Ever used a fish to kill someone? How about a fire extinguisher or a small explosive surreptitiously planted on the back of a high-tech Formula-1 race car? Would you like to? Well, I'll have to check with IO Interactive and Warner Bros. about the first two methods, but the third is definitely possible in Hitman 2 which is slated to launch September 14 for PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
The follow up to the 2016 reboot, Hitman 2 picks up immediately after the events of the first title. The protagonist Agent 47 is trying to track down the Shadow Client who may know 47's actual identity. The assassin's mission will take him on a global chase with plenty of bodies in between. I created one of those bodies during my E3 2018 demo where I was tasked with eliminating Sierra Know, the daughter of a world-famous tech inventor and entrepreneur, Robert Knox. Both family members were involved in a war crime.
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My hunt for Sierra took me to Miami, Florida during a high-stakes formula race in which she was driving, one the six new locations you'll travel to during the game. For the purposes of the demo, I only had two ways of dispatching her: sniping her while she was going at least 80 miles or sabotage her vehicle when she came in for a pit stop. I chose the latter because it had a better shot at working. Although once I learned the sniper option put 47 in a giant flamingo costume, I wish I would have gone with that choice.
When the demo started, I was outside the stadium with the regular people, but if I was going to have any chance of sabotaging the car, I needed to get into the pit. That meant I needed to take the place of one of her mechanics. But before I could do that, I needed to get into the VIP area. After picking up my weapons in a van in a parking lot below the race track, I made way to the security office and disabled a guard, took his clothes, drug his unconscious body past a sleeping guard and hid it in a nearby locker.
I made my way through the crowd, avoiding other members of the security team to avoid raising suspicions about the new guy. During this tense game of cat and mouse, I saw my next target, a disgruntled member of the pit crew. I tailed him to the bar where he went to drown his sorrows and vent after quitting the team in the VIP lounge.
Realizing I couldn't knock this guy out in a crowded party, I looked for a way to get him alone. Sneaking my way into the kitchen I incapacitated one of the waiters, disguised myself in his clothes and took his place at the bar with a bit of rat poison, which I proceeded to put into the mechanic's drink.
Now that the mechanic had a terrible stomach ache, I followed him to the bathroom, where I, you guessed, knocked him out and took his clothes. Now it was time to hit my main target. Making my way to the pit crew, the team lead assumed I was the new junior pit member. And when Sophia's car came in for that last pit stop, I slapped a small explosive on the back. From there, I went up to the grandstand to detonate the bomb and watch the ensuing fireworks to complete the demo and my mission.
Overall, Hitman 2 gives us more of the stylish, massive locales with various ways of executing our targets. You just need an observant eye, the ability to improvise and nerves of steel. I can't wait to put my assassin skills to the test in November with what's shaping up to be another gorgeous assassination simulator.
