HITMAN! The core story/cutscenes form a very serious, grim premise. But, the actual gameplay, and the writing of the many dozens of NPCs in each level, is filled with humorous charm and tongue-in-cheek Bond-eque silliness. Characters will acknowledge 47’s often paper-thin disguises, make silly remarks about excuses to take off early, or alluding to how horrible it would be if some freak accident occurred. Plus, the mechanics can involve things like dropping banana peels for people to slip on, or luring people with a cartoony explosive rubber duck.

It takes a bit of time to get used to how the game wants you to explore, and stop trying to brute-force it like a stealth game. Quite often, some of the main intended ways of going about a mission involve little to no stealth. It’s a lot of fun and very replayable.