Square Enix released an entire playthrough for a mission in Hitman Absolution. After seeing those stealthy demonstrations in Dishonored, we wonder whether this is a trend. If it is, then it’s a trend we highly support!

The entire run will be narrated for emphasis and takes place in one of the main towns in the game called Hope, which you may know from the Hope Time News. It’s presented in faded colors, quite like Instagram and it has some wonky character models. Other than that, it’s Hitman at its best and with added features.

After getting his objective, Agent 47 starts roaming about town, after which he uses his expert instinct vision to see through walls and detect possible targets. It’s similar to Batman: Arkham City, for those that need reference.  To get to his first target, 47 needs to use his environment to create a distraction and then sneak into the guided area. He quickly finds and takes out one of many Cougar gang members and stuffs him in a closet. These evil guys are planning a kidnapping that 47 has to stop. In turn, the assassin has to kidnap the main guy as well, but first he must locate more gang members and eliminate them.

These goals, together with all the actions Agent 47 takes, are stored in a notebook, which tallies up the end score. As it has always been: the sneakier the playthrough, the better the score. In order to know more about the locales, you can eavesdrop on conversations and pick up info.  The developers also mention that purists can customize their game with as much or as little help as they want. Periodical icons pop up to help the player or display interactive environment, but these things can be tuned down for those that want the true stealthy approach.

The second target is dealt with in a subtler way. First, the man is subdued and thrown off the balcony. In returning, Agent 47 swiftly takes out a police guard before they can inform anyone. This shows off the smooth transition in the action. Once out of there, he finishes with a big bang, by distracting the local thugs with some explosives that he throws in the middle. Once they go investigate, he detonates them remotely and the target as well as its environment goes up in flames. The neat part here is that this less tactful way creates a major shift in the town’s dynamic, as people rush to see what’s happened. This opens up the streets to roam more freely.

The agent also returns to disguising himself in order to blend in with crowds and get into difficult areas. By subduing a person and taking their clothes, he can fool others into thinking he belongs. But to make sure, you have to hide the bodies. The weird thing is that victims are stored away standing up, which doesn’t always seem to line up with the closet’s walls.

Going further into enemy territory, the clip displays the many possibilities to use environment to create accidents. As such, a poor distracted person goes underneath a mounted car in a garage, only to have the hydraulics fail and crush them.

There are also several different areas of interest within any given part of the game. Depending on the area, some disguises are allowed, while others are not. The opponents also react to this differently and dynamically. This encourages reactive gameplay, in order to find new ways to get around and ahead. Then, for some odd reason, we get a short flash of two dogs boning. Apparently, dogs will be a part of the game that alert others if there are intruders.

Hitman Absolution then takes a page from Red Dead Redemption and introduces Point Shooting. This instinct skill allows 47 to stall time and line up shots, before resuming gameplay. This results in quick takedowns in large numbers, before those people can react. It’s also possible to take down people from balcony ledges, whilst clasping to the wall border.

The walkthrough ends as Agent 47 dons yet another disguise in order to walk through a party and into the backroom. As people in instinct view are color coded, we can see which need to be kept alive, which are targets and so on. Our assassin then only needs to go in for the kill.