"We never stop being ambitious," Senior Level Designer at IO Interactive shares insight on the latest Bruce Lee-inspired mission for Hitman

When it comes to stealth games, there's nothing more iconic than Metal Gear Solid and Hitman. While Metal Gear games excel at delivering a traditional stealth fantasy, Hitman games offer something truly unique: social stealth. With Hitman: World of Assassination, the series essentially perfected the art of social stealth, while offering an unparalleled stealth sandbox experience.

Although the base game of the World of Assassination Trilogy offers plenty of content for stealth fans to sink hundreds of hours into, developer IO Interactive did not stop just there. Following the release of Hitman 3, IOI has been constantly updating the game with new levels and Elusive Targets.

The latest among these Elusive Targets is the Bruce Lee-inspired level, The Dragon. Sportskeeda recently got the opportunity to chat with Senior Level Designer at IOI, Toke Krainert, about The Dragon, the design process behind Elusive Targets, and more.

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From designing Elusive Targets to favorite Bruce Lee movies, Toke Krainert shares inside scoop on the development of Hitman: World of Assassination's post-launch content, inspirations, and more

The Elusive Target mission is an homage to Bruce Lee and his appearance in Enter the Dragon (Image via IO Interactive)

Q1. Hi, Suman here from Sportskeeda, and also a massive fan of the Hitman games. I’ve only played the new contract once, but I really liked how different it felt from previous Elusive Targets. It had a mystery behind it, something I think felt a bit missing since the final few DLC story missions for Hitman 3. That said, I wanted to know what the inspirations were behind The Dragon and the new Elusive Target mission, like any movies starring Bruce Lee, or other media?

Toke: Very early, we decided that we were not going to make Bruce Lee a target in itself. We didn't think players would find it fitting to eliminate him, since he's a legend and a deceased celebrity. We really wanted to honor his (Bruce Lee's) legacy. From that, we started investigating what would be a good premise for the mission, where he was more of an ally. And that led us to various research, and I think Enter the Dragon was the film that really made it click. Seeing Bruce Lee in this agent role, where he's infiltrating an organization and fighting, takes center stage because it's based on that culture.

That was a great starting point, and we realized that this would fit very much into the Hitman universe to have, you know, this other agent that you're collaborating with, and who is doing exactly what he (Bruce Lee) was doing to get into The Dragon and infiltrating the criminal organization.

Then, from there, we started building all of the gameplay and the side stories. So yeah, I would say that (Enter the Dragon) was definitely the biggest influence.

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Q2. The Elusive Targets do reuse the same maps, but add a creative new twist to them. How does IOI approach the design process of Elusive Targets, and is it any different from how the base game levels are created?

Toke: So, when we're building story missions, we usually start from scratch. We create a new location, and we create a mission on top of that. That means building all of the geometry, the world, and populating it. And that's a huge effort. However, that's something we don't really have to worry about while creating Elusive Targets, because we're reusing a location. So, we can more selectively choose which areas we want to change and then draw on everything that's already in the mission.

That means, rather than reinventing the wheel, so to speak, and building everything from scratch, we can focus on specifically the parts that make sense for the particular target. When we design Elusive Targets in Hitman, the design process is way more about identifying what the good "home" for the target is, i.e., the location where they and their stories could fit perfectly.

For example, when we did The Banker (Casino Royale-inspired mission) in Paris, we changed the fashion show floor into a Casino floor. But we didn't have to rebuild the whole palace. We just changed a few areas that made sense for the Elusive Target, and focused on making them unique and stand out. And of course, when we did the Bruce Lee mission, we changed the upper wing floors in the Hotel in Bangkok, but the rest of the assets in the mission were reused as is.

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Q3. We very recently got the Casino Royale-inspired Elusive Target with Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, and now The Dragon with a cameo from the Legend, Bruce Lee himself. Can fans expect any more similar large-scale Elusive Targets in the coming months?

Toke: We can't really talk about the future targets that we're making, but we never stop being ambitious, I'll say that much.

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Q4. Will we see something similar to Elusive Targets in 007 First Light?

Toke: That's also not something I can really talk about, unfortunately, both because it's a bit too early, and also because it's outside of my focus area right now.

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Q5. A bit of a different question, what are your favorite Bruce Lee movies, if any?

Bruce Lee in Hitman 3's The Dragon Elusive Target mission (Image via IO Interactive)

Toke: I think it has to be Enter the Dragon. I really like the vibe in that movie. It really feels almost like a James Bond movie, but with martial arts. It reminds me of the early Bond movies, where you have this really clever protagonist who has this secret mission that he's on, and has to infiltrate this evil lair and the tournament. The whole choreography and all the people training outside the tournament ring, that just looks really majestic.

So yeah, I think that's a movie that really stays with me.

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Q6. How do you think players should approach the new mission (The Dragon), and do you have any tips for returning or new players?

Toke: I think what sets The Dragon apart from previous Hitman Elusive Target missions is that there's a bigger emphasis on exploring the mission and taking in the atmosphere. There's a lot of figuring out how to approach the mission, and understanding how Bruce Lee is helping you as your ally, and also figuring out who your potential targets are, and also, how to intercept them. So, having some patience and watching the whole thing play out to get a better idea of how you can manipulate the sandbox, I think, is the best way to start, especially if you haven't played Hitman in a long while.

And trust me, there are many, many ways of completing the mission. So just take your time, get a lay of the land, before you go into the mission.