I read many reviews that call the 6 new maps simplistic

[Dweller Beyond the Threshold]

can someone elaborate on this? This seems to be a very common complaint. I love the complex and big maps from season 1 like Sapienza, Hokkaido and Paris, but apparently the only good map that's comparable to these 3 is the Miami one for many people.

So what are your main complaints for the rest? Appreciate your inputs.

[Flodge]

Nah, sounds like BS to me.

Hawke's Bay is very simple by design but all the others are at least as complicated as season 1 maps imo.

[Johnny Two Tips]

Originally posted by Invicta:

Nah, sounds like BS to me.

Hawke's Bay is very simple by design but all the others are at least as complicated as season 1 maps imo.

This is pretty much my opinion on the game. Hawke's Bay is bascially the second tutorial and the other locations after it are as nonlinear as Hitman (2016)'s levels.

[Aviticus Dragon]

They aren't simplistic. Turn off the guidance system and you'll spend hours running around the map trying to figure out how to eliminate targets creatively.

[Bouncer]

Dunno how they're simplistic. Most of them are bigger versions of Sapienza or Marrakesh. They're a bit too big and complex if anything.

[Kunovega]

Hawkes Bay is simpler than the original prologue, small, straight forward and not nearly as complex as either training mission which means the game really only has 5 full size missions

Whittleton creek is maybe the size of Hokkaido, but its mostly flat and pretty simple, it's technically big enough to call a full size map, but it's somewhat lackluster compared to any season 1 map

Next is Isle of Sgail, size and complexity is somewhere right around Hokkaido, it's not huge but its quite enjoyable

And then there's the other 3, all of which are somewhere between huge and massive

Santa Fortuna feels bigger and more complex than Sapienza, but it is set in a run down part of town and some underground tunnels, so its dirty and ugly so it might turn some people off

Mumbai is an epic large size with a lot of complexity, at first glance its like paris + sapienza together, but it's a filthy slum and it might turn some people off

And then there's Miami, massive, complex, looks great, it's everything you could want from a Hitman map and more

I'd put Miami right up there next to Paris and Sapienza for quality.

Mumbai and Santa Fortuna are big and complex but don't really draw me in like the older maps, at least not yet. Then again marrakesh took a while to grow on me too, so there's that

Isle of Sgail I can see becomeing a cult classic and a personal favorite for certain players in the way that some liked Hokkaido morethan Sapienza

[HoneyDrake]

Originally posted by Aviticus Dragon:

They aren't simplistic. Turn off the guidance system and you'll spend hours running around the map trying to figure out how to eliminate targets creatively.

this. one option which should be turned off, for the sake of not getting spoiled/having someone hold your hand and spoil it for you.

[LoseSanity]

They are just as complex as first seasons maps, if you wont count the first mission which is basically pretty basic since its meant to be tutorial.

Miami and Mumbai can be even more complex than first seasons maps, i didn't like mumbai at first but after poking around its becoming one of my fav maps because there is so much stuff to do.

[Executioner Gaming]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ reviews from people who probably have only explored 1/20th of the maps. The same people who beat the story in a few hours and call the game short. I look at it like a Fallout or Elder scrolls game. Saso is your main quest for each map. Every challenge, discovery, opportunity, feat aside from those are your "side quests" which really get you out to explore the maps in full and build you up for your ultimate saso run.

[Karn]

Hawke's Bay is essentially a trainning mission. The next 3 (I haven't played past that due to technical issues) are no less complex than the ones in Hitman (2016). Miami has a lot going on in it, same with Mumbai. Santa Fortuna is a bit more tame (not sure how to word it), but offers a lot on it.

[Sigmund]

I would say Hitman 2 maps are very interesting, easy to get into, while at the same time complex with more stuff to explore.

1. Nightcall - Hawke's Bay , New Zealand:
The Prologue, it's short but it's gorgeous, i would personally wish they had more stuff happening, to get more out of the map. Perhaps a mission set during the day.
This map is aesthetically very similar to the house on the beach in the movie "The Ghost Writer".
Modern architecture and luxury. Very James Bond.

---------------------------------------------

2. The Finish Line - Miami , USA:
My least favorite mission in Hitman 2, while it is big and has several areas, with some interesting/diverse assassination options, i really REALLY dislike the areas with the crowd AI.
You simply can't interact with Crowd AI in any meaningful way, can't hide their bodies, can't stun them, can't take their disguises, it's just filler.
I get that it creates a more realistic environment as opposed to say, have 10 real npcs watching the race, i just feel that any area with crowd AI is a useless area for Hitman. But even so, Miami has plenty of places to knock people out. I can easily see this map having 2 or 3 more missions in it, since it has so many places where you can assassinate targets.

