Staff – October 23, 2018 at 10:08 AM
Those who have played 2016’s Hitman know that there’s nothing more satisfying than landing a creative kill. Perhaps you rigged a chandelier to fall on the target at an opportune moment; perhaps you activated the ejector seat of a stationary fighter jet during a flight safety test “gone wrong,” sending your target through the roof of the hangar. These kills feel extra satisfying if no one catches you, allowing you to slip away unnoticed in the disguise of a bartender or mechanic or butler.
But what makes these kills so exhilarating? It’s the feeling of eluding the suspicions of the hundreds (and, in some levels, thousands) of NPCs that populate the game, making every successful hit feel like the greatest heist ever pulled. In Hitman 2, the NPCs are even more sophisticated and lifelike, allowing players to feel like they’re master deceivers, world-class secret agents hiding in plain sight.
Hitman 2’s levels feel so realistic because they bustle with life, full of NPCs who each engage in their own scripted patterns of behavior. “Levels are alive from the moment you start them up,” Associate Game Director Eskil Mohl explained. “Each one is like a unique clockwork where all the cogs start turning the moment you arrive. NPCs go about their routines and duties whether they’re on screen or not.”
What makes Hitman 2’s NPCs special, however, is how they react to their surroundings. “We strive to give our NPCs personality and relatable human emotions,” Mohl said. This might mean bickering with other NPCs when given orders or asking Agent 47, the player’s character, for some space if he’s standing too close to them during conversation or barges into a bathroom they’re using.
One of the most remarkable things about Hitman 2’s NPCs, however, is their ability to retain memories of past events. If Agent 47 accidentally leaves a body, weapon, or another unusual object out in the open following an illicit activity, NPCs will notice and, if left to their own devices, spread the information like wildfire.
“They’ll do their best to convey or obtain knowledge from other NPCs who might be trying to put the pieces together,” Mohl said. “If a guard finds an unconscious victim on the ground they’ll wake them up and ask for a description of the perpetrator — which the victim may or may not have, depending on your approach.” Hitman 2 also sees the introduction of working mirrors, meaning NPCs can still catch a glance of 47 even if he’s attempting to duck, unseen, into an adjacent hallway.
Hitman 2 finds new, innovative ways of rewarding players for deceiving NPCs. New tools like flash grenades explosive cell phones, and crowds large enough to hide Agent 47 open a world of entertaining ways to fool even the most observant of NPCs. “Currently I’m having a lot of fun getting NPCs to smuggle filled briefcases into hard-to-access areas,” Mohl said. “Another favorite is to have guards in combat involuntarily blow up cars and other volatile objects to cause some mayhem...any time I can line up a moment of poetic justice for a target, I find that really satisfies the fantasy for me.”
Hitman 2 will be released for PC on November 13, 2018.
