Unpopular opinions about Hitman

[Dribbleondo]

I like Outside Xbox too, they too got me into the games, but I go in knowing that they’re simultaneously good at the games and not good for the sakes of my enjoyment. There is some stuff I learned from them, but I largely watch them for Entertainment, not for learning new strats. Same goes for BigMooney06.

@Krikkit2021

I would hope people don’t base their entire play style on the “best” way (and I continue to wish “influencers” would influence in more important ways but that’s another story) or spoil themselves but, alas, people will be people…

I’m not saying that a person’s entire playstyle will be strictly based on what they find online (though, as you rightly point out, people do this regardless), but what they find, watch, and read influences them to use those weapons and try them out, especially if it comes with minimal risk; that only makes it easier.

[EpicGamerer]

Colorado is a fun map. I’m not even kidding.

[Dribbleondo]

You’re damn right.

runs away from the Hitman Mafia

[Krikkit2021]

It’s grown on me over the years, but I’m still not sure I’d call it “fun”.

[unfunnyguy]

I’m not sure if these are widely unpopular but here we go:

1. Marrakesh is a far worse map than Colorado.
2. I don’t like how Orson was upgraded to be a “badass” in the last Hitman 3 mission and Ambrose Island. I miss him as a butt monkey.
3. Vanya Shah is one of the most underrated targets in the WoA.

[Screaming_Meat]

@unfunnyguy

Vanya Shah is one of the most underrated targets in the WoA.

mumbai is the best map in the whole series.

[unfunnyguy]

That’s true, but no one talks about Vanya specifically. (And I mean she’s like one of the best lore-wise and not just gameplay wise) Everybody always simps for Dawood cause of his cartoonish bad guy personality. I just feel like no one really talks about her interesting backstory and the way her queen stuff is like kind of a coping mechanism for her trauma.

[Norseman]

@unfunnyguy

Marrakesh is a far worse map than Colorado.

With this map, I would personally say it comes down to the mission. A Glided Cage is underwhelming. Yet A House Built on Sand is one of the best missions in H16. That said I would still rate Colorado as the worst map in the trilogy.

[Screaming_Meat]

@unfunnyguy

That’s true, but no one talks about Vanya specifically. (And I mean she’s like one of the best lore-wise and not just gameplay wise) Everybody always simps for Dawood cause of his cartoonish bad guy personality. I just feel like no one really talks about her interesting backstory and the way her queen stuff is like kind of a coping mechanism for her trauma.

i dunno, i’ve had some pretty cool chats with people about shah.

long chat

@Accidental_Kills98

I mean I don’t think Shah genuinely thinks she is a rani, I think she is putting on an affectation.

@Screaming_Meat

from what i gather, shah is a delusional, paranoid, narcissistic psychopath who suffered ptsd from the failed hijacking and lost herself in a constructed myth (with rima’s help)

the whole deal with kale being okay with the kashmirian whacking his childhood friends is because he believes they are deluded by their own pr: shah as royalty and dawood hinting he is the maelstrom via his films (kale thinks he’s above it, but he says a few things that suggest even he has fallen for his own bullshit).

part of why i love chasing a ghost so much is how well the geography reflects the targets’ inner workings.

take dawood as a quick example: his tower is flashy, half-empty (wazir calls him a ‘hollow man’ at one point), full of images of himself and pompous decorations and furnishes, has a film set telling apocryphal stories about himself, and it is all situated high above everyone else. that’s dawood written in architecture, man.

now, if we apply that thinking to vanya, we see she lives on the same level as the citizens of mumbai, though she has retreated to an out of the way, imposing, decaying, overgrown train station no longer directly connected to the main line (if that’s not an on-the-nose physical representation of her mental disconnection from reality, i don’t know what is). inside is an almost otherworldly realm, sprouting with life and colour and brutally enforced fantastical courtly rituals; a reflection of her rich but ultimately deranged inner-life.

she cray.

@Accidental_Kills98

Vanya is the complete opposite in that she represents the historic exploitation of the Indian subcontinent. Not only does she act and dress like someone the British installed to power but she bases her operation out of a very British looking railway station. The British railways of India are not only one of the famous monuments to The Raj but they are also a rallying cry for racists and neo-colonists (“The Indians would never have developed a railway if it wasn’t for the Brits!”).

She hoards their resources to use for herself like a Rani and it is reflect everywhere with water, she has a private wash basin and a reflecting pool all for her use on top of her using the luxury sleeping cars for her use but the cargo cars for her guards. She sends every able bodied man, woman and even children to work for her until they collapse and die while she does nothing but take in the net profit of the businesses for herself while granting token gestures like puddles of water and scraps of food.

In other words she is no different than the British Empire’s treatment of the Indian and their treatment of the Indian subcontinent is n different than banditry like Shah engaged with or the dacoity she descended from. No better, different or saner than Rangan’s boastful exploitation of the worker.

The base is overgrown and disconnected from the mainline not because it means she has flown the coop but because she represents something from India’s past they excised for good reason and simply abandoned, left to gather creepers, weeds and crumble into the dirt like so many servants and slaves. It is a failed system and Shah’s true insanity is not her belief that she is a Rani but that it is a system that she can use to her gain.

