Hitman World of Assassination bundles IO Interactive’s modern trilogy into one generous package, with every main location, bonus mission, and mode sitting behind a single menu. It is a fantastic deal, however the sheer volume of content can be intimidating if you are arriving fresh. This guide is for players who want to enjoy the clockwork chaos without memorising every route or watching hours of walkthroughs first. The aim is to help you understand how the systems fit together so you can improvise confidently, fail safely, and have fun in the sandbox.

Rather than listing perfect solutions, this beginner’s guide focuses on habits and mindsets that make the game click. If you learn to read disguises, spot environmental opportunities, and use the tools the game hands you, you will naturally discover stylish kills of your own. Think of this as a primer that gets you ready for the more demanding modes, not a script you have to follow.

Getting started with the main campaign

World of Assassination is built around its main story missions, each set in a dense, self-contained location. For your first hours you should live almost entirely in these campaign levels. Turn mission stories on in the options so the game can suggest guided routes to some of its most inventive assassinations. These markers do not remove choice, they simply act as a tour through key areas, disguise types, and level gimmicks. Once you have completed a story path you like, replay the same mission with fewer hints and see how much of it you can recreate from memory.

It is also worth playing missions in release order, starting with Paris and moving forward through Sapienza, Hokkaido, and into the later games. The early levels are designed as introductions to particular concepts, such as public spaces versus restricted zones, so the difficulty ramps up naturally. Jumping straight to a late-game map like Mumbai or Berlin is possible, although you may find the density overwhelming until you have a few successes behind you.

Understanding disguises and social stealth

Disguises are your primary stealth tool and the core of Hitman’s social stealth. Every outfit determines where you can legally go and who will treat you with suspicion. When you pick up a new disguise, pause for a second and scan the mini-map. White areas are public, coloured areas are restricted, and your outfit icon shows where you blend in. Guards or NPCs with a white dot above their head are ‘enforcers’ who can see through that particular disguise, so give them a wide berth or keep a solid object between you and them as you pass.

A useful early habit is to think of each map as a stack of security layers. Outer layers are crowds and staff spaces, inner layers are security rooms and private suites, and the innermost layer is usually where targets spend their time. The right disguise lets you climb these layers without raising alarms. If you are ever unsure whether an outfit is helping, try walking through a door in a calm, normal way rather than creeping. Guards react more harshly if they see you sprinting or crouching where you should not be. Moving with confidence sells the disguise.

Using Instinct and reading the interface

Instinct, the vision mode you trigger with a button press, highlights interactive objects, targets, and NPCs who might recognise you. Early on it can feel like cheating, although in practice it is the tool that teaches you how levels work. Use it when you enter a new area to pick out items on tables, fuse boxes on the walls, or suspiciously fragile structures above target routes. Over time you will start noticing these things without instinct, and you can dial back how heavily you lean on it.

The rest of the interface deserves attention as well. The mini-map shows cones of vision for nearby NPCs, while icons on the edge of the screen warn about cameras and suspicious witnesses. If a security camera spots you doing something illegal, look for a nearby recording device to erase the evidence. When the game cuts to picture-in-picture for a body being found, take it as feedback rather than failure. Ask what you could change next run, perhaps dragging the body further away or triggering your accident in a more secluded part of the path.

Saving, failing, and experimenting

Hitman is not designed as a one-and-done stealth campaign. It is closer to a puzzle box that invites repeated poking and prodding. Use manual saves liberally, especially before you try an untested idea. You can save right before poisoning a drink, tampering with an electrical outlet, or sneaking into a guarded room, then reload if the plan collapses. There is no penalty for doing this in standard play. In fact, some of the most satisfying runs come from slowly solving a level through a series of partial attempts.

Challenges, the in-game list of feats and special kills, are another nudge towards experimentation. Completing them unlocks new starting locations, smuggling points, and items that appear in the level itself. Treat mastery not as a grind, but as a way of bending future runs in your favour. A few extra starting tools or a shortcut ladder unlocked during one playthrough can dramatically simplify a later attempt at a silent assassin run.

Keeping your loadout lean

When you are new, it can be tempting to cram your briefcase with exotic gear. In practice, most early missions only need a handful of staples. A lockpick opens many side routes and staff doors, a coin or similar throwable lets you lure guards with precision, and a suppressed pistol doubles as a way to shoot out cameras or small objects without drawing the room’s attention. Everything else is a luxury until you feel comfortable with the maps themselves.

Level-specific tools do much of the heavy lifting. Rat poison, emetic syringes, crowbars, and wrenches are scattered generously around most locations. These items are designed to push you towards local solutions rather than relying on a favourite gadget every time. Start runs with a compact kit that supports your playstyle, then deliberately pick up and experiment with whatever the level offers as you move inward.

Thinking in accidents and opportunities

Accidental deaths are quieter, cleaner, and in many cases more satisfying than direct attacks. The game treats a target slipping from a balcony or being electrocuted by a tampered puddle as an unfortunate mishap, so nearby NPCs may panic but they will not automatically hunt you. As you explore, look up for chandeliers and hanging objects, look down for railings without guards, and listen for NPC conversations that hint at unsafe machinery or unstable structures.

Poison is another powerful route. Emetic poison forces a target to head for the nearest toilet, which is almost always a small, secluded space with one way in and out. Lethal poison can be riskier, since a witness who sees you spike food will still become suspicious, but used carefully it removes the need for complex timing. The common thread is that you are nudging the simulation rather than wrestling with it. Create a situation in which the target walks into danger of their own accord, then slip back into the crowd.

Stepping into advanced modes

Once you are comfortable completing a handful of campaign maps without heavy guidance, the rest of World of Assassination opens up. Escalations remix existing levels with extra complications, such as time limits or specific kill requirements, which is a great way to stress-test your understanding of a location. Featured Contracts, many of which are curated by the developers, encourage you to study unusual NPC routes and experiment with obscure corners of the map.

Freelancer, the roguelite inspired mode, is best treated as a long-term goal rather than a first stop. It asks you to string together multiple missions without saving, with limited gear and tougher consequences for failure. The mode becomes far less intimidating once you have a mental library of safe disguises, accident setups, and escape routes from the main campaign. Think of Freelancer as the exam that proves how well you have absorbed the fundamentals you practised elsewhere.

Practical beginner tips

To wrap up, a few simple, practical tips can make your first sessions smoother:

• Turn on mission story guidance and basic HUD elements until you understand the flow of a level.
• Avoid sprinting or crouch-walking in public areas unless you are actively being hunted.
• When in doubt, follow staff carrying objects or talking about the target; they often lead you to useful tools.
• Get used to dropping illegal items before a frisk, then picking them up again once you are through security.
• After each mission, browse the challenge list for that location and pick one or two new goals for your next visit.

If you keep these principles in mind, Hitman World of Assassination shifts from intimidating to empowering surprisingly quickly. You stop worrying about the ‘right’ solution and start treating each level as a space to poke, prod, and eventually master. Take your time, embrace small failures as lessons, and let the game surprise you. Before long you will be the one calmly strolling away from an unlikely accident while the rest of the level scrambles to work out what just happened.