I cant believe it either, Hitman on PSVR 2 is actually, finally a great VR port of the World of Assassination trilogy and my new favorite way to play the series
Date:
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000
Description:
Hitman on the PSVR 2 is superb, and a must-play for everyone with Sony's VR headset.
FULL STORY ======================================================================
While the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy has been a stand-out success across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC its transition from flat gaming to VR has been a tough ride. Exploring IO Interactives sandbox levels in virtual
reality has its charm, graphics woes, lacking motion controls, and general bugginess have negatively impacted prior releases across PSVR, Steam, and recently the Meta Quest 3 .
But fourth times the charm, so to speak, as with the latest Hitman: World of Assassination release on PSVR 2 , IOI has seemingly cracked the VR formula
at least based on my experience in a roughly hour-and-a-half-long demo.
Ive been looking for an excuse to get back into Hitman , this is it - it really could be the next best PSVR 2 game . Getting to grips
My day started off smoothly. I was whisked away to Sapienza a fictional Italian coastal town introduced in Hitman (2016) with the goal of
eliminating Silvio Caruso, Francesca De Santis, and the biological weapon theyve created, with me taking out the human targets with an exploding golf ball and sniper rifle respectively. One shot, one kill (Image credit: iOi)
Here I got to grips with developer IO Interactives ultimate take on what a VR Hitman should be. As expected youre thrust into a first-person view, with
this PSVR 2 interpretation featuring a suite of motion controls to replace
the usual button prompts. Reloading a firearm is an involved process you
have to manually eject the empty cartridge, grab and insert a new one, then cock the pistol to be able to fire again and to break into areas you arent allowed to enter youll need to pull out your lockpick, the stolen key card
you swiped, or your trusty crowbar to physically crack open the barrier in your way.
The only time you don't have to manually do Agent 47s job for him is when youre blending in or climbing.
IO Interactive told me that while some players say they want to stay in first-person the whole time and perform 47s blending-in techniques for themselves, that doesnt work for the gameplay as a whole.
Blending in is a time for players to catch their breath, take stock of their situation, and watch out for people hunting them or those who could rumble their disguise a third-person view facilitates this in a way a first-person one cant, and from playing the game I can see what they mean. Climbing in third-person also has the added benefit that its less nauseating for many
than the first-person alternative.
However the team has found ways to use VR in other ways to make this PSVR 2 version more than a simple port, such as with dual-wielding. Obvious applications are that you can go into a mission with dual-wielded guns
blazing and forgo Agent 47s Silent Assassin reputation, but others include
new takedown techniques.
With a blunt object in each hand, you can knock out two guards
simultaneously, making it easier to sneak around undetected and complete a mission with that important Silent Assassin, Suit Only rating. Much better than Hitman's PSVR and Steam attempts (Image credit: I/O) A whole world to explore
Speaking of Hitman: World of Assassination as 'just' a PSVR 2 port, this is the (almost) full-on World of Assination package but in VR.
Some missions have been cut (at least for now) such as the bonus Patient Zero campaign (I say for now, as the IOI team gave me the impression it wanted to bring these levels to VR eventually), Hitman 2 s sniper missions, and some of the more elaborate Elusive Targets like the recent The Splitter mission featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Otherwise, everythings there. In Sapienza, I was delighted to see the Kraken easter egg was still present even if I didnt quite have the time or aim to solve it and in Berlin, I took on The Drop Elusive Target mission starring real-world DJ Dimitri Vegas.
I also noticed that everything ran fairly smoothly. Even on Berlins crowded dance floor and at Miamis packed car race event I didnt experience any noticeable stuttering. Graphics-wise it's a step down from what youll be used to on the PS5s flat game, however, it didnt look bad by any stretch though Ill want to test the game out further before passing a final judgment on the performance.
And returning to the Hitman PSVR 2 experience is something I cant wait for. I love the Hitman trilogy and this PSVR 2 version has truly done it justice in
a way Im sure many players feel the other VR attempts havent quite managed
to.
The full VR game releases on March 27 as a $9.99 / 8.99 add-on to the
original PS5 game (which youll also need to own), and Ill be one of the first in line. You might also like Ive played Assassins Creed Shadows for more than 40 hours and cant stop collecting tea sets, painting birds, and assassinating evil schemers I rode a dragon, sizzled as a sausage, and won a dance-off with a monkey in Split Fiction, and thats not even the half of it Sony patents PlayStation controller that you can charge by leaving in sunlight
======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/gaming/virtual-reality-gaming/i-cant-believe-it-eith er-hitman-on-psvr-2-is-actually-finally-a-great-vr-port-of-the-world-of-assass ination-trilogy-and-my-new-favorite-way-to-play-the-series
--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)