I will say that it has a lot of areas and i really like exiting the mission in the speedboat.
Overall is not too difficult of a map.

--------------------------------------------

3. Three-headed Serpent - Santa Fortuna , Colombia:
Pretty big map with a village, a large modern druglord house and a drug plantation area.
I barely touched this map but i would say it's quite interesting.
Hitman maps are becoming so large it's resembling something like an openworld RPG, in fact with superior content and dialogs to plenty of RPG's.

--------------------------------------------

4. Chasing a Ghost - Mumbai , India:
Massive map with tons of stuff going on. 3 Targets both of which could be their own map in older hitman. This one was very enjoyable.
Overall it's not too difficult , Vanya Shah (The queen of the slums) with all her guards has a really bad security gap,so it's extremely easy to kill her.

Dawood Rangan's (The movie director) modern luxury tower is also easy to infiltrate.
As a curiosity it's obviously heavily inspired by the real "Antilia" highrise tower also located in Mumbai and owned by India's billionaire Mukesh Ambani. (though perhaps ingame it's of a smaller size) It's nice to see IO take inspiration from iconic places.

Then you have the Crows, a group of thugs that controls most of the slums.

As a note , in Mumbai you can also become a barber and shave dudes beards and earn coins all while listening to some funky Indian music :) This type of stuff just makes me think that the world the IO is creating can have more and more interesting stuff to it.
Also the Indian accents are also quite well done , it really immerses you. As a barber you also hear people tell you some info which helps you immerse even more into the mission.
There's plenty of funny dialogs as well.

There's also a new mechanic where you must find out who is the third target. (The Maelstrom)

I went into this map thinking i wouldn't like it, but it ended up being incredibly enjoyable and addictive.

5. Another life - Whittleton Creek - USA:
I like this map a lot.
While simple, this map looks gorgeous. It's decently big.
It's basicly a suburb. All houses have garages with garage doors, that can be opened and closed. (Very convienient!) Also they often have places to hide bodies
So it's extremely easy to knock people out.
I think this map doesn't have Crowd AI, so that automatically makes me like it more for it.
There's more to this map than one immediately sees, each house has it's story, and while it's easy to just go in and take out your targets, there's plenty of stuff to do in the other houses as well. There also a new mechanic that involves listening to dialogs to learn about things you must check or pickup. Clues. But if you know the map well you can simply pickup certain items which are always present and solve that part of the mission easily and quickly.

Like any map from Hitman 1 or Hitman 2, the more you play it, the more you learn about the map, it grows on you, and suddenly you realize it isn't just something simple, but maps that were designed with great care and thought put into them.
As you are going through the challenges and the mission stories you realize all the amount of stuff that the mission has going on.
And once you complete 3 specific mission stories, you will get the Kalmer 1 tranquilizer pistol, which is pretty damn sweet and insta stuns people.

Goes without saying that this map blows "A New life" (Hitman Blood Money) out of the water both in size and complexity. Hitman 2 is just at another level.

Can easily see other missions happening on this map.

This map also gives off a lot of Cold war era vibes, which is always interesting.
--------------------------------------------------------------

6. The Ark Society - Isle of Sgàil , North Atlantic:
This map is quite large, and has tons and tons of guards.
It looks gorgeous, the high quality graphics and style on the castle reminded of the gorgeous graphics on the "Trespasser DLC" for Dragon Age Inquisition.
It has a "Eyes Wide Shut" (Stanley Kubric film) vibe to it with all the wealthy people wearing masks, impecably dressed guards (except Raiders, those look terribly vulgar!) and the Custodians with their Grey uniform that totally look like some kind of Evil guy's secret base personel out of a Roger Moore James Bond movie.

It's a fantastic map.

This is the kind of map i want to see more of, huge "evil guy" bases, set in luxurious old palaces/mansions or hitech.

--------------------------------------------------------------

While i'm quite happy with the current content, i wish IO would make a map in a German location (no, not Himmelstein!), with lots of npcs talking in stereotypical german accents, or some kind of Central European/Eastern European/Russia map. I realize voiceacting isn't cheap, but, i would gladly pay for such content.

