1. I'm also fond of Sapienza -- loved it from the beginning, and it's still one of my go-to's, both for regular missions and showdowns.
2. I liked Bangkok early on, but nowadays I dread missions there. Anytime you have a target up in the Cross studio area it's just a pain getting around.
3. I didn't really understand all the love for Miami at first, but over time it's become one of my favorite maps. The juxtaposition of teh two halves of the map presents you with such a variety of approaches.
4. I've always hated Colorado. An ugly brown slog loaded with hopped-up armed militia types. Yuck.
Valid points about Bangkok! It's great to look at, but it's horribly un-fun, especially when it's alerted in Freelancer.
I'm with you on Miami too. I didn't get the hype until I played it a few times. Now it's one of my preferred maps for leader showdowns.
1) Mumbai. This might be an unpopular opinion but I really like Mumbai. The music and general presentation of the level are great, and it's so packed full of so many small details and area that have no bearing on the mission but make it feel a little more real. I also think that the various trespassing zones are really fun to sneak through, so the whole thing comes together as one of my favourite levels.
2) Bangkok. While I was initially excited by a hotel level and liked a lot of the initial impressions, the more I played it the more disappointed I was. There are comparatively few options to get initial disguises, and while one wing of the hotel being on lockdown seems cool at first, there are so few options to enter it that aren't also locked down. The only options for entering the locked down wing are from the basement (filled with NPCs), two guarded doors on the ground floor, entering through the back (filled with NPCs), and sneaking across the 2nd storey roof (not filled with NPCs but still requires some sneaking). I was really hoping that there would be a way to sneak from the top floor of one wing to another through a suspended beam or cable, but the two wings being entirely unconnected is a serious missed opportunity that really brings down the level.
3) Hokkaido. I found the restrictions on the level really frustrating at first, but the more I learned the ins and outs of the level, the more fun I found it to navigate. While I still think it's one of the roughest master mode experiences, I still enjoy it and find the general layout of the level to be fun.
4) Colorado. The moment I entered Colorado I got immediate flashbacks to the worst aspects of Absolution's level design, with lots of levels where the whole thing is trespassing, filled with hostile NPCs, and very flat level design that limits your ability to sneak past NPCs. While I do think that Absolution generally gets more hate than it deserves, this was an aspect of the gameplay that I was not excited to see return.
I had the same idea on Hokkaido from the beginning, liked it, played it too much there's nothing left to enjoy.
I also like Mumbai, just definitely not my favorite. I also like Columbia.
1. Paris. It’s always been my favourite map, from the first time I loaded into my first mission until the present moment.
2. Marrakesh, Bangkok and Hokkaido. I’ve put them all into the one category because I feel the same way about all of them. While I fell in love with the aesthetic of all three maps (the gorgeous sprawling vibes of the living streets of Morocco/the stunning scenery of Japan and the perfectly designed look of the Gama facility/the incredible concept of an assassination in a beautiful, exclusive, hotel) I find them too restrictive and they leave not enough room for innovation in my eyes. On all three maps there’s only really one viable route to kill one of the two targets (Cross and Soders in particular) suit only - highlighting how limiting, and therefore repetitive, all three maps are.
3. Whittleton Creek. Initially I found the suburban setting uninspiring and the targets both lacklustre, and though I’m now annoyed by the massive amount of wasted space and tedious clue objective, getting to know the map better (especially in Freelancer) has warmed me up to it a great deal. Getting used to the ins-and-outs of how to navigate a home environment as a murderous assassin is somehow such a satisfying experience.
4. Santa Fortuna. Despite the incredible premise and beautiful design of Santa Fortuna, the massive distance between the three targets coupled with the fact that (in my eyes at least) all three of them have relatively boring movement loops mean that I think this map is filled with wasted potential. The monotonous nature of traversal coupled with the relative ease of infiltrating the compounds of all three targets, in contrast to the difficulty of securing all three kills silent assassin in any reasonable time period, makes playing this map feel almost more like a chore than an exciting experience.
I've always loved Hawke's Bay. I can really get behind the home invader/stalker vibe because it feels so different from regular Hitman.
I used to like Haven Island, but they tweaked it in Hitman III so people can see you over insane distances and there was a glitch that let people see bodies through several floors. I hate spending so much time combing the entire resort in freelancer so I can kill the witness who saw me on the other side of the island, and killing someone around the shacks always turns into a gunfight somehow. Plus Tyson Williams has seen bodies in the server room so many times, so he'll mess up whatever I plan on doing to him later.
