Hitman: World of Assassination has proven to be one of the most enduring entries in the Hitman franchise and a surprisingly consistent presence in modern gaming. Launching in 2016 as a trilogy that has since expanded into a series of semi-regular new missions, IOI Interactive’s stealth-action series has become arguably their defining property. Even with the older titles getting remakes in the near future, it seems like IOI has found a great niche with new “Elusive Missions” that keep players coming back.
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Take “The Wizard,” the recent Wiz Khalifa-led mission that was a reimagining of an earlier storyline pulled from circulation. It played with the same balance of surprisingly goofy and quickly intense gameplay, all while creating a vivid new personality for Agent 47 to dispatch. In an era where developers are always looking to find some new way to turn their games into endless adventures for fans to remain engaged with for years, Hitman has really cracked the code.
The Wiz Khalifa Hitman Mission Was A Blast
The nature of the “Elusive Targets” mission drops means that players get the chance to take on special time-limited challenges that pit them against some familiar faces from the worlds of cinema, music, and sports. That approach also means that the developers at IOI have the opportunity to tweak and reimagine their missions with different elements. Take “The Wizard,” which takes cues from “The Disruptor” mission that was released years ago. That mission, which brought UFC fighter Conor McGregor into the game. The controversial fighter has been pulled from the game entirely in light of allegations of sexual assault levied at McGregor, but the mission is now back in rotation with music star Wiz Khalifa showing Taylor Graves, otherwise known as the Wizard.
Players are tasked with maneuvering around the Ark Society and masked audiences there to see the fight so that they can eliminate Graves before he gets the chance to win the main fight. As with any Hitman mission, there are dozens of ways to approach the mission. Players can sneak around the map in various disguises and dispatch the Wizard using subtle methods like poison to more explosive options — like a medieval cannon. As a fan of the musician, it’s fun to see him playing it broad for the game and just as fun to take him down as a result.
The mission is relatively straightforward and can even be completed very quickly if the player makes the right decisions, but each new swing presents a new challenge. The appeal of the Elusive Target missions is to offer a challenge that the player couldn’t find elsewhere, creating exciting scenarios and opening up for the player to jump headlong into. While the Wizard’s mission is over now, it (similar to the other “Elusive Targets”) should eventually have a resurgence to allow newer players a chance to bring down the fighter and give older players another go.
Hitman: World Of Assassination Could Go On Forever
In an era where “forever games” are an appealing concept for developers looking for a perpetual money-making machine, Hitman: World of Assassination has cracked the code on how to make it work without frustrating players. The “Elusive Targets” are an ideal challenge, a chance for the player to step into a different tenor of mission and face off with new challenges. “The Wizard” is probably the mission that feels most attuned to the rest of the core game, especially when compared to the horror-tinted approach of Milla Jovovich in “The Harbinger” or the surreal touches at the core of “Eminem vs. Slim Shady.”
However, these missions find just the right balance between tense stealth gameplay, immersive world-building, and the freedom to go absolutely absurd with the kills to be immensely entertaining. Each new “Elusive Target” gets to fulfill a new genre touch or bit of wish fulfillment, all while crafting an expansive sandbox for the player to do whatever they want with the greater mission parameters. Even when the missions cycle, each “Elusive Target” has enough of a limit on attempts and variety in approaches to make for an entertaining run-through each time. It expands the scope of the game in a natural way that doesn’t make each mission feel like it’s being added just for the sake of being added.
The fact that Hitman can do this while still feeling like an idealized single-player experience is just the icing on the cake. In the current era of online gaming, multiplayer is often the key focus. Sometimes, you just want to be able to experience a game on your own and explore a deftly designed sandbox made for you to play in. Recent hits like Pragmata, Resident Evil: Requiem, and 007: First Light prove there’s an appetite for those experiences still among modern players. With missions like “The Wizard,” Hitman: World of Assassination proves that style of game can still work in the modern models that publishers are looking for. Hopefully it won’t take long for The Wizard to show back up as a mission; I really want to use the cannon on Wiz Khalifa again.
