HITMAN World of Assassination - Signature Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 review — Assassination’s on-the-go feeling deadly!

We’ve done a few different Hitman reviews here on GamingTrend throughout the years. From World of Assassination on PlayStation VR to Hitman 3, we’ve played every mission, every story, and every assassination in one form or another. Well, some of us have… me, not so much. However, while I’ve seen clips for years of this game, I truly wanted to give it a shot, and the Switch 2 release gave me the opportunity. How does it work on this new console? Let’s talk about HITMAN World of Assassination - Signature Edition on the Switch 2.

If you’ve not played Hitman before, you play as Agent 47 and your goals are laid out for you before every mission. “The world could end if ____ gets ____” or “____ could destroy the fabric of society for ____” becomes par the course for you as mission after mission “47” is sent out to stop someone else from doing something dastardly. It’s a fun time, but the clear freedom of choice is what makes Hitman so much fun. 

Want to assassinate someone with an old-timey cannon? Done. Want to assassinate the same target but with an exploding golf ball? Done. Want to drop a heavy object on your target’s head to make it look like an accident? Done. Want to run and gun and try and take everyone out in the entire facility? Technically, done? But… not easily at all. This game is about finding the most creative and fun ways to take out your target. Sometimes this can take 15 minutes, sometimes setting everything up could take close to an hour. It’s all up to you and how you want to play.

This version of HITMAN World of Assassination targets 60 FPS, but in my experience the game hardly reaches that, especially while the Nintendo Switch 2 is docked. Handheld, I actually had the best time with this Signature Edition, possibly due to the screen’s VRR handling the average 30 to 40 frames per second. 

I was able to play through the trilogy with all of the side content in any order I wanted from anywhere I wanted to play. I played the intro from the LAX airport, the mission World of Tomorrow while I was poolside, and got to play the brand new 007 crossover Celebrity Elusive Target Mission from the comfort of my own living room. 

While in handheld, it did take a moment to fully understand the button layout. Once I did, it was decently smooth sailing. The size of the Switch 2 made it a little different from playing this game on a controller or docked with the controller connection. As someone new to the franchise, the game held my hand just enough for me to understand how to play without shoving more and more instruction down my throat. 

Sadly, while docked the game does take quite a downturn, from both quality and performance, HITMAN World of Assassination - Signature Edition doesn’t even compare to its handheld quality and performance. This was a tad disappointing given that every game I’ve played on the Switch 2 so far had a decently great transition between handheld and docked. The stuttering in gameplay was truly the hardest part for me to get over in a game that’s all about the minute details being so important. While the description says it has 1080p resolution docked and 720p in handheld, I did not experience the 1080p docked in most cases. While docked might be an issue, handheld hasn’t been and I’ve done the majority of my assassinations in this format. 

One little inclusion that I really like is the ability to skip to different missions if you so desire. It will give you a little warning letting you know you’re skipping the game, but will allow you regardless. This is great for anyone that loves playing Hitman and knows which missions are the most fun. You can just go there and start from wherever in the franchise. You can also go straight into the bonus content such as the 007 x Hitman crossover mission. Freedom of choice extends even to the mission select screen. The rogue-like Freelancer mode is perfectly suited to portable mode too, with a virtually infinite number of possibilities for murder while you ride the bus or just sit on the couch.

I really enjoyed being able to play through the entire trilogy the same way I enjoyed playing through the Mass Effect and Ezio Trilogies in their special editions/collections. It’s all there, from start to finish. While in my Ezio Trilogy review I knew the content before, it was an easy recommendation for new players. This time, I got to be the new player and it was a great experience having everything right there at my fingertips, and literally in my hands. Hitman is full of fun ways to handle problem solving, and HITMAN World of Assassination - Signature Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 is a great vehicle for new players and returning agents.