Hardcore mode is difficult in the wrong places
I just unlocked hardcore mode, and it appears to be difficult in the wrong places. The first half of this post is about hardcore mode issues, and the second part “predictability and difficulty” is about freelancer itself.
Here is what it says when you activate hardcore mode:
“Hardcore mode is only for the most ambitious freelancers out there. Territories will be on the highest alert at all times, and prestige objectives will be mandatory to both pick and complete. Failing any mission will also fail the campaign, and you lose all of your merces and freelancer tools. Beware that switching between hardcore and normal mode will reset your freelancer tools, All the risks also bear the fruit of greater rewards.”
Let’s go through all of this by feature:
(Note: you lose freelancer tools when switching, however you keep all your guns)
Yellow state for all territories.
What this does ingame is that it makes all targets (in both territory takedown and syndicate takedown missions) enforcers, which means they can see through I think most or all of your disguises. And there appear to be more cameras and extra enforcer npcs.
This does not sound bad on the surface. I am used to playing all hitman games I had (since the first one in 2000) on the hardest difficulty. And in the trilogy having extra enforcers is normal.
However as I said at the beginning of the post, the difficulty is in the wrong places.
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For example, if in syndicate takedown missions, the targets you have to get close to, to check if they match the description, will see your disguises, then you as a player have to bush camp to observe them.
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Why is that extra difficulty in the wrong place? Because it makes the gameplay more deterministic, or predictable, because the gameplay opportunities are narrowed down.
And this is I think a big issue with freelancer, that difficulty and predictability are (perhaps accidently) treated as a combined thing. Which leads to some bad issues in hardcore mode. More about this a bit further down.
Forced prestige objectives
As an experienced hitman player (this is my favorite game franchise ever), I want the gameplay to be engaging. For me that means it has to be so hard my mind has to think and plan on how to win the mission.
Now if the gameplay is made harder by increasing predictability (making it more deterministic), the game is harder, however my mind is not very engaged.
An example for this is this screenshot. On my very first hardcore mission, I was shown 3 possible prestige objects, which are now mandatory to pick and complete.
I never pick prestige objectives on normal mode unless it is something related to being a classic hitman (silent assassin and similar objectives). Now in hardcore I have to pick one. And the choices, they suck:
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Forced to use a sniper rifle,
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or use an explosive
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or timed objectives.
Imagine how that increases the predictability of the mission:
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Imagine having to play Paris with this set of objectives and you have to take out one of the sound guys on the second floor (next to the fireworks control).
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Snipe, throw explosive or speed-run.
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And for most players this will end up in “olympic duck tossing” as most elusive targets are taken out.
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Throw duck, run away, detonate.
Oh and the sniper objective requires at least a rare sniper rifle. I only have a sieger300 which is a common sniper rifle. That means I have to run to the weapons dealer on the map and buy one.
Losing any mission fails the campaign and removes the tools and all money.
This is bad for 2 reasons.
First, it removes the gameplay choice of retreating from a mission to save your character’s life. Losing items you did not bring to the mission is not realistic.
Can you see the issue? Hardcore boxes gameplay in so much it increases the difficulty only by raw increase of predictability.
Difficulty and Predictability
And there is a wider issue with predictability that affects the whole game mode outside of hardcore mode. The issue is that the entire gamemode is structured into 14 territory takedown missions and 4 syndicate takedown missions.
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Territory missions are boring predictable chores with almost no dynamic gameplay where there is no thinking required.
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Syndicate missions are amazing playable spy movies that keep your mind engaged.
An example:
Imagine playing a syndicate mission. All the variables you have to consider, the sneaking, setting up an attack, then exiting.
Now imagine the emotional low after that, having to grind 3-5 normal missions to get to the next one. You load in, open the map, see the targets. And you know exactly what you have to do the next 3-7 minutes. You just have to spool down a set of highly pre-determined situations and sneaking to get to the target and get away.
Also note, your playtime for all territory missions will likely be similar. For me it is always almost 3 minutes or 6 minutes.
A specific example on Miami:
On a syndicate mission it is a firework of highly unpredictable gameplay that keeps your mind engaged for 20-30 minutes and I would say you probably do not feel bored during most of it.
On a territory mission:
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Everything is predictable.
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If I would invent a mission for you where the target was one of the scientists in the Kronstadt owner’s office, then, as an experienced player, you would be able to spool down the required things you have to do in your mind within seconds.
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You would likely start near the dolphin,
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then run into the garage,
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knock out the kronstadt girl next to the elevator shaft,
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climb up through the shaft to the second floor.
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Then sneak out of the maintenance area behind the couch,
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climb through the window,
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up the drain pipe,
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then sneak into the copier room and you are almost at the office.
And I think you would not even have to start the game to imagine how it would play.
I would like to put this into an analogy.
On syndicate missions:
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The player swims like a fish through dynamic and unpredictable gameplay.
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First the player takes the role of a spy, getting close to targets to identify targets.
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Then after the target is sufficiently identified, strikeopportunities self-arrange at certain times as targets move through the map, and which are then exploited by the player based on his skill and equipment.
On normal missions:
- The player is an all-knowing terminator that can choose to do anything he wants because he has almost perfect prederministic knowledge of the map of all that can happen.
Can you see the problem?
4 amazing spy novels you can play (syndicate missions) packed in between 14 boring chore missions (territory missions). If you like, pay attention to how you feel after a syndicate mission and the rush you feel after winning or losing it and then how the wall of boredom hits because of you have to grind 3-5 chore missions to get to the next one.
Suggestions
With all this explained, I would like to suggest changes:
Non-hardcore mode specific:
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Give players an option to play all 18 missions as syndicate takedown missions. I think that players will prefer that after a few tries and the devs can see that in the metrics.
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Or add unpredictable gameplay to normal missions. By making them scaled down versions in difficulty of the syndicate missions.
hardcore mode specific:
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All of the above, however also REMOVE the forced prestige objectives. I would like to play hitman has a highly difficult and unpredictable game, without the fortnite-y cool and “fun” challenges bolted on. For me the core experience in Hitman games was to sneak into a place, and complete the map without anyone seeing me. Always silent assassin, or improvising if it goes bad.
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Do not make all missions prewarned.
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Allow soft-fails, so players do not lose a campaign when failing a mission. Instead make the next mission harder so that 47’s probability of death is higher. For example each failed mission would make the AI shoot better and hit harder, so that after 2-3 failed missions, one shot from a gun would kill. That would lead to players having to be really good at retreating from a firefight.
Separate predictability from difficulty
(this is the core of my argument)
The devs should find other ways to increase difficulty and avoid increasing the predictability. Perhaps by making the guards shoot more accurately, or kill faster, or removing auto heal, so players are not terminators that can clean out a map by camping in a dead end and healing between reloads.
Because predictability is the worst enemy of this gamemode. I only play this gamemode for the syndicate missions and I can barely endure playing the filler missions in-between.
For new players
I feel that some players who are new to freelancer or Hitman as a game may not agree with the territory missions being boring chores. However I feel that this argument will make more sense the more you play the game. Just observe how you feel right after a syndicate mission.
And to convince you my argument, here is a post I wrote on reddit in November when I had access to the closed technical test:
(it is a much shorter read and has many pictures)
https://www.reddit.com/r/HiTMAN/comments/yntpul/my_kashmerian_story_in_freelancer/
All freelancer missions should feel like that.
