Hitman Review

IO Interactive's episodic release schedule was a commercial mistake and a design blessing, because receiving one enormous level at a time forced players to actually learn them. Sapienza is the argument for the whole game, an Italian coastal town with a mansion, a laboratory, a church and a morgue stitched into one continuous simulation where a single disguise unlocks chains of opportunity you did not know existed. The AI is legible enough to plan around and dumb enough to exploit, which is the correct balance for a puzzle box about routine and patience.

Contracts, escalations and elusive targets give levels a replay structure most stealth games never attempt. The costs are real. The story is a limp shell of clone conspiracy nonsense that nobody involved seems invested in, the always-online requirement broke saved progress for people who had paid, and Colorado is a flat, guard-saturated dud beside the rest. Superb as a systems toy, badly mishandled as a shipped product.