Hitman 2 is one the best stealth games I’ve ever played. And that’s ironic, because it's really just a continuation of what IOI was doing in Hitman 1. This sequel mostly just refines the rougher edges of the original. In fact, the training missions included here are the exact same ones as in the first game...except there are bushes now! (And training is optional this time around.)

Hitman 2 opens in medias res, with Agent 47 stalking his way into a swanky beach house property. This opening level is actually a clever tutorial mission for players familiar with the first game, as it eschews the basic instructions in favor of just introducing new gameplay enhancements.

The first of these enhancements is foliage—which is suddenly important for sneaking around. Bushes, tall grass, and similar plant life now obscure your visibility to NPCs, allowing you to disappear into the leaves. Along with this comes a handy new visualization indicating when Agent 47 is hidden in a bush, or blending into a crowd.

Ah yes, and you can camouflage yourself with crowds of people now, Assassin’s Creed-style. Move Agent 47 into a group of people and he will do his best to blend in. This is useful in many circumstances, though it doesn't always work perfectly. Certain Enforcers—the NPCs who tend to see through your disguises—will still be able to pick out of a crowd sometimes. (Which makes sense. I mean, Agent 47 is a muscular, tall killing machine; he’d be hard to miss!)

There is also a new visualization of cameras’ viewing areas. This is so extremely useful, I almost can’t believe they didn’t include it in the last game. Perhaps they felt like being able to see precisely where cameras can see you—and where they can’t—made things a little too easy. Because it really is much easier to avoid their detection now. However, I think the new transparency makes the game feel more fair.

Dear IOI, please give us a new Freedom Fighters game. (This is awesome, by the way.)

Once again, this Hitman game appears to be always online...for some unknown reason. Despite being sold as a standalone game this time, Hitman’s levels need to be downloaded individually, just like in Hitman 1’s episodic setup. Again I am left wondering: What happens if I try to play offline? Will I be able to play this game if my internet goes out?

This game carries on the story begun in Hitman 1, which lends a nice continuity to things. Despite this continuation of the story, the cinematic cutscenes have been downgraded, and are now only partially animated and very storyboard-esque. It’s hard to tell if this was an intentional artist choice, or a limitation caused by budget or release deadlines, but the cutscenes here generally look inferior to what had been presented in the last game.

Hitman 2 presents six levels and then the credits roll. However, there are also two bonus DLC missions. (Which suddenly have fully animated cutscenes again—what? Okay.) Since each level is a massive sandbox overflowing with options, and each one requires multiple playthroughs in order to see the main events play out, eight levels really does make for a ton of content. What’s more, this sequel actually allows you to play the previous levels from Hitman 1, but with all the gameplay enhancements of 2. That’s so rad!

Much like in the last game, you’ve got a string of exotic locales: New Zealand, Miami, Colombia, Mumbai, a freaking island castle in the North Atlantic, and then, uh...the well-manicured lawns and spacious attached garages of suburban Vermont. Weird as it may sound though, sneaking around the suburbs—infiltrating backyard barbecues, poisoning blueberry muffins, and sabotaging pest-control fumigators—was actually my favorite mission of all. I’m giving Whittleton Creek a 5-star Yelp review.

Other standout moments include: In the Miami level, you can dress up in pink flamingo mascot costume to take out one target, then reprogram a military robot prototype to target its own designer. In Columbia, you can kill a man with a tattoo gun, or by ramming him with his personal submarine, OR by dropping a statue of himself on top of him. (Those are all assassination method for a single character, by the way.) In Mumbai, you discover that another assassin is after your targets, so instead of murdering them yourself, you just get them in position for an unseen sniper to pull the trigger.

Then of course there’s The Ark Society level, an Eyes Wide Shut-style high society party held at an island castle in the northern Atlantic Ocean. This mission has two assassination targets, and a third person who cannot be harmed...because you’re kidnapping him. There’s lots of great meta-humor in this level, with ultra-wealthy socialites conspiring to protect their vast fortunes. So of course it’s fun to knock them out, poison them, burn people alive, whatevs!

It really is insane how much IOI has managed to cram into every inch of this game. There are so many colorful characters—both your assassination targets, and bystanders alike—and so much to interact with everywhere, the world really feels alive. The various systems all feel consistent and cohesive too, making the puzzle-like situations a joy to figure out. Oh yeah, plus some of the assassination options are just inspired; equal parts brutality and hilarity.

I heard an interesting take on Hitman that I think is worth considering: How is it that Agent 47 (or any James Bond-type, for that matter) can just walk around foreign countries, going wherever he pleases—including areas restricted to the public—with a blatant disregard for the local rules, violate social norms, and almost nobody will call him on it…at least up until the point where he physically attacks someone? You could blame it on video game logic, sure, except that this social dynamic also happens in real life.

Perhaps Agent 47 is simply able to get away with it because he’s a white man. Maybe the local people in the places he travels to are accustomed to giving white tourists a lot of extra leeway. Maybe calling out a tall white dude is often more trouble than it’s worth. Maybe folks are accustomed to treating this type of foreigner with unearned deference. From a certain point of view, each Hitman game could almost be considered a kind of privilege simulator.

Not to say that the privilege element changes the moral calculus of the game. I mean, these are contract killing games—murder simulators—after all! It’s just an interesting thought experiment to consider how NPCs might react differently to our protagonist if he weren’t part of that particular demographic.

All in all, Hitman 2 is another hit, man. (sorry) This is definitely the best of the series up to this point, and well worth playing in my opinion. And hey, if you’re a PSN subscriber, the game is free to download on PS4 as of today! Don’t miss it!