So OP, please disregard the negative reviews and comments, Hitman 2 is one of the best if not the best thing that has happened for the franchise and i just can't wait to see where IO takes it from here.

Personally i will always buy Hitman games, i can say it's my favorite franchise by far.

And the quality of the games now is just mind blowingly good.


Edit: OOPS, forgot to say, the Music is Amazing and really gets you into the mood and immerses you into the mission, quite an improvement compared to Hitman 1.
It's also exciting and tense when it needs to.

[Dweller Beyond the Threshold]

Originally posted by Sigmund:

I would say Hitman 2 maps are very interesting, easy to get into, while at the same time complex with more stuff to explore.

1. Nightcall - Hawke's Bay , New Zealand:
The Prologue, it's short but it's gorgeous, i would personally wish they had more stuff happening, to get more out of the map. Perhaps a mission set during the day.
This map is aesthetically very similar to the house on the beach in the movie "The Ghost Writer".
Modern architecture and luxury. Very James Bond.

---------------------------------------------

2. The Finish Line - Miami , USA:
My least favorite mission in Hitman 2, while it is big and has several areas, with some interesting/diverse assassination options, i really REALLY dislike the areas with the crowd AI.
You simply can't interact with Crowd AI in any meaningful way, can't hide their bodies, can't stun them, can't take their disguises, it's just filler.
I get that it creates a more realistic environment as opposed to say, have 10 real npcs watching the race, i just feel that any area with crowd AI is a useless area for Hitman. But even so, Miami has plenty of places to knock people out. I can easily see this map having 2 or 3 more missions in it, since it has so many places where you can assassinate targets.

I will say that it has a lot of areas and i really like exiting the mission in the speedboat.
Overall is not too difficult of a map.

--------------------------------------------

3. Three-headed Serpent - Santa Fortuna , Colombia:
Pretty big map with a village, a large modern druglord house and a drug plantation area.
I barely touched this map but i would say it's quite interesting.
Hitman maps are becoming so large it's resembling something like an openworld RPG, in fact with superior content and dialogs to plenty of RPG's.

--------------------------------------------

4. Chasing a Ghost - Mumbai , India:
Massive map with tons of stuff going on. 3 Targets both of which could be their own map in older hitman. This one was very enjoyable.
Overall it's not too difficult , Vanya Shah (The queen of the slums) with all her guards has a really bad security gap,so it's extremely easy to kill her.

Dawood Rangan's (The movie director) modern luxury tower is also easy to infiltrate.
As a curiosity it's obviously heavily inspired by the real "Antilia" highrise tower also located in Mumbai and owned by India's billionaire Mukesh Ambani. (though perhaps ingame it's of a smaller size) It's nice to see IO take inspiration from iconic places.

Then you have the Crows, a group of thugs that controls most of the slums.

As a note , in Mumbai you can also become a barber and shave dudes beards and earn coins all while listening to some funky Indian music :) This type of stuff just makes me think that the world the IO is creating can have more and more interesting stuff to it.
Also the Indian accents are also quite well done , it really immerses you. As a barber you also hear people tell you some info which helps you immerse even more into the mission.
There's plenty of funny dialogs as well.

There's also a new mechanic where you must find out who is the third target. (The Maelstrom)

I went into this map thinking i wouldn't like it, but it ended up being incredibly enjoyable and addictive.

5. Another life - Whittleton Creek - USA:
I like this map a lot.
While simple, this map looks gorgeous. It's decently big.
It's basicly a suburb. All houses have garages with garage doors, that can be opened and closed. (Very convienient!) Also they often have places to hide bodies
So it's extremely easy to knock people out.
I think this map doesn't have Crowd AI, so that automatically makes me like it more for it.
There's more to this map than one immediately sees, each house has it's story, and while it's easy to just go in and take out your targets, there's plenty of stuff to do in the other houses as well. There also a new mechanic that involves listening to dialogs to learn about things you must check or pickup. Clues. But if you know the map well you can simply pickup certain items which are always present and solve that part of the mission easily and quickly.

Like any map from Hitman 1 or Hitman 2, the more you play it, the more you learn about the map, it grows on you, and suddenly you realize it isn't just something simple, but maps that were designed with great care and thought put into them.
As you are going through the challenges and the mission stories you realize all the amount of stuff that the mission has going on.
And once you complete 3 specific mission stories, you will get the Kalmer 1 tranquilizer pistol, which is pretty damn sweet and insta stuns people.

