Don't want to see articles from a certain category? When logged in, go to your User Settings and adjust your feed in the Content Preferences section where you can block tags!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.
HITMAN [Steam, Feral Store] is the brand new Linux port from Feral Interactive and what a game it is! This is some serious fun to keep you occupied for many hours!

Disclosure: Key provided by the developer.

Note: I will be livestreaming the game, so be sure to follow us on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingonlinux

To get the elephant in the room out of the way first: The game does have an online requirement for certain features, these are extras and do not affect the main single-player story, which does not require you to be online.

Sadly, this isn’t as in-depth as I was hoping it would be due to limited testing time, and Steam decided at one point to remove my access and delete the game files forcing me to re-download 38GB (a known Steam bug with beta branches), which also sucked away some time for testing.

Gameplay video
YouTube Thumbnail
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link
Fun fact: The music in the kitchen scene gave us a copyright claim, so if you see adverts it’s because the rights holder chose to, not because we enabled them.

Port report

As usual, it features the rather useful Feral launcher, which has been styled appropriately for the game:
image
This utility allows you to pick your monitor, resolution and so on. I actually find launchers to be incredibly useful, since I have two monitors. I’ve never had a Feral game pick the wrong monitor, so that’s fantastic.

The way the first scene drops you in after a short clip of a helicopter is so beautifully seamless I was actually quite impressed! It does this in each mission too; as you are introduced to the mission, it just fades you directly into the gameplay.

The performance has been reasonably good. With everything on High, I’ve been getting a pretty decent FPS, but it does depend on your location. This will drop quite a bit in the more populated areas (like a lot of games do), but it has been mostly smooth.

I do have a few issues with the game becoming sluggish, while the FPS counter remained high. If you’re using KDE be sure to have it setup so that full-screen games do block the compositor, as that is what I believe was partially causing my issues. It did come back after doing that, but it doesn’t happen as much.

There have also been two instances where the graphics became corrupted, with this being presented to me:
image
I still haven't found the cause of it, but it required me to save it, quit the game and load it for it to go away.

I also had a bug where in the third main mission, the audio was completed garbled forcing me to restart it.

Benchmarks

I did a range of different benchmarks on my main rig:
- Antergos, Nvidia 980ti, Intel i7 5960x, 16GB RAM, 1920x1080

Please note: These benchmarks will be different to scores you’re likely to get, unless you have the exact same setup as me your scores will be different, remember that.
image
As you can see, the AA mode in use doesn’t really make much difference and it’s so small it’s within the margin of error due to slightly different scores on each run. However, the choice of which AA option you use might make performance change more on lower powered GPUs.

General thoughts

Thankfully, a lot of the issues the game started with aren’t an issue in the Linux version. There’s something to be said for getting a game late, as we do end up with a much more polished experience. In the many hours I’ve put into the game, I haven’t had any issues with online connections. The game originally launched with poor offline support, but this has constantly been improved since release.

image

You do not need to play any other HITMAN game to enjoy this one, as it’s actually set before the others. You start off by being introduced to International Contract Agency (ICA) by doing some training missions, but things heat up quickly after as you go straight into the story.

One thing I don’t particularly like is the main menu, it feels cluttered and unclear with too much presented to you at once. It’s easy enough to navigate when you’ve spent a few hours in it, but initially it did overwhelm me somewhat.

As expected, you have many ways to achieve your objectives, as the game is rather open to any approach you feel like doing. You could go in loud and proud, but unless you have a seriously good exit planned out you might want to go for a more stealthy approach. Still, it’s fun to see what happens if you try going guns-blazing. Not well, is often the case, but it is doable.

You have the ability to knock out people and steal their clothes, which I’ve had a lot of fun with. One disguise won’t last forever, though. Your disguises can cause an issue with certain people who become suspicious of you, so you will need to repeatedly change your outfit depending on the location you’re trying to access.

