Hitman review – clever, immersive and experimental

The long-running assassination series returns in an intriguing episodic structure that invites you to explore as you kill

Episodic games have proliferated in recent years but, until now, have broadly conformed to a specific blueprint in which storyline has taken precedence over gameplay. High-profile examples such as Life is Strange, the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones have myriad merits but underneath their visuals belong to the most archaic of genres, the point-and-click adventure. So when a major franchise such as Square Enix's Hitman makes the move to a piecemeal structure, it amounts to a noteworthy change of tack. You might not have flagged Hitman as an obvious candidate for such an experiment but it turns out to have been an inspired move.

While the series is ostensibly about stealth it also offers meticulously realised environments, providing its taciturn star Agent 47 with all manner of ingenious means to fulfil his sinister business. In Hitman games, you are really playing your surroundings. Having experienced the prologue and Paris-based mission that constitute Hitman's first episode, plus most of the following mission (set in the fictional Italian town of Sapienza), it's clear that putting Hitman out in this format has given Io Interactive a newfound freedom to craft missions that explore the intricacy and richness of these environments in new ways.