There is no difference between colonialism and the world development system, they are both used to exploit natives in poorer nations under the hopes that they can gain some level of good for themselves. That is the true meaning of Mumbai as a level, that economically rich nations did exploit nations once as colonialism and twice as capitalism.

Another is pretending and pretensions and how we lose ourselves in what we think about ourselves. Rangan thinks he is a big Bollywood action star because he was a pirate. Rangan is a snivelling, boastful coward whose only skill and use for the pirates was as an accountant. His entire criminal enterprise consists of low risk yet highly exploitative enterprises and he talks about how much he screws around with people behind their backs. We only see him kill once and that is against a defenceless man. He takes that money and uses it to make films where he is the big hero that everyone loves or the fearsome pirate that everyone was scared of.

Shah defaulted to violent thuggery after she was abandoned by The Maelstrom after the raid. She began thinking she was a powerful woman cut from the same cloth as the old ruling class. What she is thought? She is a bandit, she is no better than the dacoity her parents were and she can’t stand how Rangan has some level of adoration among who she considers her property. She forgot that you can rule through fear as much as you can rule through love or both but the main thing is to be respected. She thinks she is respected becuase she is awesome but she isn’t because she is seen as no better than a thug.

[v1deost]

@unfunnyguy

That’s true, but no one talks about Vanya specifically. (And I mean she’s like one of the best lore-wise and not just gameplay wise)

i think she’s not talked about as much because she’s not as conventionally attractive like the other female targets are (nothing wrong with it, but it stands out when you compare a scantily clad Ljudmila to her, and most of the fanbase are men…let’s be honest here - look at the most attractive female in WOA thread).

also, like every target in Mumbai, her location is really remote. so of course people will focus on Dawood more, he’s the loudest and most brash target, personality wise. Vanya and the Maelstrom are more mysterious and hidden, with you being forced to uncover things about the Maelstrom, but with Vanya, you’re not really encouraged to grab intel on her. she gets glossed over a lot.

she does deserve more recognition as a well written target. for example, the story of her advisor Rima is compelling and tragic.

[Screaming_Meat]

@v1deost

she does deserve more recognition as a well written target. for example, the story of her advisor Rima is compelling and tragic.

i think we overhear in the barber shop a rumour about how rima is the one putting all the ideas of royalty in vanya’s noggin.

you’re right though; she’s the easiest of the three to get out of her fortress (even without the kashmirian), so we’re not as explicitly guided to engage with her environment/story.

having said that, there is a lot of npc chatter about her (all of them, really), tying into the myth making theme.

[Rimland]

@Screaming_Meat

i think we overhear in the barber shop a rumour about how rima is the one putting all the ideas of royalty in vanya’s noggin

And also hear that in practice.

@v1deost

when you compare a scantily clad Ljudmila to her

Well to me personally, Ljudmila is the absolute opposite of attractive… I find other female targets in the trilogy much more interesting, both in terms of lore and gameplay (Carlisle, Vidal, Knox…), and it’s certainly not based on their looks. That being said, I agree that Shah gets overlooked, and she’s just as satisfying to off as Vetrova is.

[v1deost]

i mean, yeah attraction is subjective. what one finds appealing another may not. ljudmila is number 1 for most people, one can assume, due to her conventionally attractive looks. it draws people in.

Vanya is beautiful too, but for most players they’re not immediately drawn to her. one reason could be because she’s hard to even see in the first place. ljudmila literally walks up to 47 when he leaves his hut and flirts with him. to put it plainly, Vanya is not as easy to objectify.

not saying that objectification is the sole reason that Vanya Shah is overlooked, however I feel that it definitely plays a factor in why a lot of people don’t look more into her. it’s unfortunate. sorry if that was too long-winded, just wanted to clarify things

[unfunnyguy]

Yeah, Rima’s backstory definitely adds to how interesting she is. Their whole relationship, to be honest. But, it is also true that she gets glossed over in the actual mission which sucks because there are even a couple of moments where she breaks down her whole “queen status” and shows how traumatized she really is. Like, when a guard asks her about her adventures with the Maelstrom, she shuts him down and talks about in detail how traumatic the event was for her. There’s also that one moment where if she sees Rima getting killed, she will go to the mirror in her little train carriage to mourn and shout “Rima, no!”

[unfunnyguy]

I mean, I like the whole look with the tattoos and piercings. But, I guess it’s too edgy for some people.

[Khakiasp]

@v1deost

not saying that objectification is the sole reason that Vanya Shah is overlooked

Could be, if you look at stuff like reddit and other sources they constantly objectify the female targets and npcs while glorifying male ones.

[Charlie_Farmer]

Etta Davis is the only target that even comes close to attractive.

[unfunnyguy]

I think you have a type👀

[Charlie_Farmer]

Na! Im only fooling! Personally my favourite target is either Ljudmilla Vertrova or Sophia Washington. Properly because i like Isle of Sgàil so much!

[unfunnyguy]

I’m more of a Zoe Washington gal cause of her style but I can see why someone would be a Sophia Washington fan for sure.