The Hitman beta’s opening mission talks players through just one of the many ways they can take down their target. Once you’ve completed this quick tutorial, you are given the freedom to take down the target, Kalvin Ritter, in whatever way they see fit. This is where the beta gives players their first true taste of the scale of freedom in Hitman. We fooled around with the game for a bit and came up with these seven sweet ways to execute the target, let’s check them out.
Explosives
As soon as you start the mission, you’ll find a selection of items you can pick up and use to help you take down your target. One of these is definitely not going to help you be subtle, but can result in a pretty big bang. We found that dressing up as a crew member and blending in at the bar next to our target was a good way to get into position.
Once we were there, we simply crouched and attached the explosives to the other side of the bar before starting to walk off and hitting that detonator. As everyone walks over to investigate and screams in panic, you can coolly make your exit from the boat. Just make sure nobody saw you fitting the remote explosive.
Fiber Wire
It may not be one of the most creative ways, but the option is there to take them down from behind with the fiber wire. All you have to do is stalk your target to the room where he’ll meet with his business partner. It’s the same one that you took them down in with a pistol in the opening tutorial. At this point, hop into the room and crouch to slowly make your way behind Ritter.
As soon as you’re there, use the fiber wire to strangle him, but be ready because his business partner will be ready and waiting. Be prepared to take him down quickly with either your fists or silenced pistol. Once the deed is done, hop out the window you came through and make your way to the chopper on the roof for an easy escape.
Rat Poison
In order to take down your target with a little more style, you’ll need to grab the rat poison from one of the rooms on the very bottom deck. Once you’ve found it you can make your way back up to the bar that Kalvin Ritter stands by before his target approaches him.
At this point, there are a number of wine glasses you can poison as long as the rat poison is in your inventory. Just make sure nobody is watching, otherwise you’re gonna have a little more attention than you’d like.
Life Raft
Rather than making your way to the bar once you’ve got your crew member disguise, make your way up to the very top floor where you’ll find a chopper, a security guard and the big red life raft container pictured above. First thing’s first, the security guard will cause some problems if he’s not taken down, so we took him down nice and easy with the fiber wire.
Once he was taken care of, we grabbed the wrench from a nearby surface and broke the mounting for the life raft container. If you want to give this a try, you’ll want to make sure your target is actually on this level, as sometimes he can be a bit slow getting there. As soon as the deed is done turn around and your method of exit is sat right behind you in the form of a chopper.
Drowning in a Toilet
In order to drown your target in the toilet, you’re gonna need to get him into the bathroom first. To do this, you’re going to want to grab the rat poison from the basement by the room where the car is located. Next, head up to the bar where we were before and poison the drink which is on the table. Make sure that Ritter is deep in conversation so he doesn’t see you and isn’t going to turn around while you’re in the act.
Once you’ve poisoned the drink, continue to blend in behind the bar, and wait Ritter out. Once he’s consumed the poisoned drink, he’ll start making his way somewhere in a bit of a hurry. Follow him across the deck and into the bathroom. Close the door behind you, and you’re free to give Ritter one nasty send-off by creeping up behind him and selecting the ‘drown’ option. Make your way up to the roof and get on board the chopper for a quick and easy escape.
Up Close and Personal With a Disguise
As soon as you start the mission, you’ll notice Terry Norfolk standing by a car. He’s in plain sight of guards here, so there are two ways you can get him on his own in order to take him down and steal his clothing.
The first can be a bit risky, but it can save a lot of time. Pick up the coins in front of you and stand by Norfolk. Aim one into the far corner of this outdoor area by the window that you first sneaked in to grab the mechanic outfit. With some luck, Norfolk will be curious and will go and investigate. Once he’s over there, throw another right up by the window so you’re out of sight of the guards. Take him down and steal his clothes.
The alternative way of disguising as Norfolk is to grab the rat poison from the basement, heading up to the bar on the first floor and poisoning the drink before Norfolk gets to it. He’ll drink it and go rushing to a bathroom. Follow him and drown him in the toilet just as we explained in the scenario prior to this one. Grab his clothing and then head out to meet Ritter by the bar. As long as you haven’t gone around bumping into people, you shouldn’t have raised any suspicions and you’ll be asked to follow Ritter into the personal meeting room.
At this point the way you actually take him down is completely up to you– bare knuckles, fiber wire, silenced pistol, plant some explosives– the world is your oyster. Whatever you decide to do, head out the window and up the stairs to escape in the chopper.
All Guns Blazing
If you’d prefer to handle some big guns, you’ll find an assault rifle and a shotgun in the room to the left of where you start. You can’t carry these and remain undetected without the disguise of a security guard, so either creep up behind the hut to the right of your starting position and use your fiber wire on the guard standing in the doorway to steal his disguise, or let chaos commence and try taking them all down.
We’d advise taking the first option, heading onto the boat and then using your new toy on Ritter whenever you feel you could make a quick and safe escape, but taking down all of the guards is an option. Just be prepared to take on a good 25 enemies. Of course, this is not the way the game is intended to be played, but with all the freedom of Hitman comes all kinds of possibilities to complete your mission.
What was the most creative way you took down Ritter in the Hitman beta training mission? Do you have a better method of executing your target than the ones we suggested? Let us know in the comments below. Not played the beta? We’ve got some screenshots and our impressions to keep you covered.