The game relies heavily on the reactions from various NPCs and some of it can be truly hilarious. Bumping into people, for example, will annoy them and they will say something like “oh yeah, you’re tough!”. Hitting someone and having someone else see it, is not game over, but you will need a good plan to hide out as they will give out your description. A quick outfit change and you should be good to go if you do get discovered. Being discovered doesn’t instantly mean everyone will be looking for you, either. It also depends on how quickly you react in taking down whoever found you out.

image

At one point I took out a guard, stole his gun and uniform, and proceeded to drag is body down the stairs. What was hilarious, was that his head kept bumping on the steps as he went down and I couldn’t contain my laughter during it — sometimes physics really is amusing.

The first two training missions are a piece of cake, but the third and final training mission is where the game begins to expand. There’s multiple paths you could take and I kept switching between them until I found the way to eliminate the target that sounded the most fun. Surprisingly, the training missions by themselves were actually damn fun and a great introduction to the gameplay.

Thanks to the Linux version being fully up to date with the current Windows patch, we are able to enjoy all the extra content. I’ve been able to play one of the timed elusive targets, which are not linked to the main story. These elusive targets are difficult to achieve since you start off with zero intel on how to go about the mission, which makes them really interesting to try. You have a limited window to start them, you cannot save you progress during them and if you die you cannot re-try them. I failed my first miserably too, as I tried to subdue a hotel worker to gain their uniform, but I didn’t notice someone had walked in mid-act and some soldiers quickly took care of me. I look forward to the next one!

image

The game does have a habit of hand-holding, putting markers all over the screen which can be a little immersion breaking. Luckily, this can actually be disabled. Personally, I’ve found them to complement the experience as I often get a bit lost. You don’t really get them in the elusive targets, which is part of the reason that they’re so difficult.

If, like me, you’re a terrible assassin and you fail the various big opportunities that come up in trying to take care of your target, don’t fret! The game has more ways to kill your target than you might initially think. Watch where they go, look around for items that could be used in your favour — like wires and puddles which could make for a very entertaining outcome. However, if like me you’re pretty stupid, be sure not to stand in said puddle while you expose a wire.

In the end, each mission has the same main objective — kill your target. How you do that, of course, is up to you to decide depending on the mission requirements. When you complete a mission, you unlock various items and starting locations/disguises based on what you did during the mission. You can then use these as you re-play the mission, so it has a lot of variety on offer. The great thing about HITMAN is how open it is, so you might watch how someone does it, like me on the livestream later, yet how you play through would likely be entirely different.

The extra feature of being able to make your own contracts, or play through contracts created by others is amusing too and I look forward to the challenge. I might have to livestream some Linux-gamer created contracts to see how I do, as it could make for some great fun for us all.

There are some places that the game falls short in, one of them is the animations. Dumping people inside objects, for example. Instead of a smooth transition from dragging to dumping, it just skips to you dumping them inside and then jumps back to you. A small oversight, but noticeable when you’ve done it a number of times. There’s also a time someone is on a set path to put up posters in a mission, but he does the animation for getting one out and putting one up where there already is one. Another small, but silly oversight.

The second place it falls short are the boundaries for interacting with items, like you may notice at the end of my video at the bottom of the article. I had an annoying time getting into the correct position to interact with the helicopter door to actually finish the mission. Stuff like that has happened a few times, where I’m literally a single step away from being able to interact with something. That kind of thing happens in a few games and it’s a real nuisance.

In many ways the game has surprised me, from being able to tamper with objects I honestly thought the game wouldn’t let me mess with, to being able to climb up drainpipes to avoid guards. It has more options than I expected it would and it’s been a very enjoyable experience.

It’s the kind of game I have been longing to have on Linux and it’s absolutely fantastic (bar those minor annoyances). I’ve had so much fun with it, especially trying out different outcomes in each mission! I couldn’t be more pleased when it comes to the gameplay and it’s going to suck away a lot of my time for sure. The first night I had it I sunk many hours into it without realizing it had gone past midnight.

I have completed the first four episodes, so I have a pretty good grasp of the gameplay now if you’re wondering how much time I have been able to put into it. I’m far into the fourth episode too with over 11 hours under my belt. The whole season consists of 6 episodes, a bonus episode and then you have the extra user-created contracts, challenges and so on. I think the length of the main story is fine, with how much playtime I have in it already, I don't consider it too long or too short I think it's exactly right for the gameplay.

