Parts of this game's story are Really Good. The way Altair's relationship with Al Mualim develops throughout is extremely well written and engaging, and the mystery of what these evil future scientists want with you is an effective hook. But oh my goddamn god the gameplay is BOOOOOORING, you just do the same shit over and over while listening to the same three street preacher speeches for hours on end. Play this game's extremely flabby middle section for 5 minutes and then think about how it spawned one of the most successful game series of all time and tell me you don't wanna walk into the sea.

Like its 2016 predecessor, Hitman 2 is a dogshit stealth/action game but a very good puzzle game. I think this crop of missions are largely better than the first game's. It approaches that same level of frustrating obtuseness in the Ark Society mission, but nothing in here is as bad as the Colorado mission from 1. It feels really good to pull off a scheme without a hitch, and the feeling of mastery you get from replaying missions is palpable enough to outweigh any minor nitpicks and my own misgivings about the games-as-a-service model this trilogy is going for.

Hooga booga, listen: I know this game is good, good as hell, crazily good, good as balls. But idk it might just not be for me. Metroidvanias kinda stress me out and overwhelm me, and the feeling of disorientation doesn't quite complement the punishing difficulty for me. Makes it more difficult to appreciate the incredible music and art and atmosphere when I'm constantly checking the map and dying and worrying about what's around the next corner. Maybe I'll pick it up again but given what I've heard about how buttass hard the true ending is I might never finish it.