Hitman: World Of Assassination Trilogy (PS VR2) Review – A Redeemed Experience

Fourth time’s the charm, you might say.

Following in the footsteps of three previous lukewarm attempts, IO Interactive is back to take another stab at adapting Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy in VR. This time, the game has been reworked for PlayStation VR2, and aims to finally put to rest Hitman’s cursed history with virtual reality.

In Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy, you play as Agent 47, an expert assassin who jets off to various parts of the world to eliminate his targets. Each level is a large sandbox environment, in which you can use disguises to access restricted areas and random everyday items as weapons or tools.

Although the series has mostly been a flatscreen experience, several VR releases on the original PSVR, PCVR, and Quest 3 were met with mixed reception. But right off the bat, it’s clear the PS VR2 version of Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy has learned all the right lessons from those previous iterations.

While the Quest 3 port was widely criticized, its dual-wielding mechanics felt like the right step forward for the game. Here, dual-wielding returns with much more freedom and maneuverability to use both arms on the go.

This means full ambidexterity, allowing you to multitask different interactions at once, or attack two different enemy targets at the same time. Using two pistols to shoot is fun, of course, but bonking two guards on the head simultaneously using cans of spaghetti sauce is a level of comedy that can only be found in a game like this.

That’s not the only improvement either. In an effort to trim down on the number of button presses that featured heavily in the Quest 3 version, Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy on PS VR2 has full physical interactions with the environment. That means actually being able to swipe a keycard into the reader, poisoning food by dropping a vial of poison onto it, and opening a closet by pulling at the handle. 

Throwing items can also be done with the flick of a wrist, and thanks to the aim assist setting you can adjust how tricky it is to hit targets with it. It’s intuitive and really helps to immerse you in the role of Agent 47. Altogether, it’s clear IO Interactive has really taken everything into consideration when it comes to turning Hitman into a VR experience.

This extends to weapon handling too, which features holstering on both sides of your body, dynamic sniper scopes, as well as manual reloading where you have to physically insert a new magazine into your gun. Compared to the previous versions, where reloading was handled automatically via a button press, this really helps the game to feel a lot more like it was built for VR from the ground up.

This isn’t perfect though, as there remain moments where the game doesn’t feel as dynamic. For example, vaulting over walls or climbing ladders is still only operated by pressing one of the face buttons. It also puts you into a third-person perspective until you complete the interaction, which can be really distracting and even interrupt your momentum in some cases.

Nearly every cutscene is also presented in flatscreen, but there are some very rare occasions where IO Interactive has taken the time to keep you in the game when a cutscene starts playing, as opposed to hitting you with a flat video. The game menu is also flat, and this feels like a missed opportunity to utilize the safe house from Freelancer to load up missions or check equipment.

You’re bound to have the odd moment or interaction that just doesn’t translate well in a VR game that was originally in flatscreen. I disliked every moment where it felt like control was being taken away from me. Luckily, it doesn’t happen as much as it did in previous versions of Hitman in VR, and certainly not enough to be a nuisance. But it can feel awkward when you are faced with it.

You may also notice the graphics are improved here too over the Quest 3’s downgraded visuals. Everything is crisper and more realistic, more similar in art style and graphical fidelity to the original flatscreen version on PlayStation 5. Using the power of the console, it’s out with the cel-shaded murky visuals, and in with the smooth, authentic textures. It’s a beautiful canvas to look at, and really made me want to stay in the game much longer.

These graphics improvements also give way to more details in the environment and props. While the game is still clearly using textures and items from the flatscreen version, being able to pick them up and inspect them up close gives you a new perspective on them compared to before. Now you can pick up keys, letters, books, clipboards, and much more, with each item having details on it that simply were too small to be seen in the third-person game.

With it making up three games altogether, the campaign in Hitman: World of Assassination will take you about 20 hours or so to finish if you’re a slow methodical player. Each mission can take you up to an hour if you’re the type of person who likes to explore and find hidden secrets. But one of the series’ biggest strengths is for you to experiment with different routes and methods when eliminating your target. So, that 20-hour playtime suddenly becomes a hundred hours if you’re so inclined.

Either way, that’s still a long time you’re spending with Hitman’s sandbox stealth gameplay. It’s essentially a puzzle game, where you have an end goal in sight, and just need to figure out the right way to reach it. Assassinating targets using a variety of disguises and weapons feels so distinct to this series that no other game in the genre quite does the same way. And experimenting with different methods each time you replay it makes it far more fun to try and uncover everything on offer.

Because IO Interactive encourages experimentation here, it’s wise to save your game often. What’s a shame is that quicksaves don’t appear to be supported in the VR version. So, any time you want to pull off a risky move or an interesting feat, you’re pretty much required to pause the game and save progress in one of the manual save slots, which can slow down and interrupt the experience. 

Similarly, the slow-paced nature of the gameplay means you may occasionally be waiting around for long periods of time for something to happen.NPCs typically walk around on a loop, so if you’re waiting for a character to be in a specific place, it could be over 10 minutes before they’re where you want them to be. If you’re like me and don’t like waiting around bored in VR for too long, this can make the experience a little uncomfortable.

This is what drew me more to Hitman’s action gameplay in VR. As someone with about a thousand hours in the flatscreen version of Hitman, it’s always been quite disappointing that the combat has left much to be desired. When playing with a controller or mouse and keyboard, it just feels quite janky and awkward, so I’ve tended to ignore that side of the game in the past.

However, with the improvements to shooting and contextual interactions, IO Interactive has really improved on the combat for the PS VR2. Now, it feels incredibly badass to pull out a pistol and shoot two guards in the face as they’re trying to arrest you. Then the commotion alerts more guards, and before you know it, you’re pinned down in a hallway with dozens of enemies firing on you. Your only choice is to blast your way out. It changes the game from a methodical stealth puzzler to what is essentially a John Wick simulator.

Just like the previous iterations of Hitman’s VR attempts though, it’s disappointing to see that a lot of the side content is still not available. Many of the bonus missions and escalations aren’t available to play in VR, and the Contracts and Sniper Assassin modes are completely disabled. 

What’s more is my favourite game mode, Freelancer, is also unavailable in VR. Considering the roguelite structure of Freelancer, VR suits itself well to the short sessions and unpredictable sandbox gameplay that mode offers. There’s a small sliver of hope IO Interactive could support these modes in updates later down the line, but for now you’re essentially stuck with the main campaign and a handful of bonus levels.

Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy PS VR2 – Final Verdict

Altogether, the PlayStation VR2 version of Hitman: World of Assassination might just be the most refined VR experience for this game we have. It’s a shame it took four iterations to get here, but IO Interactive has redeemed itself to where we can say this is a VR port worth checking out. While occasionally rough around the edges, IO Interactive has done a great job at translating Hitman’s sandbox gameplay into a VR space.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.