The game is also on sale right now, so that should help some of the less fortunate amongst our readers!

Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going back to my cave to ignore the world for a while and play more HITMAN.

Another shorter gameplay video
YouTube Thumbnail
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
26 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
115 comments
Page: «4/6»
  Go to:

Jahimself Feb 17, 2017
Is the spyware part of the game ported to linux as well?
minj Feb 17, 2017
I definitely need a better GPU.
I played low settings 1920x1080 and mostly between 20-30fps.
:'(

What's your card?
Leopard Feb 17, 2017
I definitely need a better GPU.
I played low settings 1920x1080 and mostly between 20-30fps.
:'(

What's your card?

GTX 660 apperaently

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/profiles/3596
Kimyrielle Feb 17, 2017
Downloading now, I'll just have to pay an extra charge for going over my data limit. Must play.

Not sure if they offer it in your area, but I got an unlimited data upgrade a while ago for $15. These monthly caps are a joke. Without the unlimited upgrade, my limit would be 500GB. Hitman has almost 70GB... Their data caps are really just a hidden fee hike. I was close to the cap in pretty much every month before, and I don't use Netflix or any filesharing apps.
Blurps Feb 17, 2017
I definitely need a better GPU.
I played low settings 1920x1080 and mostly between 20-30fps.
:'(

What's your card?

GTX 660 apperaently

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/profiles/3596
yes, GTX660

I'm trying to OC my CPU & GPU but the FPS dropped below 20 FPS
Leopard Feb 17, 2017
I definitely need a better GPU.
I played low settings 1920x1080 and mostly between 20-30fps.
:'(

What's your card?

GTX 660 apperaently

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/profiles/3596
yes, GTX660

I'm trying to OC my CPU & GPU but the FPS dropped below 20 FPS

Interesting,are you using latest driver?
Blurps Feb 17, 2017
I definitely need a better GPU.
I played low settings 1920x1080 and mostly between 20-30fps.
:'(

What's your card?

GTX 660 apperaently

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/profiles/3596
yes, GTX660

I'm trying to OC my CPU & GPU but the FPS dropped below 20 FPS

Interesting,are you using latest driver?
375.26
Leopard Feb 18, 2017
I definitely need a better GPU.
I played low settings 1920x1080 and mostly between 20-30fps.
:'(

What's your card?

GTX 660 apperaently

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/profiles/3596
yes, GTX660

I'm trying to OC my CPU & GPU but the FPS dropped below 20 FPS

Interesting,are you using latest driver?
375.26

Try 378,maybe it will improve performance a bit;but don't expect miracles.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/nvidia-37813-stable-driver-released.9115
Egonaut Feb 18, 2017
The game runs so poorly, I can't even get stable 40 FPS @1080p on lowest settings. My GTX 970 is at 100% load all the time, it's incredible. And yes, with lowest settings I mean everything on low or off till the game looks awful, still bad performance (SSAA is at 1.0). I have the latest drivers (378.13) installed.

How does Feral recommend a 970 if it can't even handle the game at 60 FPS on lowest settings? And when I look at the Windows recommend settings it says a GTX 770. What has Feral done here to bring my 970 to that load?

I haven't even played more than the tutorial, because it's literally unplayable to me since it gives me headaches when the game stutters that much.
RTheren Feb 18, 2017
You should contact Feral support about this issue
fabertawe Feb 18, 2017
The game runs so poorly, I can't even get stable 40 FPS @1080p on lowest settings. My GTX 970 is at 100% load all the time, it's incredible. And yes, with lowest settings I mean everything on low or off till the game looks awful, still bad performance (SSAA is at 1.0). I have the latest drivers (378.13) installed.

I'm running a 970 with 378.13 and I have a solid 60+ fps on the training mission at medium to high settings. My CPU is an i7-4790k. You've got a problem elsewhere by the sounds of it.
Egonaut Feb 18, 2017
I have a AMD FX-8350. But the CPU isn't the problem as I stated above. The GPU load goes full up, so it's not a CPU bound.
X6205 Feb 18, 2017
After several successfull ports from Square-Enix has Feral made partnership with another japanesse developer - CAPCOM. Comming soon for linux: Resident Evil 7


..sorry, could not resist :p
Leopard Feb 18, 2017
After several successfull ports from Square-Enix has Feral made partnership with another japanesse developer - CAPCOM. Comming soon for linux: Resident Evil 7


..sorry, could not resist :p

Are you just hoping or is this Capcom deal really happened?