I didn't like navigating Dubai at first, but it became a lot simpler once I unlocked the elevators. I don't have much to say about it because every other map I like, I've always liked.
Obligatory Colorado. 98% of NPCs are guards, getting into a gunfight is a gigantic inconvenience, and your suit is hostile everywhere. Aside from that, Santa Fortuna. Everything is just so spread out that I can't really enjoy it. I hate spawning at the bar in freelancer and my target is all the way in the jungle or cocoa fields, for example.
1: Whittleton Creek. Easy one, it's packed full of little secrets, Janus is one of the best targets in the series and if you get in a huge gunfight with the entire police force you can hide in someone's attic and they have no way up.
2: Bangkok. I like the vibe but it's so aids to get around the place.
3: Chongqing. I didn't get it at first and I hated the lab. But now I've learned the map it's one of my favourites.
4: COLOFUCKINGRADO
1. Sapienza. Who doesn’t adore this map?
2. Sgail. Looks cool, however I feel like I haven’t explored about half the map and constantly get lost.
3. I didn’t initially like Berlin. I am an idiot.
4. Marrakesh at a push. I don’t really hate any of the maps (though I don’t try to play SO 99% of the time). School and consulate are both pains in the ass to get to and get around in.
Maybe it's just an especially confusing map, but having learned Sgail I feel like I can navigate the whole thing like the back of my hand.
Felt really rewarding moving to only just barely manage to cut off a fleeing syndicate leader in Freelancer (literally had like a second left). Felt very much rewarded for my map knowledge.
1. Berlin (loved it when played the main campaign, love it even more in Freelancer).
2. Hokkaido (I normally love anything Japan-themed, but I hate the crazy amount of security there, at this point I'd even take Colorado over it).
3. Paris and Sapienza (not so much hated, just didn't get the hype, but now absolutely love both in Freelancer).
4. None. The rest I'm just neutral towards, I usually only hate any of the maps when they're Alerted.
The only map that frustrates me at any level is Dubai, it's an unnecessarily convoluted maze that's almost like a deliberate exercise in bad architectural design. And I say this as someone with a good sense of direction, I don't get lost in any of the maps like I do in Dubai.
1. Sapienza, no explanation needed
2. Bangkok, the more I played it, the more I disliked the targets and the layout of the hotel
3. Hokkaido, I didn‘t like the door system and small map at first but now it‘s one of my favorites
4. Isle of Sgail, I never liked the maze like map design and how difficult it is to navigate in a suit. It comes after colorado for me.
1. dubai, it was the first map i played on the introduction escalation before i bought the game and it will always hold a special place in my heart
2. isle of sgail, when i first saw how it looked i was in love then i played it and almost cried
3. chongqing, once i actually learnt about the dongles and the core ive found it so much fun
4. colorado.
1. Whittleton Creek is a really interesting map that has the same "stronghold" level design as marrakesh but does it much better. Outside of houses, you have total freedom, but inside of houses, you are much more restricted by npc supervision.
2. I don't really have any maps like this
3. After the first run in Colorado, I kind of didn't like it. After getting to know it though, its definitely not as bad as it is made to be. First, clothing is super accessible. The most important disguise on the map is also super easy to access.
4. I definitely don't like bangkok or marrakesh. Just seems big and confusing with not much space without npcs breathing down your neck.
1. Miami. Has been my favorite for a long time now. Still like picking it up in freelancer.
2. Used to like Santa Fortuna, but after while it got old and I don’t like playing it as much
3. Definitely Isle of Sgail. Absolutely hated trying to figure out that damn map lol. Now that I know it, it’s one of my favorites. (Still don’t care much for the targets in the campaign though)
4. Bangkok. I know the map inside and out, literally. If I play it in freelancer, I can use instinct to check where the targets are and I know who it is and what they do on the map lol. Still do not like it.
1. Sapienza, easy, best map ever. Also best for contracts and has so many extra maps
2. Hokkaido, I used to love it but now there's nothing to do on it, it's just, boring pretty much.
3. I didn't know much about Miami at first, but then I got used to it, love it for contracts, also love the Albert Noah guy (Flamingo Blackmailer) So much opportunities.
4. Probably Berlin, I need a target to enjoy life, there's literally nothing to do, and when I'm sitting around just doing a contract, an agent sees me and it starts a whole warfare.
