How to Best Complete 'Hitman' Challenges

Recently introduced as a complete collection last week, the first season of IO Interactive’s Hitman is comprised of missions which push players to master the Agent 47’s abilities. 2016’s Hitman is designed for repeated play with a new set of challenges for players to overcome in each subsequent playthrough. Since the game only has six main missions, Hitman’s challenges represent the core goal of the game: true mastery of everything Agent 47 stands for as a legendary assassin.

Each of Hitman’s six major destinations features its own set of challenges to work through while completing the various contracts located therein. Finishing a contract and fulfilling challenge requirements awards you with mastery for a specific destination, which grants additional resources for your next contract and experience points that increases your overall mastery level. But if you’re looking to master Hitman completely for the professional difficulty setting and get every available reward, completing just about every single challenge is required.

Here’s a few tips to help you get started on the long road to mastering every challenge.

Complete Each Mission Once Without Challenges

Whenever you jump into a main mission, you’ll have little information outside of the key intelligence provided to Agent 47 by his handler from the International Contract Agency to help you accomplish your goals. You must actively survey the area for opportunities you can use to eliminate your target. The thrill of successfully pulling off a difficult mission on your own is honestly the best part of Hitman and something you should experience before diving into the game’s many challenges for each location. Completing each mission once also gives you a chance to explore and learn the map for when you return, making challenges much easier to accomplish.

Browse and Pick Challenges Before Starting a Mission

Once you’ve completed every mission at least once in Hitman and are ready to start tackling the many challenges offered by each destination, be sure to spend some time browsing through each available challenge in the menu before diving back in. While some challenges, such as setting off security alarms or dressing in specific disguises, can be completed together in one mission, most require you to assassinate the mission’s main targets in a specific way. Since you can’t bring a target back to life and eliminate them twice in a single playthrough, you’ll have to develop a strategy that fulfills as many challenge requirements as possible.

Don’t Be Afraid to Forfeit a Challenge

Every mission in Hitman isn’t going to wait up for you. Your assassination targets will always be moving no matter how you approach a mission, following their established route and actively reacting to anything you tamper with in the map’s environment. If you’re attempting to complete a specific challenge and things don’t work out, simply look for another opportunity you need to complete instead of forcing the matter in a bad set of circumstances. Remember, you’re better off alive with a few challenges complete than dead with nothing to claim for your efforts.

Use Your Mastery Rewards

When you first start undertaking missions, you won’t have many available resources for Agent 47 to use. Usually this means you’ll be equipped with the standard ICE19 silenced pistol, a few coins to use as distractions, a fiber wire for quickly dealing with enemies, and a small set of starting locations to choose from. This limited selection shouldn’t affect you too much if you’re just trying to eliminate your target, but if you’re looking to fulfill certain challenge requirements you might want to look at which unlocks could best help you accomplish your goals. As you complete missions and easier challenges, you’ll start to accumulate experience which will level you up and unlock Mastery-based rewards for the destination in question. These rewards allow you to spawn into the map undercover, unlock additional equipment, and reach hard-to-access locations with ease. Don’t forget to use these to complete difficult challenges much faster, skipping certain requirements in the process.