Hitman: Freelancer Review – Agent 47 At His Best

Hitman: Freelancer is IO Interactive’s newest, largest content expansion for the recently re-titled Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy, and it’s the best Hitman experience available on any platform. Hitman: Freelancer adds less “brand-new” content than, say, the jump from Hitman 2 to Hitman 3, but what it does is remix and remaster all the levels from every release in the World of Assassination and wrap them up in a roguelike, customizable bow.

The biggest difference players will notice when jumping into Hitman: Freelancer is the difficulty. Freelancer is hard – much harder than the original missions crafted by IOI, and harder than most of the Featured Contracts available. The closest comparison is to Hitman’s Escalation Targets, but even those have been somewhat chosen based on their accessibility. The targets in Hitman: Freelancer are all completely random, which results in players often being forced to get extremely creative when it comes to separating them from a crowd.

Related: Hitman: Freelancer Interview – Jonas Breum Jensen and Torbjørn Vinther Christensen

The randomness in Hitman: Freelancer is both a blessing and a curse. Depending on RNG systems and luck, players could find themselves starting either directly next to their target or on the complete other side of the map. There are multiple starting locations in each of Hitman’s levels (which are also randomized) and while some of them are perfect for beginning a new slow, methodical run, others force players to move quickly by placing them square in enemy territory.

Colorado is the absolute worst level for this, and completing a high-level Syndicate challenge in Colorado might be one of the most difficult challenges Hitman has ever asked of players. These missions are made even more stress-inducing because any failure will result in the permanent loss of all the items Agent 47 is carrying, items which have been acquired and purchased in previous missions and which players may have come to rely on.

The harder levels and higher-grade missions in Freelancer are made much easier with one of Hitman’s silenced sniper rifles or silenced pistols, but because of random drops those can be few and far between. Since a single death can result in the loss of a hard-won prize, it can be difficult to determine whether the current task is worth risking the last of 47’s suppressed weapons. Bringing along that concealable shotgun might make it easier to complete extra payout objectives and earn more money, but what if something happens and that shotgun is lost forever?

To be clear, this is a fantastic system. Hitman: Freelancer injects a much-needed sense of urgency to the core Hitman gameplay loop, something that was previously only available by playing the temporary Elusive Targets. Now, every mark in Hitman is an Elusive Target, with the added fear of the player’s inventory supply dwindling with each new misstep. Even the most difficult moments spawned by the game’s RNG can lead to players coming up with adaptive and ingenious tactics, and Agent 47 can avoid a lot of the stress by simply leaving his best tools at home.

Related: Where to Find The Scrap Sword in Hitman 3 (Scavenger Challenge)

Sometimes (and perhaps for the first time in the entire Hitman series) it’s actually better to eschew being a silent killer for loud, bombastic violence. Payout Objectives, optional tasks like “Eliminate 3 Guards With A Shotgun” or “Eliminate Leader Using Explosion,” reward players with Mercs, a fictional currency used for buying weapons and items from Suppliers scattered throughout each level. Mercs are incredibly useful for upgrading 47’s arsenal, and while half of these are also lost upon death the punishment isn’t as damaging as a permanent weapon loss.

Most of Hitman: Freelancer is as polished as the rest of the series, but there were a few visual bugs that seemed to be localized to Agent 47’s safehouse. The most irritating bug is above – a bright light in the safehouse’s surgery area which would appear occasionally and flicker when the camera is moved around the room. No other issues were encountered in the 30+ hours of Hitman: Freelancer played for this review, and the rest of Agent 47’s home worked (and looked) as intended.

The safehouse and surrounding area is the most substantial “new” area included in Hitman: Freelancer, and it is both impressive and repeatedly surprising. Each new area unlocked adds a new item 47 can bring along on missions, and, crucially, these items don’t count as official “Gear” that disappear upon death. Instead of grinding Mercs to buy a proper fiber wire, players can just grab the stethoscope from 47’s surgical center. Rather than hoping to loot or find some lethal poison, players who unlock Agent 47’s shed and don’t mind going on a quick mushroom hunt can make poison themselves.

Hitman: Freelancer feels made specifically for players who want more of a role-playing experience out of the core Hitman games. Not role-playing in terms of grinding stats and leveling up, but role-playing in the very literal sense of taking on the role as a professional hitman. Players choose what Agent 47’s living room looks like, how he spends his free time, and what kind of car or boat he prefers to drive. Some of the most difficult decisions in Hitman: Freelancer are less “How do I eliminate that target?” and more “Which one of these paintings really expresses how 47 feels inside?“

With any roguelike game, the biggest problem is repetition. Hitman: Freelancer is in a strange place when it comes to this; the core gameplay loop and these levels have, in some cases, been around since 2016, and repetition is built into the game’s framework. If someone has yet to play the recent entries, and with all three previous games wrapped up in one package, Hitman: World of Assassination is an incredible deal. As a free update for players who already own Hitman 3, it’s absolutely worth jumping back into.

More: Will There Be A Hitman 4

Hitman: Freelancer is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. A Steam Code was provided to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review.