Since I’ve gone back and played all of the Hitman games again after a long time, I can say that Blood Money is a showcase of how far the developers have come. It was released just 6 years after Codename 47, and it almost feels like an entirely different game. You get to do so much more it makes that game feel like a linear experience.
By far my favorite thing to do here is get accidental kills. And every level has them. For me this is the real puzzle, as you have to figure out how to get the target where you want them. Then once they are in place you do your thing. Which can be a number of different opportunities. Like you drop a piano on the victim, or you push them off the ship.
The game also introduced a distraction method, which is a coin toss. You throw a coin, and the NPC will go and check what that was. This can be useful if someone has an annoying patrol pattern, and you just want them to stay behind for a while.
I also really liked that they introduced back the money system. Meaning you can finally spend the money which you earn through contracts. This was something that has been missing from the games. While it was present in the first game where you bought weapons, here it’s more versatile. As you get to not only upgrade weapons and equipment, but you can also lower your notoriety by bribing civilians and officials. Everything is expensive but you have more than enough money to afford it. Also, if you screw up on the job it will come out of your paycheck which pushes you more towards the silent assassin mark. A perfect run.
Every mission, every area has so many places for you to explore, that you always find something new to use against your targets. There’s so many paths that you can take which means that the level doesn’t really get boring, because there’s always something new that you haven’t experienced before.
I really liked the game, for me it’s an easy 5/5.
