They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it also inspires forgetting. After years away, I had quite forgotten the brilliance of Hitman World of Assassination. Replaying the game on Nintendo Switch 2 over the last week was an opportunity for reappraisal, and re-appreciation – particularly for just how layered its many worlds are, and how surprisingly funny the sandbox adventure can be.
First up, it’s worth noting this isn’t the best way to replay Hitman. The Nintendo Switch 2 version faithfully replicates each and every stage, and in static gameplay, they look brilliant. You can gaze upon the lakes of Dartmoor, and see bright sun shimmers bouncing off its surface. In crowded scenes, every individual guest is rendered sharply. On Haven Island, blue waters glisten brightly, and you can watch waves lapping at the shore.
When you move, Hitman isn’t quite so perfect. In stages with plenty of individual characters roaming around, there is a noticeable frame rate lag. Your movement is usually smooth and crisp, and I never had trouble completing hits because of performance, but there is a lack of consistency, and movement occasionally makes the game stutter. There is also minor bugs in certain stages – some players have reported being able to clip through doors, and for me personally, I had issues with 47 taking stairs by juddering down them.
But even with these flaws, Hitman World of Assassination remains wildly enjoyable on Nintendo Switch 2. The frame rate lag takes some patience to overcome, and if you have a better way to play the game, you should probably take it – but for the novelty of portability, and just how gorgeous the game looks on the console, it remains a strong port.
Revisiting Dartmoor, I was also immediately struck by how novel and imaginative this game remains. In the years post-Knives Out, this particular level was a revelation. Rather than your standard Hitman sandbox, where you would need to avoid obstacles and discovery to murder a range of evildoers in any way possible, Dartmoor lets you breathe. It lets you take a more noble route, and even introduces a tight little detective mini-game where killing isn’t your primary objective – investigation is.
This particular scenario is set within a manor, where a matriarch attempts to sort her affairs with a faked death, before a real death derails her plans. To solve this mystery, a private detective is hired, but if 47 can intercept this detective before he arrives in the manor, he’s able to take on the investigation himself, as cover for infiltrating the mansion and killing the aforementioned matriarch.
What follows is a deadpan interrogation of each and every family member, as 47 works to discover the location of a mysterious case file, and assassinate the matriarch in a location where her family is least likely to find her.
I managed to catch her while she was grieving the loss of her deceased family member, locking her in a room where guards avoided. Then, of course, for the hell of it, I finished my investigation by interrogating each and every family member, under the pretence of solving a very awful crime.
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It’s a level that is particularly clever for how it introduces so many optional story elements. Hitman can be deceptive in that way. While it’s really an assassination sandbox that requires you to solve environmental puzzles to get away with murder, there’s so much intricacy and richness you can find in each stage. In 47’s funny, snarky little asides, you get plenty of flavour. He might claim to be an emotionless tool, but when you’re dressing up as a chef to make murder puns about food to die for, it’s hard to believe that completely.
When you really stop and absorb everything going on in 47’s world, you can also pick up so much lore and background through minor conversations with guests. I particularly enjoyed how IO Interactive adapts the world of James Bond in the title’s new Le Chiffre / Casino Royale-inspired assassination, where sharp dialogue expands on the events of this film, and the legend of the villain.
It’s all of these touches, revisited on Nintendo Switch 2, that makes me hopeful for IO Interactive’s next big game, also launching on the Switch 2, 007 First Light. This adaptation of the James Bond mythos will certainly be well-served by IO Interactive’s subtle humour and storytelling, and its approach to sandbox gameplay.
Should Hitman on Nintendo Switch 2 be a sort of test run for the studio, there are lessons to learn. That pesky frame rate issue will hopefully be addressed by the time 007 First Light comes around, for example. But in the beauty of this port, and how well it adapts these years-old adventures, giving them new spirit and a wider audience, it brings plenty of hope.
It’s also worth noting 007 First Light was given a major tease during the first Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, suggesting the console is a major priority for IO Interactive. Rather than being treated as the third, lesser console in the trilogy of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo, it’ll get many of the biggest games for these platforms. With its added power and capabilities, the Switch 2 is well able to keep up in this arena, which is fantastic to see.
Hitman World of Assassination for Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t a perfect port. But it does reveal big things for IO Interactive’s future, and gives a sense of exactly what the Switch 2 is capable of, and how developers may build on these beginnings for grander future games.
A Nintendo Switch 2 code for Hitman World of Assassination was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.
