Hitman Sniper: The Shadows Beginners’ Guide

Square Enix Montreal has an excellent track record when it comes to adapting its console and PC titles to mobile, and Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is no exception.  This follow-up to the enormously popular Hitman Sniper is no ordinary shooter. …

By
Share this
  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Twitter

Square Enix Montreal has an excellent track record when it comes to adapting its console and PC titles to mobile, and Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is no exception. 

This follow-up to the enormously popular Hitman Sniper is no ordinary shooter. Instead it’s part action game, part puzzler, part-RPG, with gameplay that tests your grey matter as much as your trigger finger. 

Set after the mysterious departure of Agent 47, Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is an all-new adventure featuring a crack team of ICA agents called Initiative 426 – or, to use their much cooler nickname, The Shadows. 

Your goal is to travel the world shooting criminals, defeating other players, and building your reputation. 

And here’s how that works.

Gameplay

The story campaign in Hitman Sniper: The Shadows sees you working your way through a series of single-screen stages, organised into chapters. They take place from eight different vantage points around a Canadian mountain resort or an abandoned facility in the Atacama inhabited by villains.

At the start of each stage you get the full vista. There’s a Scope-In button, which brings up your scope, and vertical slider for zooming-in further – or you can just pinch to zoom if you prefer. 

The Instinct icon, meanwhile, gives you a sort of thermographic view of the level in which your targets are indicated in glowing orange, and the objects that you can interact with appear in white. 

To complete a mission you need to fulfil three contract conditions: kill the main target, kill all the guards, and score a certain number of points. On top of that there are bonus conditions that you can meet for extra points. These include stuff like getting a body into a woodchipper, killing somebody with a heat lamp, and so on. 

That’s right: Hitman Sniper: The Shadows lets you kill people in a creative variety of ways. 

Special Kills

Hitman Sniper is a stealth franchise, so it’s no surprise that shooting people in plain sight is generally discouraged. Pick people off in front of witnesses or leave bodies lying around and you’re liable to draw attention. 

Fortunately, you can cover your tracks by making your kills look like accidents, and by making bodies disappear. 

For instance, you can shoot the cord holding up a chandelier so that it drops onto an unsuspecting enemy, and if you take out a target while they’re standing next to a window, they’ll fall through and vanish. Either way, it’s like you were never there. 

Crucially, you can manufacture these opportunities by using the environment. For example, shooting the light on the plinth beneath a statue will draw curious enemies towards it. A second well-placed shot at the base of the statue sees it toppling over and crushing your hapless victim. 

Each stage is full of opportunities like this, so it’s always a good idea to spend a bit of time on reconnaissance before you start shooting. The caveat is that PvP missions are timed, so you can’t afford to spend too long weighing your options. 

Scoring

The aim in Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is to score as many points as possible. The higher your score, the better your prizes. 

You can maximise your score in a number of ways, from killing enemies while they’re moving to luring targets to a particular place. Headshots, multi-kills, accidental kills, body disposals, and special ability kills all result in bonus points. 

But the best way to earn mega points is to take advantage of your agent’s Expertise. There are six different agents to unlock, all with their own unique abilities, rifle stats, and expertise types. 

For instance, Knight, your starting agent, is an expert at headshots, which means you get a huge number of points – and therefore rewards – every time Knight shoots somebody in the head. 

Rewards are available not only for completing campaign contracts but also through PvP events, opening free chests, gaining reputation on the ICA reputation road, completing taste, winning PvP matches, and opening Star Chests. 

These rewards allow you to level-up your gear and character, unlock new agents, equip and upgrade rifle parts, and fuse rifle parts to boost their maximum level. This in turn enables you to win more points to spend on more upgrades and unlocks. 

Every stage in Hitman Sniper: The Shadows is different, and it pays to vary your approach to suit the challenge you’re facing. Even so, if you spend a bit of time on reconnaissance and take advantage of each agent’s Expertise, you’ll be just fine. 

You can download Hitman Sniper: The Shadows on Google Play and the App Store by clicking here.

The good

    The bad

      out of 100