Hitman Blood Money Reprisal review: The perfect stealth sandbox for the Nintendo Switch

Hitman Blood Money Reprisal is arguably the best stealth sandbox game I've played on the Nintendo Switch, period. Being a long-time fan of the Hitman franchise and someone who adored almost every single entry in the series (yes, even Hitman Absolution), I was genuinely excited to play one of the best Hitman games on Nintendo's portable console.

While I was a bit skeptical about how the game would translate onto the Nintendo Switch, especially with the game being more than a decade old at this point, my concerns were quickly alleviated when I started playing the game on my device. It not only looks quite good but also plays really well.

Developer Feral Interactive did a phenomenal job with the port, and while there are a few rough edges, those fall flat on the face of what the entire package offers. Hitman Blood Money Reprisal is now a benchmark of how Nintendo Switch ports of older games, like Resident Evil 4, should be handled.

Hitman Blood Money Reprisal: An excellent stealth sandbox with minor performance hiccups on the Nintendo Switch

New additions

Hitman Blood Money Reprisal is virtually identical to the original game in most aspects, barring a few quality-of-life changes. The first new gameplay feature that you can notice right away within the first chapter is the addition of the Instinct mechanic. It wasn't in the original game but became a staple in the series following Hitman Absolution.

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Instinct is something that I usually don't rely on much since it feels a bit out of place for a game as grounded as the Hitman series, but I do appreciate its addition for players who like it. For the uninitiated, Instinct is the "X-ray vision" mechanic in the Hitman series, allowing you to locate your target and enemies within a close vicinity.

Instinct also highlights useful tools, like assassination opportunities, weapons, and other items that can be used to either kill or distract enemies. Although it's a fun mechanic to toy around with if you're new to the series and want an easier time going through the levels, it also makes the game a whole lot easier.

Apart from Instinct, Hitman Blood Money Reprisal comes with updates made to its general gameplay feel while adding a brand new and reworked minimap. Now, instead of having to rely exclusively on the fullscreen map in the menu as well as the picture-in-picture screen, you can navigate the levels and keep track of hostiles using the minimap.

The dynamic minimap's addition is one of the best aspects of Hitman Blood Money Reprisal (Image via Feral Interactive)

I really liked these new additions, especially the changes Feral Interactive brought to the table with the minimap, as well as the minor updates made to the overall feel of the game's moment-to-moment gameplay. While I personally could make do without using the Instinct mode, it does come in handy when you're going through the levels for the first couple of times.

Gameplay and progression

In terms of general gameplay and progression, Hitman Blood Money Reprisal remains the same as the 2006 original, without any changes being made to the story or how the missions play out. I think this is a better way of doing a remaster/ re-release of an old game for an underpowered system like the Nintendo Switch.

The moment-to-moment stealth gameplay still holds up quite well (Image via Feral Interactive)

The basic premise is fairly simple: you are the bald, shape-shifting, highly charismatic, and ruthless assassin, Agent 47, tasked by his handler and ICA to take down some very high-profile targets while attracting as little suspicion as possible. The game is fairly linear and has multiple levels, each offering its own theme and setting.

The basic premise of a Hitman game has not changed that much since the series' inception. As such, if you have experience with any of the entries in the series, you will feel right at home with Hitman Blood Money Reprisal. If you simply beeline the story, complete assassinations, and reach the credits, the game will last seven to eight hours.

However, Hitman's real essence has always been replayability, something that holds very true for Hitman Blood Money Reprisal as well. Replaying levels and finding a multitude of ways to assassinate your targets while drawing as little suspicion to yourself as possible is the crux of a Hitman experience. Additionally, replaying levels is crucial to unlock new weapons and tools for 47.

The set-piece assassinations feel quite satisfying, especially on higher difficulties (Image via Feral Interactive)

Yes, I would've loved a full-blown remake of Blood Money in the same vein as the new Hitman World of Assassinations games, built using IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier engine. However, I'm more than certain that a game of that scale and scope won't run anywhere near as good as Hitman Blood Money Reprisal does on the Nintendo Switch.

The moment-to-moment stealth gameplay and immaculate level design still hold up pretty well. I mean, there are very few games where you can dress up as a party clown and assassinate a high-profile target by dropping a chandelier on them without anyone batting an eye. And this is the kind of stealth Hitman Blood Money Reprisal excels at.

Performance and a few shortcomings

At the time of penning down this review, I've spent roughly 35 hours with Hitman Blood Money Reprisal on my Nintendo Switch. Note that I have the game installed on a high-speed SD card instead of the console storage. Most of my time with the game was spent in the Nintendo Switch's handheld mode, which is how I prefer to use the console.

Despite its age, Hitman Blood Money is a good-looking game owing to its unique and distinct art style (Image via Feral Interactive)

However, I've also tried the game out in docked mode, and from what I can gather, performance across both modes is roughly identical, with the only differentiating factor being the resolution. In handheld mode, the game is locked at 720p 30fps, and in docked mode, the game gets a resolution bump to 1080p, albeit with the same 30fps cap.

While, for the most part, the game works quite well on the Nintendo Switch, there were a few instances of dropped frames and even crashes, which did take me out of the experience multiple times. The crashes were most prevalent during the final few levels with the most NPCs, losing me roughly a couple of hours of progress in total.

I also faced a few graphical bugs, with NPCs T-posing and glitching in and out of existence, which can be jarring and immersion-breaking for some players. Fortunately, none of the issues I faced with the game were game-breaking. I'm confident that Feral Interactive can iron out these few technical shortcomings with future updates.

Verdict

Hitman Blood Money Reprisal is an excellent stealth game that feels right at home on the Nintendo Switch. While the game's visuals might sometimes feel dated, the moment-to-moment gameplay, superb design levels, and stellar spy-thriller storytelling hold up as one of the best stealth sandbox simulators.

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While the port does feel a bit different than the original, none of the changes are detrimental to the core Hitman Blood Money experience. Whether you're a fan of the series or are searching for a good stealth game to sink hours upon hours into, you just can't go wrong with Hitman Blood Money Reprisal.