Actually,i won't surprise if it will come to Linux.Since it's cracked in it's first week they can consider that but i will be much pleasant with Skyrim and Rise of The Tomb Raider.
cRaZy-bisCuiT Feb 18, 2017
After several successfull ports from Square-Enix has Feral made partnership with another japanesse developer - CAPCOM. Comming soon for linux: Resident Evil 7


..sorry, could not resist :p

Are you just hoping or is this Capcom deal really happened?

Actually,i won't surprise if it will come to Linux.Since it's cracked in it's first week they can consider that but i will be much pleasant with Skyrim and Rise of The Tomb Raider.
Why are you guys always referring to Skyrim? BETHESDA hardly did any move towards Linux. They didn't eve make it to port their game to consoles while they said so.

There is NO official statement I'm aware of about a deal beween Feral Interactive and Bethesda. So please, do let me know, where did you find those information?


Last edited by cRaZy-bisCuiT on 18 February 2017 at 5:32 pm UTC
X6205 Feb 18, 2017
After several successfull ports from Square-Enix has Feral made partnership with another japanesse developer - CAPCOM. Comming soon for linux: Resident Evil 7


..sorry, could not resist :p

Are you just hoping or is this Capcom deal really happened?

Actually,i won't surprise if it will come to Linux.Since it's cracked in it's first week they can consider that but i will be much pleasant with Skyrim and Rise of The Tomb Raider.

Sorry.. i was just trolling :)
Leopard Feb 18, 2017
After several successfull ports from Square-Enix has Feral made partnership with another japanesse developer - CAPCOM. Comming soon for linux: Resident Evil 7


..sorry, could not resist :p

Are you just hoping or is this Capcom deal really happened?

Actually,i won't surprise if it will come to Linux.Since it's cracked in it's first week they can consider that but i will be much pleasant with Skyrim and Rise of The Tomb Raider.
Why are you guys always referring to Skyrim? BETHESDA hardly did any move towards Linux. They didn't eve make it to port their game to consoles while they said so.

There is NO official statement I'm aware of about a deal beween Feral Interactive and Bethesda. So please, do let me know, where did you find those information?

No information at all,we're just assuming.

About Skyrim,it already ported to Vulkan.So chances are higher than ever.Just Bethesda don't want to support it officially,so we need a Feral touch.

Rise of The Tomb Raider is a realistic one.Because Feral already did many ports from Square Enix.Since it uses Dx12 and Feral said that we will make a Vulkan port at 2017,i say why not.
Leopard Feb 18, 2017
After several successfull ports from Square-Enix has Feral made partnership with another japanesse developer - CAPCOM. Comming soon for linux: Resident Evil 7


..sorry, could not resist :p

Are you just hoping or is this Capcom deal really happened?

Actually,i won't surprise if it will come to Linux.Since it's cracked in it's first week they can consider that but i will be much pleasant with Skyrim and Rise of The Tomb Raider.

Sorry.. i was just trolling :)

Okay,that's not problem
Guppy Feb 18, 2017
The port is great, but the game...

The controls are SUPER clunkey - from pressing move forward till 47 stats moving feels like an enternity in jelly ( not so in any other direction mind you ). Running on a ledge and want to jump down? Well tough luck buddy you have to do a full stop face the correct direction and then sit patiently and wait for the tool tip to appear :|

Oh and once you completed basic training you get dumped at the main menu with no obvious indication as to how to continue the story - da fuq?

:(
chepati Feb 19, 2017
Does anyone else see a sound bug in the Marrakesh mission? When I start the mission, the intro movie plays and my handler introduces the missions objectives. When the intro ends, I hear a pop and all sound goes out. If I Alt-Tab out of the game, I hear the pop again and sound works in my desktop applications, browser, etc. As soon as I Alt-Tab back into the game, another pop, and all is silent.

@Feral, any comment?

Thanks :-)
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.