Hitman: Blood Money – Reprisal Review

Legendary assassin, Agent 47. Unmatched in the field of espionage. Tactical and strategic genius. Expert marksman and martial artist. Master of disguise and stealth. 100% success rate. Occupation: Hitman. Let’s get this Blood Money.

Hitman: Blood Money – Reprisal is a remake of the fourth game in the series, first released in 2006 for everything but a Nintendo console. The Hitman games really hit their stride when Blood Money hit the scene, garnering commercial and critical success along with all-time legend status, so it’s definitely a welcome addition to the Switch’s library.

After working on Blood Money – Reprisal’s release on Android and iOS late last year, Feral Interactive brings Reprisal to the Switch. Best known for their video game ports, Feral has been responsible for tonnes of IPs throughout their 20+ years in the biz, most recently putting a couple Lara Croft games on the Switch. And they’ve done a stellar job here.

Unless you live under a rock, you probably know how Hitman goes. Get briefed on the target and setting, scope out the lively sandbox, come up with a clever plan of action (usually involving a disguise and/or a remote mine) or go in guns blazing, then get the hell outta there. There’s the occasional side objective or optional target, and sometimes the mission ain’t so straightforward but that’s the gist of things. Before missions you’ll also be able to customise and upgrade your loadout and afterwards you’ll be given a rating and do some damage control if needed. Simple yet effective.

Reprisal brings a few new additions to Blood Money which draws the experience closer to the modern Hitman games. The first of these is the mini-map which remains fixed to the bottom of the screen, and I honestly don’t know how I’d live without it. It’s brilliant for on the fly decision-making, like when a guard is nearing a door you were ready to open.

The next addition is Instinct Mode, which let’s you highlight targets, objectives and interactables. I didn’t use this feature as much as I could’ve but it definitely came in handy more than a few times, like when you need to find which scenery is climbable. Both these are optional features, toggleable in the menu for the purists, but there’s also some smaller quality of life tweaks and additions that went over my head as someone who only played the original a few times at a mate’s place in 2006. All in all a good, little revamp!

Hitman: Blood Money – Reprisal is exactly what I was hoping for. A classic stealth game that still holds up. Easy to pick-up and easier to replay. It’s a stable experience and even brings something new to the table, but isn’t in your face with it. But additions, tweaks and whatnot aside, it’s just bloody great to have Hitman: Blood Money on the Switch.

Rating: 4.5/5