehouse and more weapons for your arsenal that are wiped should you fail to take out a Syndicate. Freelancer is such a wonderful mode that adds a lot to the game when you’ve played enough to not have any fear of the main campaign missions.
On the Switch 2, World of Assassination: Signature Edition unfortunately is the buggiest version of Hitman I’ve seen so far. I’ve had a few hard crashes back to the dashboard and a few visual bugs that are not a huge deal. The worst issues I’ve had are the weird moments where the game bugs out and a number of mechanics stop working at the same time, which includes the ability to walk through doors, NPCs not being able to detect me trespassing or find me during alert moments, shoot enemies, and the worst thing is that I can no longer lock-on to people or cameras that remove a number of options for what I can do on a mission. As bad as that sounds, it’s also an extremely fun way to play the game as somebody that has put hundreds of hours into these maps to be able to walk around undetected while stabbing or knocking out as many NPCs as I can. You can check out my Twitch stream archive when I started playing the Switch 2 version of the game where my first run in Paris bugs out in that way, though I’ve had it happen a couple times since then. The game looks good enough and runs well enough, but there are definitely some moments where the framerate can struggle a bit during loading screens and high action moments that give me fears that it’ll crash.
Sometimes you get to be yourself in your Freelancer safehouse between contracts.
My other issue with this game is that isn’t a great fit for the Switch 2 with the fact that it requires an online connection at all times, and it is not lenient on that front. I have mostly played this game in docked mode, but I’d recommend handheld players try to stay in good internet areas or plan on saving often so you lose as little progress as possible. The storage situation is another issue I have with the Switch 2 since the physical edition is a game-key card, you’ll be giving up about 25% of your internal storage for this one game. At least Hitman gives you a ton of value for that space, but those of us that have balked at the added storage cards for the time being have to deal with these kinds of consequences. The other nitpick I have is that this is a game designed for playing on a TV or monitor, so it can be hard to properly take in all of the information it can offer in handheld or tabletop mode on such a small screen with no graphics or accessibility options to make things easier on that front.
In spite of those negatives, Hitman World of Assassination: Signature Edition is still an incredible game for those Nintendo fans that have missed out on any part of the Hitman experience over the last nine years. It’s an awesome package that is much better than what was available on the original Switch with the streaming version of Hitman 3 that had such limited appeal. I would not say that the Switch 2 version is what I’d recommend over the other consoles or PC where I’ve seen far fewer bugs and crashes than what I’ve seen so far here. I’d be more interested in playing this on Switch 2 if the IO Interactive account system allowed cross saves between the other versions so that I could continue my progress, but starting over again from scratch unlocks is just a bit too much time for me as a veteran of the trilogy.
by Chris Selogy