Goes without saying that this map blows "A New life" (Hitman Blood Money) out of the water both in size and complexity. Hitman 2 is just at another level.

Can easily see other missions happening on this map.

This map also gives off a lot of Cold war era vibes, which is always interesting.
--------------------------------------------------------------

6. The Ark Society - Isle of Sgàil , North Atlantic:
This map is quite large, and has tons and tons of guards.
It looks gorgeous, the high quality graphics and style on the castle reminded of the gorgeous graphics on the "Trespasser DLC" for Dragon Age Inquisition.
It has a "Eyes Wide Shut" (Stanley Kubric film) vibe to it with all the wealthy people wearing masks, impecably dressed guards (except Raiders, those look terribly vulgar!) and the Custodians with their Grey uniform that totally look like some kind of Evil guy's secret base personel out of a Roger Moore James Bond movie.

It's a fantastic map.

This is the kind of map i want to see more of, huge "evil guy" bases, set in luxurious old palaces/mansions or hitech.

--------------------------------------------------------------

While i'm quite happy with the current content, i wish IO would make a map in a German location (no, not Himmelstein!), with lots of npcs talking in stereotypical german accents, or some kind of Central European/Eastern European/Russia map. I realize voiceacting isn't cheap, but, i would gladly pay for such content.

So OP, please disregard the negative reviews and comments, Hitman 2 is one of the best if not the best thing that has happened for the franchise and i just can't wait to see where IO takes it from here.

Personally i will always buy Hitman games, i can say it's my favorite franchise by far.

And the quality of the games now is just mind blowingly good.


Edit: OOPS, forgot to say, the Music is Amazing and really gets you into the mood and immerses you into the mission, quite an improvement compared to Hitman 1.
It's also exciting and tense when it needs to.

awesome. Thanks a lot for typing all these. I couldn't read all because some of the paragraphs went too much into the details and I want to save all that to experience myself.
I'm gonna wait for christmas sale to get it.

[Dweller Beyond the Threshold]

Originally posted by Kunovega:

Hawkes Bay is simpler than the original prologue, small, straight forward and not nearly as complex as either training mission which means the game really only has 5 full size missions

Whittleton creek is maybe the size of Hokkaido, but its mostly flat and pretty simple, it's technically big enough to call a full size map, but it's somewhat lackluster compared to any season 1 map

Next is Isle of Sgail, size and complexity is somewhere right around Hokkaido, it's not huge but its quite enjoyable

And then there's the other 3, all of which are somewhere between huge and massive

Santa Fortuna feels bigger and more complex than Sapienza, but it is set in a run down part of town and some underground tunnels, so its dirty and ugly so it might turn some people off

Mumbai is an epic large size with a lot of complexity, at first glance its like paris + sapienza together, but it's a filthy slum and it might turn some people off

And then there's Miami, massive, complex, looks great, it's everything you could want from a Hitman map and more

I'd put Miami right up there next to Paris and Sapienza for quality.

Mumbai and Santa Fortuna are big and complex but don't really draw me in like the older maps, at least not yet. Then again marrakesh took a while to grow on me too, so there's that

Isle of Sgail I can see becomeing a cult classic and a personal favorite for certain players in the way that some liked Hokkaido morethan Sapienza

thank you, I'm personally really looking forward to Isle of Sgail as it gives me a A Dance with the Devil vibe.

[Doc Holiday]

Originally posted by Kunovega:

Santa Fortuna feels bigger and more complex than Sapienza, but it is set in a run down part of town and some underground tunnels, so its dirty and ugly so it might turn some people off

Mumbai is an epic large size with a lot of complexity, at first glance its like paris + sapienza together, but it's a filthy slum and it might turn some people off

lol, "filthy slum" and "dirty and ugly"... Way to put your own prejudice into the game...

These locations can be ugly in real life, but on the context of a videogame, they are really well done and artistically beautiful.

Mumbai specially with all the street art on walls, the super funny Rangan paintings on his tower. I could see how much love was put on that level. Santa Fortuna also nails the South American visuals and atmosphere, though not every location is interesting as Mumbai's, I think the submarine cave is boring.

Having now played all the Standard maps I guess (since the game played the Credits after I beat Isle of Sgail), I would rank them as such:
Mumbai > Santa Fortuna > Miami = Isle of Sgail > Whittleton Creek.

I also thought these 2018 levels were mostly better than Hitman 2016, except for Whittleton Creek, which still is a nice level. I could see a lot of Blood Money and even Absolution into HITMAN 2.