One of the best things about the Hitman series is the amount of creative freedom that the games provide in terms of players’ abilities to take out enemies. Hitman 2 brings the same fun gameplay dynamics, but has also added a fun, new detail that fans of The Simpsons – and more specifically, the character of Sideshow Bob – can appreciate.
NPCs in Hitman 2 can knock themselves out by stepping on rakes that are placed on the ground.
A video posted to Reddit features multiple unlucky NPCs receiving a quick and hard rake handle to the face, causing them to stop and attend to the injury. The action is quick. If you blink, you might miss it. In fact, the rakes are relatively difficult to see at first, and the action is so subtle, that many of the commenters in the thread admit to not knowing what happened when they saw an NPC stop and stumble backwards before falling to the ground unconscious.
The entire Reddit thread is pretty hilarious, with commenters providing some of their initial theories and reactions to seeing the act. Theories include cling wrap traps, being blinded by the light reflecting off of Agent 47’s bald head, and the lewder, yet surprisingly popular theory of NPCs running into Agent 47’s “crop dusting” cloud.
This subtle, yet effective detail allows players to play the game the way that they want to play; a nod to the current sign of the times. Gamers are finding new ways exploit game mechanics, effectively creating new games within the games themselves, such as performing gravity-defying trick stunts in Grand Theft Auto V, or hat collecting in Red Dead Redemption 2.
It is great that game developers are adding in these minor details that allow gamers to truly make their time spent within the game their own, while fostering creativity. At this point, it could be argued that games that put a cap on player creativity don’t measure up to those that enable players to get creative with their gameplay.
Another fun feature that Hitman 2 brought was the return of Agent 47’s briefcase, with the game’s developers making the item even more useful and deadly. However, at least for the time being, it seems that rakes are the preferred weapon choice for Hitman 2 players.