Electric Nightmares

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Hitman's Second Elusive Target Coming Next Friday

Another one-off

Hitman [official site] recently introduced 'Elusive Targets', people with contracts on their heads who'll only appear in the game for a short period of actual real time before vanishing forever, and who will also vanish if you fluff the assassination. Alex Spencer flipping loved the tension that brought, but I saw a fair few people note they didn't even know it was coming. Well then! Consider this one week's notice that the second Elusive Target will be strolling around sunny Sapienza next Friday. He's a Congressman.

Only 53% of attempts last time were successful, you know.

The deal with Elusive Targets is that they're one-off opportunities. They're hidden somewhere in the level, not appearing on the minimap or showing on Instinct, so first you'll need to find them. If you die, they'll be gone forever. If you miss the narrow window opportunity of real time (the first was 48 hours), you'll never see them again. And if you do whack them, you can't re-do their hits later either. They are one-offs. Which got Alex proper amped:

"The sense of release I feel as I stroll out through one of the level’s many exits is a remarkable thing. It’s a sensation I’ve only experienced very rarely in my two decades of playing games, and mostly in the final seconds of the very tightest multiplayer games against friends."

A new Hitman blog post has statistics from all the attempted hits on the art forger Sergei Larin, and... barely half were successful. And only 9.9% offed him with a Silent Assassin rating.

The post also has word on a new Escalation Contract added this week, and some thoughts on future plans:

"We were inundated with feedback about all aspects of the Elusive Targets and we’re still digesting that and having discussions internally about what, if anything, we might want to change, tweak or adjust in the future. There will be more Elusive Targets coming, they are just as integral to our live content as Escalations have been in recent weeks. Expect a more even balance between the two modes going forward."

How did your crack at Sergei go? Did you even know he was around?

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Hitman

PS4, Xbox One, PC

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About the Author
Alice O'Connor avatar

Alice O'Connor

Associate Editor

Alice has been playing video games since SkiFree and writing about them since 2009, with nine years at RPS. She enjoys immersive sims, roguelikelikes, chunky revolvers, weird little spooky indies, mods, walking simulators, and finding joy in details. Alice lives, swims, and cycles in Scotland.

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