Hitman (2016)
After Hitman Absolution failed to garner the interest of series fans, Hitman 2016 sought to combine the fluid movement mechanics of Absolution with the open ended level structure of Hitman: Blood Money. While that was a tough development challenge on its own, the biggest risk in the project was the episodic release structure of the game. This meant that the launch version of the game was only a small slice of the full experience that was released at a fraction of retail price, and new content would be added through add-ons that required to be purchased independently. For such a model to be successful, each level needed to be of the highest quality and dense with replayability options so as to keep fans engaged until the next episode drops and prove its worth.
And suffice to say, Hitman 2016 delivered with its huge sandbox levels that are literal playgrounds of possibilities. Each level is filled with tons of creative ways to dispatch your target, and the game encourages you to keep replaying these levels over and over again to increase your Mastery Rank and unlock additional tools and starting locations. While the game was overall a success, the episodic model didn’t really gel with fans – which is why it was disbanded in favor of traditional releases for later entries in the franchise.
