Hitman 2 Will Include Competitive Multiplayer

If you've ever wanted to put your assassination skills to the test against other players, you'll want to check out the new competitive "Ghost Mode" recently announced for Hitman 2. Two players, one map and one target to take out quietly. What could possibly go wrong?

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and IO Interactive this week invited a group of folks out to their Burbank offices to see Ghost Mode in action. Hollywood Reporter was on the scene for the big reveal, which adds yet another interesting wrinkle to the Hitman formula.

In Ghost Mode, two players are dropped onto a map and given the same target to eliminate. The first player to earn five kills wins. But things aren't as straightforward as all that sounds. In the mode, players will indeed be on identical maps, but they won't be in each other's world. In other words, neither player will have a direct impact on what's happening to the other player. However, similar to games like Dark Souls, you will absolutely be able to see the other player's "ghost," a pretty terrifying monochromatic version of Agent 47. Your opponents will be visible at all times, so you'll be able to see exactly how they're going after the target, or you can be more strategic and try to come up with your own, faster path to the prize. The image at the top of this story does a good job of illustrating this fact. In it, you see both versions of Agent 47 taking out the same target. But while the player in the foreground is trying to strangle his prey, the Ghost character has already finished the job with a silenced pistol he picked up along the way.

Keeping the players on the same map, but separate, serves a couple of purposes. For starters, only having one actual player to keep track of per instance is likely easier on the game's complex AI systems. Second, it prevents chaos from breaking out and ruining the matches. Finally, being able to see your opponent but not have an impact on their mission is probably a solid way to build some extreme tension. That goes double if you decide to take a different route from your opponent. Just imagine closing in on the target and seeing the Ghost come sneaking up from a different direction. You both want to get the point first, but will rushing your objective be worth the risk since only a stealth kill will actually net a point?

IO Interactive seems to really be swinging for the fences with Hitman 2, set to launch on Nov. 13. Instead of being episodic, all of the game's initial maps will be available at launch, with extra tweaks, modes and events thrown in across the board on a regular basis. The game will also include the new cooperative mode, Sniper Assassin, which has two players working together to take out enemies from afar. Throw in this new Ghost mode and Hitman 2 is really shaping up to be a solid package.