Level Design in Hitman
The World of Assassination Trilogy of Hitman games is having its final instalment released at the beginning of next year. The first two games in this trilogy have been an absolute joy to play, in no small part because of IO Interactives outstanding work in level design.
When Hitman (2016) was originally released, the whole game didn’t come out at once, rather, they released it a single level at a time over about six and a half months. Along with in-game elements such as challenges, story missions, and contracts, this is a strategy built on the idea that players should play the same level again and again.
If the release strategy isn’t enough to tell players that these levels are designed to be played repeatedly, the tutorial makes this clear. The first tutorial mission is made to be played twice, with the only difference being less guides the second time through. This small element right in the beginning is there to tell players to come back and try the level again, even try it differently.
Hitman 2 (2018) was released about a year and a half after the first game. While it had most of its levels (aside from a couple DLC levels) release all at once, each level felt as though it was treated with that same degree of care.
Having a game or series built on the concept of replaying levels creates a situation where these levels need to be designed so well that the player sustains the mentality of wanting to replay them. So, before Hitman 3 comes out next year, I want to look back at some of the highlights of how the series works to create these amazing levels that feel worth replaying.
Varying Environments
Levels in Hitman can get big. Very big.
While smaller level such as Whittleton Creek and Hawke’s Bay can maintain a more singular aesthetic without issue, if this same choice were to be made in the larger levels it could lead to them feeling boring. Or worse, if everything is too similar, the player could lose track of where anything actually is.
What IO Interactive does to steer away from this problem is that they often split their bigger levels into multiple environments that are different enough to create new challenges or atmospheres, while still feeling connected in some way.
One of the clearest examples of this choice is in Miami. The level is split almost down the middle, separating a race and the Kronstadt building. The two are even separated by the track itself, limiting the ways that the player can move between them.
There are two targets in this level, each one primarily moving around their own side of the map. Robert Knox lives on the side with the Kronstadt building. Using various methods he can be brought down to the marina or to the podium where the race’s winner is given a trophy, but he sticks to his half of the level. Aside from the marina, the majority of this side is interiors, darker and full of technology ready to be weaponized.
Contrasting this is the race side of the level where Sierra Knox mainly stays. It has a much more open environment. It is mainly exteriors, bright and sunny. It is far more inhabited, with most spaces filled with people who have come to watch the race.
But it’s not enough to create variation within these levels, they need to feel united in some way or they can come off like two separate things that just happen to be stitched together.
This unity is achieved in a number of ways. One such method is by Kronstadt Industries itself, which both owns the building and one of the crews that is in the race (meaning their logo is everywhere on the race side). Down in the expo hall of the building, the biggest piece they are showing off is a new race car, and their octane booster can be found all over the level.
There are even ways to bring the two targets together. The most memorable being a story mission that can lead to being able to push Robert Knox down onto Sierra’s car, killing them both in the process.
And then there are multiple literal bridges between the two areas. One of which I often use as a perch when doing sniper assassin runs in this level, because it gives a clear line of sight for both Robert and Sierra (both before and after the race ends).
Through all of this, Miami demonstrates how a level can be both split into parts while feeling like singular experience. There is a careful balance in place of trying to separate the parts while also keeping them feeling connected and able to interact.
Go Your Own Way
A big draw for Hitman is its sandbox playstyle. A major aspect of sandbox games is keeping the player from every feeling like they need to play in any particular way, and traversal becomes a big part of this.
Isle of Sgàil is a great example of this, especially because it starts out seeming the exact opposite.
When using the default starting point in Isle of Sgàil, the player begins at the end of dock, with no other possible direction to move but forward. When the player reaches the steps at the end of the dock, they are met with a group being welcomed to the island.
The player is welcomed with the group and is slowly led up the stairs. As the player moves toward the door, it opens automatically, revealing a high-end night club scene that is in stark contrast to the dreary exterior. It all feels incredibly Bond, infiltrating this party in such a way.
As great as this moment is, it sounds incredibly counter-intuitive to the point of sandbox play, but that’s not the case at all.
See, the welcome party is the most obvious path, in a way that feels as though it is designed to attract the most players in their first attempt at the level. A way to up the chances of giving them this Bond-like experience I mentioned above. But this isn’t actually the only option.
I know when I first played, I assumed that trying to run past the group would lead to trespassing. On subsequent plays, I realized this isn’t the case. The player can run on ahead, which works to speed up their process. Not only that, but there is a drainpipe next to this main door that can take the player up to higher levels of the castle. If the group has walked up, there is a guard who can easily see as the player tries to climb, but running ahead keeps this from being the case.
See, a lot of how Isle of Sgàil creates its new pathways for is using its scaling mechanic. It is possible to reach the top of every tower on this island either through regular means (halls and stairs), or by finding ledges and drainage pipes that can be climbed.
At first glance the beginning may appear forced, but there are still four main paths the player has at their disposal, including the two that have already been mentioned.
