Hitman - Episode 2: Sapienza Reviews
47's second holiday jaunt proves to be a murder-playground even larger (and with even sillier possibilities) than Paris. This Italian job is another dynamic, and darkly comic, Hitman mission.
Hitman’s second episode leaves me far more optimistic for the game than its first episode did. A large, sprawling level ripe with exploration opportunities, Sapienza is a far better destination than Paris. That being said, technical issues still hinder the game from being something better.
The main place Hitman continues to struggle is on a technical level. On the PlayStation 4 I'd need two hands to count the crashes I've experienced all week (plus one freeze necessitating a hard reset) and while the long load times aren't as much of a problem this time given the extra slack I found the lax coastal town to offer, it still does put a ding in a game that otherwise encourages you to try new things at the risk of failure. On the whole, though, Sapienza feels more robust than Paris, with even more gag costumes and slapstick deathtraps, leaving me even more confident in IO's move toward this new model, even if the American voice actors' pronunciation of "Falcone" physically pains me every time.
Episode 2 is excellent, exactly as Hitman should be. Plenty to see, plenty to do and a wide variety of fun to be had.
A great mission in a beautiful location with a variety of opportunities and an increasing difficulty, Hitman 2016’s second mission is just what you would want in a Hitman game. Put aside some of the graphic glitches and framerate drops and you got yourself a fun experience.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
IO Interactive continues to impress with Hitman Episode 2, and it might honestly be my favorite Hitman experience to date, in any of the games. You can literally get lost for hours, wandering around the coastal town and just seeing what all there is to do and interact with. They have continued to build a living, breathing world, full of NPC’s that live their own lives. It’s amazing how many different areas there are that are fully explorable, and you can find ways to complete the mission that don’t even involve any of the Opportunities, or are so far out there that hardly anyone probably thought to try it. I actually almost pulled off a run taking both targets out in less than ten minutes without being spotted, but slipped up right at the end and was killed. It’s those types of moments that will keep people coming back to this installment of Hitman over and over again, because each consecutive playthrough has the potential to be so radically different.
Sapienza skillfully combines the elements at what makes an enjoyable Hitman level. Its lower difficulty, while making it more accessible for those new to the series, might slightly bore weathered Veterans.
This second chapter is even more enjoyable than the first one. The map is bigger and way more interesting to explore, and some refinements to the IA clearly improves the gameplay. The number of contracts created by the community is still impressive.
Review in Italian | Read full review
So far so good. Episode 2 is a nice contrast to the Paris mission and shows more of what this 2016 iteration of Hitman has up it's sleeve. They are off to a good start. Let's hope they can keep the momentum going in Episode 3.
Hitman Episode 2: Sapienza is a fantastic follow-up to the promising first episode; huge, bursting with deadly promise, and begging for many, many playthroughs. The lack of much meaningful local voice acting is a disappointing miss, however, and that might really start undermining Hitman’s jetsetting international atmosphere in later levels if it’s not addressed.
Huge, open and beautiful. Sapienza offers up a different sort of challenge to Paris, and is a promising sign for Hitman's future.
Building on practically every single area of the Paris level, Sapienza is simply breathtaking. A living, breathing seaside town, it’s a beautifully crafted arena for precision strikes from whatever weapon you decide to use. A neat secondary objective to bring in a fresh gameplay element, and the sheer variety of methods to dispatch your two targets is simply mind boggling. A delightfully twisted sense of humour ties the whole package together, with some of the approaches to assassination proving to be genuine laugh out loud moments, Sapienza is a fantastic follow up to Paris, and I can’t wait to see what happens next month.
Even better than the terrific first episode, the Sapienza mission might be a series high point. While there are still some technical issues, and the lengthy load times hamper things in a game where reloading to give things another shot is such a big part of it, the overall experience has been incredible so far. I can't wait to see what comes next.
This fault only prevents Hitman Episode Two from achieving near-perfection, it is still an exceptional example of the series at its very best. IO's strong start is becoming a hot streak, and all eyes will be on the third episode, set to be released in May.
Hitman Episode 2: Sapienza distills the entire Hitman experience down to one homicidal happy level, resulting in some fatal fun in the sun.
World of Tomorrow is the best slice of Hitman for a decade. Sapienza holds so many deliciously dark secrets within its Mediterranean walls, and it’s worth exploring every single one of them.
In some ways it's a shame that Sapienza wasn't Hitman's first mission. With its excellent world-building, well-worked atmosphere, and beautiful setting, the sleepy coastal town is one of the best Hitman missions in recent memory, and it's quality – and quantity – of content should convince most to quit waiting and spaghett(i) this title already. Trust us, you don't want to look pasta this one.
A superb second instalment, and one which shows off Hitman's greatest strengths.
Hitman's second mission in Sapienza is a great example of fantastic gameplay, with plenty of replayability and one of the most stunning environments I've ever seen.
Agent 47 is a cipher for how you want to play the game; he exists to unlock its secrets while also letting you establish your own style—within the game's parameters—and it's great to see how that evolves in this second episode.