Maybe a year ago IOI announced they were developing a new rouge-like mode for Hitman 3, called Freelancer. What I read about it sounded great. Consequences for failing. Limited inventory. Random elements to the maps. Little intel, no handler, no mission stories.
It's out now and I've been playing.
https://ioi.dk/hitman/blogs/freelanc...#the-last-word
And I have to say it's really good, but it is also hard. This is not the thing to introduce yourself to Hitman. Failure has brutal consequences.
Essentially the player gets a new safehouse and starts with nothing except a camera and an unsuppressed pistol. That's it. All gear must be acquired through game play. If you fail a mission you lose the gear you took with you plus half of your money. Why? I don't know.
If you fail the Showdown missions that cap each segment of the campaign you lose the campaign and even more gear. Brutal, like I said. And to put the cherry on top of it, there are no saves during a mission.
So yeah, this is for veteran players of the trilogy. With no hand-holding like you can get in the main campaigns, Freelancer is a mode that rewards good players who have mastered the maps, methods and mechanics. It tests the players ability to be creative and improvise. I had become overly reliant on my favorites. Silverballer, lockpick, Seiker and a few coins could carry me through just about any scenario in the main campaign.
But now I don't have any of that although I just acquired a silenced pistol in my last mission. That's a big score, not only because it is great for assassinations, but because it is so useful for camera killing. But you always have to balance that against the fact that a blown mission could see it gone.
This finality to every action puts a premium on nailing it the first time. There's no safety net here. Whatever you decide to do, it must come off. Freelancer has pulled me from my comfort zone and put me in to the ultimate test of my ability to craft my own plans and execute them while sort of winging it with whatever kit I can get a hold of. And that is very, very cool.
Freelancer is both different from, and more than, what I expected it would be. With this update, IOI has shown they respect the core, veteran players of their games and I appreciate the effort and creativity that went in to this.