Hitman: Marrakesh

Another month, another exotic, sun-drenched location to explore; IO Interactive only just managed to get this one out in May, but they are just about managing to keep to their one-a-month “schedule”, and Marrakesh is yet another change of pace from what’s gone before. Where Paris was contained clockwork, and Sapienza was sleepy and flexible, Marrakesh is tense and claustrophobic.

The targets this time around are a banker, currently holed up in the Swedish embassy, and an army general looking to use public unrest surrounding the banker’s paramilitary-assisted avoidance of prosecution to build up support for a military coup.

With violence brewing, 47’s sent in to prevent the fall of a government… or, more specifically, the building contracts that said government has awarded to the ICA’s construction-company client.

The level is split into three fairly distinct areas; the souk where 47 first arrives is a bustling marketplace full of stalls, shouting vendors (still largely in American accents, unfortunately), and winding, Sapienza-style alleyways. On one side is the abandoned school that target General Reyza is currently using as a base of operations - the outdoor areas cluttered with rusting, abandoned play equipment, and the inside a dingy, crumbling ruin.

Finally, there’s the Swedish embassy, where thieving banker Claus Strandberg is holed up. A stark contrast to the adobe buildings of the souk and school, it’s all glass and concrete, with the clean, impersonal lines of an IKEA showroom; you can practically feel the air conditioning.

But the most striking thing is the crowd: there are people everywhere. Wandering diplomats, patrolling soldiers, activists, tourists, beggars, shopkeepers… it’s easily one of the most densely-populated levels of any game I can remember, and although the framerate occasionally struggles, it's commendably rare. In any case, Hitman's slower, more considered approach means that the dips in performance matter less than they would in a more frantic game.

The larger crowds do serve to exacerbate smaller issues with the format, though; performing suspicious actions has always come with the risk of unwanted attention in Hitman, but with the scale of the crowds in Marrakesh, it becomes almost impossible to do anything unseen; more than once, switching off a fan to distract guards away from their posts has ended in a gunfight thanks to some eagle-eyed and easily-panicked civilians.

Another new mission means another snippet of the meta plot, too; and it's clearly building towards something, but it’s still not clear what, exactly. Effectively vignettes of a TV series, the cutscenes detail our mysterious string-puller using 47 and the ICA to pursue his own agenda, but we're only seeing glimpses of it yet. It’s intriguing enough, but it’d be nice to have a sense of how (or if) it’s going to impact the gameplay side of things.

After only two playthroughs, there's still a hell of a lot left to see; my mastery level is still in the single digits, but the Challenges list suggest some hilarious assassination possibilities.

I just hope none of them require me to switch off a fan...

This review is based on the PlayStation 4 version.