Hitman 2 is a stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia (under the title Hitman: World of Assassination). It is the seventh major installment in the Hitman video game series and is the sequel to the 2016 game Hitman as the second installment of the World of Assassination trilogy. The game was released on 13 November 2018 and was met with generally positive reviews, with critics considering it to be an improvement over its predecessor. A sequel, Hitman 3, is set to be released for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and Stadia (under the title Hitman: World of Assassination) in January 2021.
Hitman 2‘sgameplay is similar to that of the previous installment, being an action-adventure stealth-based game, as players control Agent 47, a contract assassin working for the International Contract Agency (ICA), in a third-person perspective, as he travels to various locations around the globe to eliminate high-profile criminal targets. The game features eight missions, which are set in distinct locations.[1][2] Summarily, the missions of the game take place (in order) on Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand; at a racetrack in Miami; the fictional area of Santa Fortuna in Colombia; the slums of Mumbai; a fictional Vermont suburb; the fictional Isle of Sgàil somewhere in the North Atlantic; the fictional Milton-Fitzpatrick bank in New York City; and the fictional Haven Island resort in the Maldives.
The game introduces concussive gadgets, which can be used to render an NPC unconscious, and reintroduces the briefcase, which allows the player to conceal and carry large weapons, such as sniper rifles, in public without arousing suspicion.[3] The game’s announcement was accompanied by the release of a cooperative multiplayermode titled Sniper Assassin, available immediately to those who pre-order Hitman 2. This mode was also bundled with all copies of Hitman 2 when the game released.[4] In this mode, players are tasked with eliminating targets using a sniper rifle within a set time limit. In addition to Agent 47, players can also play as ICA operatives Knight and Stone, both of whom have access to unique ammo types.[5] The online multiplayer aspect of this mode is scheduled to be removed from the game at some point before the release of Hitman 3, with the other multiplayer mode, Ghost Mode, being taken offline on the 31st of August 2020.[6]
As with the game’s predecessor, Hitman 2 features the time-limited “Elusive Targets” missions. British actor Sean Bean portrays the first Elusive Target in the game.[7] Players can also download all of the chapters from the first Hitman if the player owns it or has bought the content as downloadable content for Hitman 2,[8] which allows playing it within Hitman 2‘s improved engine, and adds gameplay improvements such as allowing non-player characters to see in mirrors.
