Hitman: World of Tomorrow

Don't. I just killed you.

For this blog I will be continuing my dive into the levels of 'Hitman: No subtitile' one blog at a time. That means that this blog will contain spoilers as to the contents of the level and some story points, so take that into account. Yesterday, I wrote about 'The Showstopper'; a map set in a fashion show in a Parisian Mansion. There were crowds, lights and loud music everywhere as players got their first glimpse into this bold new world of assassination. We would have to wait a few weeks until the next map arrived and there was some talk about that to expect, this level was to be set in the diverse land of Italy so anything was on the table. Even with that in mind, no one quite anticipated the scope on display when that first reveal trailer dropped.

For the second level that IOI delivered, they decided to offer something completely different from the first map. Whereas Paris was sent in one huge mansion, Italy took us to the small fictional town of Sapienza. The Palais De Waleska had to be illuminated by artificial light due to the gloom of the late evening whilst Sapienza was bathed in the midday sun. And the droning dirge of fashion music and bickering guests was replaced with the slow, sleepy serenity of a seaside town. (Alliteration!) 'World of Tommorow' blew everyone's expectations away by presenting a wide open playspace with many different areas to explore and play in, and the main mission only seemed to cover a small portion of that map. This was a map that wasn't just built to cater towards replayability, but to leave room for additional content too. (Probably why we ended up getting 3 remixes of this map.)

47's targets are former client and current bioengineer Silvio Caruso, who works for the Ether biotech corporation; and his corporate go-between Francesca De Santis. The two of them are currently in the midst of creating a virus capable of targeting any specific person in the world. (Wait, did IOI rip off Kojima or is it the other way around?) One of Ether's stockholders apparently got wind of the operations and wants it to be shut down for ethical reasons (Although you have to wonder about the ethics of someone who has the ICA on speed-dial.) There is yet another wrench in the works, however. Silvio has already managed to finish synthesizing his prototype in his secret lab underneath his mansion, meaning that 47 also must dispose of that. IOI prepped quite the task for this mission.

This is obviously the most Bond-esque of the Hitman missions, you are literally tasked with saving the world. (Although Diana seems to imply that there is a hint of professional pride in the equation to. Can't have "Armchair assassins" as Diana calls it.) This was also the point as which IOI was really starting to nail the characterizations of your targets. Sure, Viktor and Dalia sounded interesting on paper, but in person they didn't particularly feel like living people. Silvio and Francesca, on the otherhand, emanate personality in every interaction that the player has with them. Francesca's ruthlessness is the driving force behind a few of her opportunities, although her vulnerabilities come into play for my favourite assassination. Silvio is ruled by his neuroses, and every chance you have to manipulate him allows the player a closer look into his troubled mind.

It was around about now that I started to really resonate with the direction of the storytelling that the developers had decided to take. The players were given the chance to learn all they could about their targets through briefings and an introductory video (embellishing on the aforementioned Hitman fantasy.) but the real meat of the storytelling came from the way in which that was characterized. Players could find an old video of Silvio's familial life and stick it on a projector for him to come across, then you could hide and watch as he dispelled everyone from the room so he could lament about his overbearing and recently deceased mother. Perhaps in another run you might decide to pull even further on that thread and dress yourself up as psychiatrist; Dr. Oscar Lafayette. Then you can hold an impromptu session with Silvio where you can worm out the truth behind the toxic relationship he shared with his mother; as well as the truth behind her death. This investigative approach really brings the audience into the narrative and makes them feel like a detective in a manner that few other games, even those that revolve around that sort of premise, master.

And I haven't even begun to talk about the shining gem of 'World of Tommorrow', Sapienza herself. She is a beautiful and sprawling map that effortlessly captures the lazy, early afternoon holiday vibe that is intended. The town is full of wondering tourists taking in the sights or sunbathing on the beach and friendly locals sharing gossip on the eccentric scientist who lives on the hill. Much of the location borrows it's key elements from several different real-life towns in order to craft the ideal Italian tourist trap that you wish were real. The result is a spectacular locale that has gone down amongst fans as one of the best locations in the franchise, for good reason. I particularly like the feeling of travel that the location conjures up, in the way it the player is taken to through it's twisting path from the beginning gate to the cavernous Ether lab set into a cliff face. (It wouldn't feel out of place to have Blofeld sitting in that lab with his cat.)

'World of Tomorrow' conveyed a different level of access to it's targets than Paris did. Instead of having their people mingle with the public, and consequently you, both Silvio and Francesca were safe in the walls of the mansion on the hill. This time, players had to conduct a full infiltration mission, they had to deal with both targets and reach the highly guarded virus, ideally without being spotted. This called for a lot of disguise gameplay and stealth which really highlighted the staunch robustness of these particular mechanics. Pulling strings was still necessary in order to isolate both targets but this was achieved more through trickery than manipulation. Such as when you steal the phone of Francesca's secret lover in order to summon her to her doom or set off Silvio's mother's personal effects, such as her gramophone and stair elevator, in order to send Silvio into a paranoid frenzy and make him truly believe the spirit of his mother is haunting him. 47 took on the role of some sort of murderous prankster in this level.

Some of my favourite opportunities is the aforementioned lover ruse. It allows players to pull Francesca from her usual patrol, on the top floor with a lot of high alert guards, into a quiet guest room on the first floor, from which your choices are endless. You can poison the wine that she drinks when she arrives, garrote her the moment she comes in or just simply shoot her. Then there are the Silvio opportunities and almost all of these are fantastic. There is one in which you swap out his backyard golf ball with an explosive variant, one in which you lure him into a sense of security by playing his psychiatrist before smothering him with a pillow, and the kill which requires you to trigger his evacuation before you shoot down his plane with an old cannon stationed in the ancient crumbling fort next to the town. Sapienza was practically rife with potential for the enterprising hitman.

IOI seriously knocked it out of the park with their second mission, so much so that many of us were practically bouncing off the walls whilst waiting for the third. 'World of Tommorrow' proved that these developers couldn't just craft intricate confined world spaces, but do so and place those spaces inside of an open sprawling level. Many people, like myself, became really eager to see where they could take this premise next and how they could expand on it further. And we will take a closer look at how that turned out tomorrow.