When this was first released, I felt the fanbase was a little harsh on it. At the time, sure, I could see how attempts to modernize and commercialize the series led it to deviate from the classic formula. But I felt it took enough from the older entries whilst adding some interesting ideas to still create a fun product worthy of the series title if not a disappointing one at least. In hindsight, I was wrong.

I forgot there were hardly any classic sandboxes levels which act as a puzzle in which you experiment to find the best solution. Even when there is, the levels lack any real creativity to complete them, with the optimal route often being just going to a point in the map then waiting, fibrewiring them then hiding the body. The disguise system change is easily the worst decision they made. I admit when I was younger, I might have been one of those annoying people who’d point out that wouldn’t it be obvious when a random bald white guy had appeared to join the Yakuza overnight but they went too extreme with it. Now with disguises often being worthless on most maps, it hurts the flow, the philosophy of the previously established game design and often reduces the game to nothing more than your average stealth game in which you wiggle around to avoid the detection meter from filling up. It’s so ridiculous that even when your face is fully hidden, they can somehow see through it. It could have had huge potential to vary up the missions. They could have made the aforementioned costumes being completely safe but then stopping you at a certain point at it never had the clearance or could have had levels where they are on high alert so obtaining a costume would only provide limited resistance to being exposed.

The story is worse than I remember, with a plot which feels like it needs to be constantly introducing more and more unlikeable characters over an increasingly contrived plot. The worst part “a twist” is only achieved by actively lying to the player. I still feel people were over critical about the checkpoint system. I could understand why this was implemented to appeal to a larger audience and if they paced out the missions a little better it wouldn’t been too bad. I also really liked the more “Hollywood” moments to vary the gameplay but they should of mixed this in with the classic formula. I think the point system was also a potentially good idea missed and wouldn’t have been so bad but they would need to quantify the points per mission so being a “shadow” wasn’t the best result for a seasoned killer.

There are good parts of the game. Absolution might not be a good Hitman game but it is a fine stealth game, nothing special but just fine. It also looked amazing when released and you could even argue it looks better than WOA in some aspects. Also the mistakes it made with the gameplay design would later enable them to improve upon them in WOA. It definitely worth a play through from a sale purchase but don’t stress yourself to try and get the highest result but just the best result if you know what I mean.

Was surprised how much I loved this game when it was released and it still holds up for the most part. Gameplay is a great blend of new age meet old school design philosophies, bombastic set pieces and allowing you to choose between a stealth or gun and run approach in certain moments, overall creating a fun and addictive experience.

Loved the story. It might be hard to keep a story about an alternative reality where Nazis develop insane technology to win the war grounded, although they still somehow keep you invested in the story, constantly making it action packed however somehow providing some truly heart warming and touching moments which reflect many of the experiences of those who had to suffer the atrocities of the war.

It also finally does something I've wanted in gaming for a while of making the story path decision early on instead of near the end where you naturally feel the impulse to just save scum it instead. Not only does this provide extra replayability, it also opens some extra story moments which make you wonder if you made the right choice.