Hitman Absolution Switch Review – Thrilling Stealth Action

Hitman Absolution on Switch stealth-dropped unexpectedly, letting players dive back into Agent 47’s thrilling world of assassinations and strategy. Stealth drops can be wonderful things. There’s nothing quite as exciting as seeing a game you didn’t expect to come out anytime soon, if at all, popping up out of nowhere. Especially if it’s a game you really enjoyed on an older system, gracing a new one. For me, it was a thrill to return to the murky life of Agent 47 in my favourite Hitman game.

Modernised Series Mechanics

Now, when Hitman Absolution came out in 2012, it didn’t quite resonate with series fans as everyone expected it to. You see, Absolution was IO Interactive’s attempt to bring the series kicking and screaming into the modern age, making a more accessible game that took advantage of modern control schemes while retaining the hardcore aspects of the series so beloved by fans. Many purists took issue with some of the game’s additions, such as the disguise system and the smaller, relatively straightforward level design.

But for me, it was these things, along with the need for quick adaptability in the levels, that made the game so great.

Flexible Stealth and Combat

As fun as previous games were, they were largely very strict in how you had to go about doing things. But Absolution changed that up by giving you multiple ways to infiltrate areas and off your targets, a now signature series standard. And it didn’t hurt either that Agent 47 controlled a lot more organically with third-person mechanics, such as using cover to make the stealth feel all the more natural and empowering. Garroting someone and dragging their bodies to a container without being noticed was thoroughly addictive.

Combat Enhancements

Another big change was the combat system. Again, the third-person mechanics made getting into a firefight a more survivable experience. Most of all, this empowered you to go either silent or loud and not feel out of your depth in either aspect.

Replayability and Challenges

While small, missions were designed with experimentation and replayability in mind. And you had to do more than one run if you wanted to unlock the game’s various challenges, which included everything from how to kill your targets to finding all the levels’ weapons and disguises. Poisoning food, defenestrating unsuspecting henchmen and car bombs are just some of the ways you could accomplish your goals and part of the game’s addictive charm is replaying a level to make use of every execution style while remaining unnoticed.

But hey, if you just want to roll through the doors with 47’s signature dual Silverballers and blow everyone away, you can do that too. For those playing the current World of Assassination game, you know how addictive this style of choice gameplay is.

Storyline Overview

There’s also a pretty good story capping it all off, with 47 tasked with putting down his longtime handler, Diana, for the Agency. It doesn’t take long for 47 to go Bond-ian rogue, though, and become a threat to the Agency as well.

Switch Performance and Visuals

So how does all of that track over to the Switch? The answer is, incredibly well. The gameplay is completely intact and still just as satisfying as it was on my first go around. For those thinking it’s too easy, there are five difficulty settings to tackle, with a Purist mode for those who want the hardest of hardcore experiences. Sadly, I’m not that masochistic to take that mode on, choosing instead to focus on the normal difficulty and still trying to do a playthrough where my score isn’t crippled because of unintended, “Oh, he saw me!” kills. Suffice to say, I have a ways to go.

A quick heads-up, completing the game’s challenges goes beyond stroking your ego, as upgrades for Agent 47 are unlocked behind the scenes as you do, which includes things such as better weapon handling and aiming.

Outstanding Visuals

One of Absolution’s most outstanding features on release was its visuals. It was a really beautiful game at the time, featuring gorgeous lighting, texturing, and modelling work, both for characters and the environment. It also featured some wonderful performances, considering how many NPCs were flooding a scene at some points in the game, specifically the Chinatown level, which was really impressive at the time.

Switch Port Impressions

Simply put, Hitman Absolution on Switch is a really gorgeous and atmospheric affair. The pre-rendered cut-scenes still look great, and the in-game visuals are really stunning. The Chinatown level still stuns with its high crowd density, while the Hotel level looks lovely with its rain-drenched visuals. There are some areas, usually in the larger, open view areas, that have some dynamic resolution scaling happening, but I loved just how good the game looks on Nintendo’s handheld. It doesn’t hurt either that game performance was great as well. I don’t recall any issues with the frame rate at any time during my playthrough.

If there have been any changes to the game’s assets to make it more Switch-friendly, without going back to the original game or its later, enhanced releases, I couldn’t say. And to be honest, it doesn’t bother me either way with just how well this version looks and plays.

Final Thoughts

Returning to Hitman Absolution on the go was an absolute delight. For me, this is my favourite of the Hitman games as it has everything I could want from the series: great level design, plenty of choice on how to complete your objectives and gorgeous visuals to back it up. This is a fantastic port of a fantastic game, and if you haven’t played it before, or simply didn’t give it much of a chance before, then I highly recommend you give it a go on the go now.

Hitman Absolution Trailer

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The game was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.