Another month has passed, and another location is here for Agent 47 to infiltrate. Far from the high society parties and exotic tourist locations of the previous levels, it’s set in Marrakesh, Morocco amid civil unrest and the threat of a military coup. 47 will have to navigate heavily populated markets, the rubble of old war zones, and an embassy surrounded by riotous protesters to take out his targets before the situation gets any worse.
Marrakesh doesn’t feel quite as big and impressive as Paris or Sapienza, but it’s another solid level that offers creative approaches to each target. And with an expanding list of optional missions, fan-made content, and limited time objectives, Hitman is a great game that’s only getting better.
Marrakesh has some real big crowds
The targets on this mission are Reza Zaydan, a wealthy perfume heir turned ruthless military general, and Claus Strandberg, a wealthy Swedish banker specializing in investment fraud. Having embezzled funds from the Moroccan people, Strandberg was pursued to the local Swedish Consulate, where he’s now surrounded by a riotous mob angry at his fraud. Zaydan, in turn, has taken advantage of the situation to impose martial law, and is now looking to incite the rioters as cover for his own plan of a military coup.
But while the political intrigue is all well and good, Hitman is as always about navigating a clockwork level, figuring out how its pieces interact, and then using that knowledge to take out your targets. Marrakesh is more rigidly segmented than previous levels, with each area feeling like its own mini-challenge, more or less disconnected from the rest of the stage.
Things are getting bad in the streets
The level’s most impressive feature is its market, filled with an tremendous number of NPCs, full of life and variety. Here there’s a hookah bar ripe for the poisoning, myriad stalls filled with implements of destruction, plenty of hapless NPCs whose clothes you can steal, and several rooftops perfect for seeking out sniper positions.
Unfortunately, there are severe, heavily guarded bottlenecks to the other two major areas, neither of which has a ton of personality. Zaydan spends most of his time in the rubble of a ruined school building, and Strandberg’s consulate is a pretty dull office building. Naturally, there’s a good variety of ways to infiltrate each location and take out the targets, but they lack the personality and playfulness of, say, disguising yourself as a male model.
There's nothing super-exciting in this ruined old school building
What this means is that Marrakesh is a fairly dull level. The market is almost exclusively an area to grab a disguise appropriate to infiltrate the other two locations, and once you’re in, those two sections aren’t especially exciting. Perhaps I’ve missed a bunch of the really exciting stuff, but after three playthroughs I feel like I can easily say this is the least interesting of Hitman’s levels so far.
I’m nitpicking to a degree here because this is essentially an evaluation of a single level, and being the least exciting stage of an otherwise great game is a pretty muted critique. I won’t be revisiting Morocco as much as I had the previous levels, but I still had a solid time with the few playthroughs I put in here, and I’m looking forward to what’s next.
A whole bunch of new content has been added since the last time I checked in
Of course, if you haven’t been checking in on Hitman lately, you’ve probably missed a whole lot of extra content for each episode. The elusive targets have indeed been quite elusive for me, because I haven’t found myself playing the game during the brief 48 hour period they’ve been available.
The escalation contracts have proven much more digestible for me. These missions feature an assassination with a particular caveat, like “kill this guy with fire.” Once you’ve successfully done that, a complication is added, like “kill this guy with fire and then steal the contents of a safe,” and so on and so forth until you’ve got a giant list of increasingly complicated objectives. It’s a solid reason to keep coming back for more and see all the options and little interactions you can play around with.
HITMAN: EPISODE THREE - MARRAKESH VERDICT
Hitman’s latest episode has some impressive moments, but Marrakesh feels limited compared to the sprawling, interconnected layouts of Paris and Sapienza. It’s part of an increasingly great game and still provides some solid stealth action, but don’t be surprised if you’re not coming back to this one for more than a few tries.
TOP GAME MOMENT
There’s a stuffed moose hanging from a ceiling and, well, you can probably guess the rest.
Good vs Bad
- Impressive marketplace with tons of NPCs
- Still bigger and more varied than most action games
- There’s a whole bunch more contracts for Paris and Sapienza
- Elusive contracts have been an impressively audacious gimmick
- Generally less playful than previous locations
- Areas aren’t as smartly interconnected
