Hitman World Of Assassination Signature Edition Disappoints on Switch

Hitman: World of Assassination - Signature Edition sees Agent 47 and his penchant for disguises and creative murders arrive on Nintendo's newest console. The Switch 2's Signature Edition is a comprehensive package, featuring the full campaigns for Hitman (2016), Hitman 2 (2018), and Hitman 3 (2021), along with Contracts mode, Escalation, Elusive Target arcades, the relatively new (and excellent) Freelancer mode, Sniper Assassin mode, featured live content, and everything from both the Hitman 2 Expansion Pack and Hitman 3 Deluxe Pack. That includes cosmetics, locations like Haven Island and The Bank, and side missions such as the Seven Deadly Sins and Special Assignments campaigns.

The only content not included are three specific Elusive Target arcade contracts--Replication, The Base, and The Oroborous--and the Sarajevo Six bonus contracts. You can purchase all of this content on the Nintendo eShop for $5 each, but it's disconcerting that these missions are gated behind paid DLC in the first place. The Sarajevo Six is the latest piece of significant DLC for the game, but it still came out two years ago after previously being exclusive to the PlayStation 4 version of Hitman 2, so you'd expect it to be included in a package that already costs $60. The Elusive Target contracts are even more egregious because they were previously released as free updates many years ago. These packs include cosmetics, which is probably the justification for selling them, but I think people would be a lot happier if the actual gameplay content was separated and included in the initial purchase. Having said that, you're still getting dozens upon dozens of hours of Hitman to sink your teeth into. It's an exhaustive package, even with parts missing.

Of course, the big question regarding this port is: How's the performance? Unlike the Switch version of Hitman 3, which required cloud streaming to run at all, the Signature Edition runs natively on the Switch 2 but falls short of other versions of the game in several areas. It's not terrible, but there are clearly better places to play if you're interested in killing people with a bald, barcoded assassin.