It’s weird, but kind of brilliant.
Under normal circumstances, someone asking if you’d like to play a Hitman game where you don’t shoot anyone and it’s really more like a weird board game floating in space would be worthy of an eye roll and a sarcastic comment. Hitman is a franchise known for its sneaky violence, and the Hitman: Sniper release to mobile not that long ago refreshed that idea in the minds of gamers who enjoy sniping from a distance and planning out massive kill streaks.
There’s a new Hitman: Go out now for the Samsung Gear VR, and while you can use your imagination and say there’s a fair amount of killing in the game it’s a lot harder to sell to those who have played through the entire franchise.
Agent 47 is a little figurine on a floating puzzle board, tasked with navigating the puzzle and killing his way to an objective. You take out enemies by sneaking up behind or beside them, but if you put yourself in front of any of these other figures you’re likely to find yourself dead instead. Stealth is a priority, but so is making sure you eliminate you mark. In some cases, you’ll even have movement minimums to add an extra challenge.
Like the original version of the game, which was released for Android two years ago, this game is a little different. In any other environment this game would be far too silly to be called a Hitman game, but in the Gear VR you’re able to move your head around and see the puzzle from many different angles. You can slip past the guard on the left and get the briefcase, toss a rock to lure someone to their death, or even rack your brain looking for a way to solve a puzzle with no kills at all. Each level gets increasingly more complicated, but the basic rules of Hitman are still in play, which makes things a little more interesting.
It all feels a little unusual — and in some cases downright cute — but Hitman: Go for the Gear VR is also a ton of fun. It’s a great puzzle game even if it’s not what anyone thinks when you see the Hitman branding on something. You can find Hitman: Go in the Oculus Store on your Gear VR.