May is a very busy month for HITMAN. Take a look at the full monthly roadmap to get an overview of everything that’s coming your way.
Once again, we’ve enlisted a HITMAN player to be a Contract Curator and put forward their best selection of contracts for all players to enjoy.
This month, our Curator is Euler13. He’s no stranger to Featured Contracts and there’s a good chance that you’ve already played at least one of his 15 contracts that have been Featured since the game launched. He also knows a thing or two about how to subdue characters.
His chosen contracts will be available to play on 11th May 2018, so let’s hear more about them!
Hello Euler13! Tell us a bit about who you are?
In the real world – when I’m not assassinating targets – I teach mathematics and computer science. Sad as this may sound, I am absolutely passionate about mathematics. My Gamertag is a tribute to, in my opinion, one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived, and my hero: Leonhard Euler.
Where can people find/watch/follow you online?
I have a YouTube channel: Euler13. I’m also an active member of Hitman forum. I’d highly recommend the forum to any Hitman players who haven’t discovered it yet. It’s a fantastic community and gives us a great chance to share contracts and talk all things Hitman.
We love the Hitman forum as well. This year, IOI is celebrating 20 years of making games and we’d like to know about the first IOI game that you played. Can you tell us about that?
Even though a day hardly goes by when I don’t play Hitman 2016, my first real exposure to your games was Hitman: Absolution. I realise that this is not a view shared some of those who have been with the franchise for much longer than me, but personally, I loved Absolution. I know that a lot of my Hitman buddies share a similar experience and it was our gateway into the world of Hitman.
For me, it was love at first sight and the reason that I did not hesitate to pre-order Hitman 2016. I don’t have a single regret. I’ve been video gaming since the days of the original Atari VCS (2600), but I have never enjoyed any game as much as Hitman. I will definitely be pre-ordering season 2 as soon as it is officially announced; many of us are hoping that there will be an opportunity to begin placing our orders around 10-14 June. (c;
How would you sum up your Hitman playstyle? Are you all about speed, puzzle, roleplay, etc?
My playstyle has evolved and I’ve dabbled with all of those mentioned. I enjoy doing speedruns from time to time and I cannot resist a good puzzle contact, but my prefence is a self-imposed suit only infiltration style of play, even if the contract allows any disguise. There is nothing quite like the adrenaline rush experienced when sneaking through a hostile map such as Colorado in my favorite 47’s Signature suit with gloves. But even suit only runs open up so many options. Recently I did a video series: Shabby 47 vs Smooth 47, in which I completed two suit only runs of all of the main missions using two different playstyles.
Smooth 47 operates like a ghost, never subdues anyone, and does nothing that would create panic. Shabby 47 will settle for nothing less than silent assassin rating, but he’s bold, loud, and will go to any lengths to get the job done.
Alright, now let’s talk Contracts; There are thousands of out there, so how did you go about choosing the 10 Contracts for Featuring?
My personal favourites are generally those with one, two, or three carefully chosen targets. However, when I chose these contracts to be featured I was acutely aware that they were going to be played by an entire community of players with such a massive variety of preferences. So I’ve tried to pick something for everyone and, contrary to my preferences, a lot of them have five targets. But I hope that those who play them will appreciate how much thought each of the creators has put into their design.
When selecting them I knew that there needed to be a complete mixture of those I’d categorise as free-flowing speedrun, puzzle, and infiltration. I also had to try to give coverage to most of the maps and allow for different skill levels. Although it’s only my opinion, I rated the difficulty level of all the contracts that I chose out of 10 (with 10 being the most difficult) and the mean score was 6.2. And, yes, there is one in there that I’d rate as a 10! I’m sure that everyone will quickly figure it out which one it is and curse me for selecting, but I think it’s a real masterpiece. Some seasoned players might feel that there are too many easy contracts, but I deliberately chose a number of them because they allowed for any kill method and any disguise. So if it’s too easy, then they will have the freedom to make it challenging for themselves and hopefully they can share a video of their insanely good runs to impress the rest of us.
What do you think are the necessary requirements to make the “perfect” Contract?
Again, this is often down to personal opinion, but I do think that there are some fundamental principles that are the hallmark of great contracts. When searching for random contracts to play I tend to ignore any with the default title (Kill Order…) and briefing (You have been cleared…). It doesn’t mean that they can’t be great, but if I don’t know the creator, then it is most likely that someone who can’t be bothered to take the time to think of a decent title or briefing has probably not thought much about the targets and kill conditions either. They probably just went into the map and marked five random targets and would have marked twenty targets if the game allowed it.
In other words, an excellent contract should show clear evidence that the creator had a theme in mind, he/she had thought carefully about the targets, and had considered how they should be killed. The contract should be tested several times before publishing and the creator should take the time to think about how other players will approach it. I believe that getting that balance between challenge, fun, and freedom is what it’s all about.
That’s Awesome. Moving away from Contracts, can you remember the first time you failed (if ever) an Elusive Target? What happened?
I’ve never failed an Elusive Target, but I did miss out on silent assassin rating with a couple of the earlier ones the first time round. One of my all-time favourites was The Prince. I still remember starting it with a confident “I’m coming for you” swagger and being horrified when I found the church in complete lockdown. I knew the Sapienza map inside out, but I soon realised that would count for nothing. I was going to need a really good plan. I still don’t know what I did wrong, but somehow, someone, somewhere saw me. The other ET that I didn’t get silent assassin on was the enjoyable and hilarious Gary Busey contract. I used a ducky on a scooter and the explosion of the duck killed him rather than the scooter, so it didn’t count as an accident kill. Schoolboy error!
When IOI first announced Elusive Targets, none of us really knew what to expect, but I’m sure that I speak for the vast majority of the community in saying that they turned out to be an unexpectedly awesome experience. Hopefully, we’ll get more in season 2.
We have one last question for you: Where would you most like to see 47 travel to in a future game?
I’m not really too bothered about geographical location as much as the type of map. I think that a prison complex would be really interesting to explore. This could include areas like the prison cells, facilities (toilets, showers, laundary, kitchens, and so on), hidden passages and tunnels, warden and administrator offices, and prison guard areas. The default starting location could be outside the prison and you would need to break-in. The main target(s) could be The King Pin and/or a corrupt warden.
If there’s anything else you want to say, now’s the time…
I’d like to shout out a massive thanks to the entire team at IOI who have lovingly brought us Hitman and continue to nurture this wonderful game. I would also like to thank the Hitman community for being so amazing, especially all the friends that I have made. They are the best. Most will go out their way to help and encourage others to become that perfect assassin. Yes, we have our disagreements from time to time, but ultimately it’s a fantastic community who all share the same love for the greatest game ever.
Thank you so much for your time Euler13!
No, thank you, and the best of luck with everything that lies ahead.