The next option is a path that’s about halfway up the stairs, leading to the opposite side of the castle. This path can work as a shortcut to get to many places but adds the difficulty of needing to first steal a disguise or take out the two guards who stand watching over it.
And finally, there is the little shack on the dock. If a player takes the time to get inside the locked door, either by killing the guards or a stealthier approach, they find themselves in a small room with a window looking out to the ocean. Climbing through this window leads to a ledge, which can bring the player to a series of hidden pathways. Taking these can lead to a large variety of places all around the castle.
Where the game really shines is all the way in which these paths intersect only to diverge again. Any one of these ways can lead a player to getting relatively high into the castle without ever using the same spaces as other path, or, they can swap between the different options at will. There is nothing limiting a player to any particular direction, aside from the possibility of being caught trespassing if in the wrong disguise.
Assassination Possibilities
With a name like Hitman, it isn’t surprising that much of the gameplay is about finding ways to kill targets. Because of this, creating interesting assassinations becomes a big part of level design.
Some of the most obvious ways in which the levels integrate assassination possibilities into their design is with the story missions, many of which lead to unique ways to kill the targets. But there are also methods come out of the levels themselves, without the game pushing the player to discover them.
Haven Island is a relatively large level, with each of its three targets primarily spending their time in different thirds of the island. But, if a player winds up in the underground server room beneath the mansion, it is possible to bring the three targets together.
The player might find the server room either by casual exploration, or by working through the story mission that leads them to finding a USB drive down in the locker room there. When this room is found, they might discover that there are four servers that can be tampered with.
Each server that is tampered with leads to scientists in lab coats rushing to fix them. This reaction is enough to tell the player that it could be worth trying to tamper with all four.
So, slowly but surely, a player can remove the scientists from the server room and hide them away in the many closets found around the perimeter. Tamper with all four and it sets off an event that has all three targets running to get to this room.
Even better, the main entrance to the server room has a ventilation system set up almost immediately in front of the door. When the player discovers that all three targets are on their way to the room, they could turn off the vent and put poison into it. They could either use a lethal poison to kill all the targets and guards in the room or use a sedative poison to have them all go to sleep. When everyone is asleep, it is simple enough to snap the necks of just the targets, leaving all the guards alive.
As mentioned above, there is no story mission that walks the player through how to perform this method. The closest the game comes any kind of hint is the challenge “Total Server Collapse” that has the player tamper with the servers in the basement. It is the way the room is designed and giving the player the space in which to discover things for themselves, that they are able to find the opportunities this location can offer.
Environmental Storytelling
More so than most levels, Whittleton Creek is a level about telling a story through the player’s investigation of the level itself. The third objective of Another Life (the level’s main campaign mission) acts as evidence of this intention.
There are a few exceptions to this rule, but most objectives in Hitman come down to killing a target. In Another Life, the player is tasked with the extra objective of finding three clues about the time and place of a meeting. This being said, while the inclusion of this objective highlights what this level does best, it is also its worst example of it.
What this objective does is force the player to investigate the level more thoroughly, which can lead the player to discovering more than just the information that is needed to complete it. The problem is, there are only so many things that count toward this objective, so subsequent playthroughs feels far more repetitive because of being forced to grab or look at particular items every time.
Pairing this objective with the relatively small size of the level keeps the player from feeling too overwhelmed in the investigation process itself. This leads to the possibility that the player looks at everything much closer than they would in most other levels.
This brings us to an example in which Whittleton Creek communicates story purely through the level design, the story of Helen West and Frank Schmidt.
You see, Schmidt used to live in the house that is currently up for sale. If the player gets into the house, they can find a room with blood stains all around it. We get an explanation from Diana that it seems Schmidt died of a severe allergic reaction, but the state of this room has it appear as though there is more to it.
Now, moving to the opposite corner of the block, the player can find Helen West’s home. Helen is shown to be the one baking all the muffins that are found throughout the level. Heading down to her basement, this all begins to connect to what happened with Schmidt. Here the player can find two bottles of poison, one emetic, and one lethal, as well as a key to Schmidt’s bedroom.
From a gameplay perspective, this can be seen as simply a way to give the player another means of killing their targets. But specifically putting the poison in the basement of the suburb’s baker leads to an incredibly sinister implication.
With just the placement of items and the design of Schmidt’s bedroom, it is easy for a player to infer that Helen murdered Schmidt.
The story doesn’t end here. Given the right actions, the player can overhear Helen as comes to terms with how much she enjoys killing, and even that Janus support what she’s done.
This situation is not one that necessarily adds to the mission itself. Helen being a murderer does not help the player kill their targets, apart from it being an excuse to have poison found in her home. What this does is create a sense history and life within the level that extends further than just the time the player spends in it.
Easter Eggs
It isn’t only through story that Hitman rewards its players for looking more closely at its levels. Sometimes it is nice to just have some fun, and this can be where Easter Eggs come in.
An Easter Egg is a relatively varied term, encompassing all sorts of things hidden within a game (or any other piece of media). One quick example is the Mini Ninja figures hidden in Hokkaido. But then there are ones that aren’t hidden in plain sight and require actions from the player in order reveal something.
One of the last ones I found (with help of a walkthrough, and I have no understanding of how someone figures some of these out without one), was in Colorado. It is described in the level’s challenges as Wicker Man, but the challenge is redacted, removing any hint about how to perform this challenge. All the player knows is that there is something to look for.
In order to unlock this challenge, and activate this Easter Egg, the player must disguise themselves as the scarecrow, climb the water tower, and use a sniper to hit four bells (ordered by lowered to highest note that is heard when the bell is shot).
Now we get to the fun part: what this does.
After the fourth bell is shot, if this is the first time it is being done, a popup tells the player the challenge was completed. Otherwise, there is no sign anything has been done at all. That is, until an NPC reaches a certain proximity to the player and they burst into flames.
At this point, Silent Assassin might be impossible, but that’s okay. I’m sure many players had the same reaction I did when first activating this: they ran all over the map setting most (or all) of the NPCs on fire. Taking this heavily stealth based game, and being able to just run around in a disguise that has the player trespassing everywhere they go, but basically in a type of God Mode where the enemies are killed if they even get close, is a blast.
While most Easter Eggs in the Hitman games don’t change the game to the degree Wicker Man does, they are often still fun. They can range from seeing a Kraken or Godzilla, to making a militia army take a break from work to have a dance party.
What ties all these Easter Eggs together is the way they reward the player for engaging with the level. In a series that is encourages replaying, these touches can give the player extra reason to want to keep going.
Recontextualizing Levels
Each level in Hitman is presented to the played through the context of some form of goal. These goals are primarily delivered through the campaign missions, which come together to build up the game’s story. But a level can also be played for contracts, escalations, Elusive Targets, or in some cases, new campaigns entirely.
Each one of these options presents the level within a new context. Contracts and escalations are more often the level presented exactly as it was in the primary campaign mission, but with a new set of goals. Whereas Elusive Targets and new campaign missions can often change the layout of the level to varying degrees.
No map is used more for these kinds of recontextualizations than Sapienza, especially given its number of subsequent campaign missions.
This level can be easily divided into three main sections, the mansion, the town square, and the church. There are also the docks and streets which act like subsections used to transition between the larger ones. The primary campaign mission for this level, World of Tomorrow, utilizes each section, but barely.
World of Tomorrow places all three objectives within the mansion. This is a third of the level, at most. But it doesn’t ignore the rest. The mansion is covered in guards, and the scattered throughout the other sections of the level are ways to aid the player in getting inside. There is even one story mission that can get one of the targets to come out to the dock area.
Even though most of the focus is on the mansion, the church can be used as an incredibly important part of this mission. The basement contains a terminal to destroy security cameras, a scientist can be found on the next floor up (in possession of a key card that can destroy the virus at a distance), and there is the perfect sniper perch for the two human targets atop the bell tower.
It is through elements like the church that the level encourages the player to not only look to where the targets spend their time, but to explore the level to its fullest to create new opportunities for themselves.
While World of Tomorrow does give the player reasons to explore more than just the mansion, it is the other campaign missions that take this one step further by removing the mansion entirely.
Landslide has its target move between the church and town square areas. It removes the mansion but keeps everything else, leading the player to getting more out of the places that they probably spent less time in the primary campaign.
The Icon is almost entirely about the town square, but now where there was once a large open area, there is a film set for an action movie. It has the player experiencing just a section of the level, but in a completely new way.
And finally, there is The Author. This campaign mission sticks mostly with the church section, with one target in and around the church, and the other spending much of his time in the apartments across from it. This mission is also part of the larger Patient Zero campaign, which is a short series of missions that each bring new use to levels of the first Hitman.
Between all these, Sapienza leaves no area unused, and proves just how much effort must have went into the design of the areas that are barely utilized in the original campaign.
While this section spent more time on new campaigns as a form of this recontextualization, the contract system works the same way, but on a smaller scale. Having the player go into a level that they have completed before, with absolutely no change apart from their target, is a great way to create a sense or replayability within the level. And the fact that these are user generated, creates endless possibilities to for new ways to look at the same space.
Conclusions
Hitman’s World of Assassination trilogy is built around the idea of replaying levels, but that only that works if the player finds it enjoyable and interesting to do so.
While I focused on single examples of each of the points I’ve made here, they do hold true in nearly every level (to varying degrees). The most enjoyable levels tend to be the ones that use combinations of these qualities in interesting or unexpected ways.
When Hitman 3 comes out next year, there is no doubt that it will have a similar approach to level design as the previous installments. Where the game will be most surprising is in what ways it utilizes these techniques in building the finale of this trilogy.
But there is so much more to say about how these games use their levels and the concept of repetition itself. For some great videos on these topics, check out Game Maker’s Toolkit and Writing on Games on Youtube.
Here are a couple links:
“Hitman, and the Art of Repetition” by Game Maker’s Toolkit
“Analysing Every Episode of Hitman’s First Season” by Writing on Games