1- Sapienza, I love that town. It even gives me nostalgia remembering playing it in my grandma’s house back in my school vacation of early 2017, before university and work… Good times…
2-the ICA Facility maps. I was shocked by how big they were in comparison with other games and how much freedom I had. I spent a lot of time doing all challenges before moving on to Paris, and then my mind was blown by how larger and even better it was. So although I had a great impression of the ICA Facility, it paled in comparison with the other maps, even with Hawkes Bay. But I don’t hate them. I don’t think there’s a map that I hate except for Colorado. I usually avoid Isle of Sgail due to how difficult it is, but I can’t say I hate the map
3- Mumbai. I was so overwhelmed by this map and how large and confusing it was I avoided it for months. After some time, I’d end up getting used to it and appreciating the map
4- Colorado. I always like playing maps using the suit and first and surveying the territory. On Colorado there are guards everywhere. On freelancer I haven’t had a single game session that didn’t end up with me shooting everyone and dying half of the times
I get nostalgic for Sapienza too. I remember getting Hitman for free on Playstation Plus a few years ago and it was Sapienza that got me to fall in love with the game. Because after Paris, I was ready to quit. I hated that level the first time around. But then, Sapienza was followed by Marrakesh, which also had me wanting to quit. 🤣
1) Sapienza - I'd vacation here if it was a real place. I've also always enjoyed Miami and New York.
2) Chongqing - I enjoyed the story mission here but find myself avoiding in Freelancer. It's such a pain when you have one target on a lower level in the ICA facility and another in the upper labs.
3) Mendoza - I didn't get this level at first but I just needed to really learn the map. Great map to take out Syndicate leaders.
4) Marrakesh and Mumbai - maybe I just need more time in these but I find both to be large and tedious. Too many eyes on every move. I used to hate Colorado with a passion but am now ambivalent.
1. Dubai. Maybe it’s because it’s the first map I got full mastery on, or the way it looked but I’ve always really loved this map.
2. Whittleton creek. I recently came to not like this map because once you realize that there’s like four or five houses you can actually explore (I guess you can kind of explore the one that’s connected to Janus’s house but that’s just the basement), it becomes way less interesting.
3. Mumbai. I didn’t like the map at first because I was having a bad day the first time I played it, so I didn’t even really try to explore the place or do any mission stories. But after playing it a couple times from freelancer and escalations and contracts, I really like how much stuff is packed in this map. The crows hideout is a pretty neat secret that I didn’t go to much on my first playthrough, the slums and all the shops are cool, and of course rangan tower is pretty sweet with the blend of a construction site and a movie set.
4. Dartmoor. I mean, it’s cool that we got another really big mansion but it’s just a slog for me. If you’re going in your suit the two starting locations you have are the front gate and garden, so it’s not the easiest thing to get a disguise. You could go over the front gate and wait for phineas witmer to arrive, but he takes a while. And the garden is too open for me, I’m always paranoid that I’ll get caught. And it gets bland after a while, just running around dark brown corridors. It also feels a little small for my tastes, like it’s missing a couple rooms or a basement.
Is this list good? Probably not. I’m aware that my reasons for liking and disliking some of these maps are probably bad, so please tell me if you disagree and why.
1. New York. I've always loved that bank, I couldn't even tell you why. It's just always been such a joy for me to play. Honestly a bit too easy but still a great time.
2. Mumbai. Playing Mumbai for the first time was great. There's so much to do, a lot of exploration and opportunities and cool little details across the map, but playing it now when I know all the maps so well, it's just a pain. Enforcers around every corner even in the public when you're in a suit? Completely absurd idea and I hate it. 3 targets in 3 different sections of the map, one of which you have to uncover? And they all need different guard disguises to get to them safely? Just unnecessarily eating up time
3. Colorado. I get why people hate it, but honestly I think there's some charm to it. I like the upped difficulty, even if the targets are kinda super easy. I also love the characters across the map. There being so little pistol ammo proves a problem, but a fun one to work around. Overall though I think Colorado has been misused because all of the ETs and the freelancer targets and that Sarajevo 6 mission are always annoying lmao. Always avoid on Freelancer though because it's glitchy as hell.
4. Haven Island. I can't crack it. I can't work a solid SASO for this map. I genuinely am just so bad at it. That's my only real complaint, I just suck ass at it. But I can't stand it lmao
Honourable mention for No. 1 is Berlin. Probably my favourite map in the whole game. The first few times playing and getting to uncover the targets was so much fun, and even beyond that I think it has the most possibilities for the future. It's such a brilliant map imo.
1. Berlin was always cool to me. The vibe and atmosphere of the map is just awesome.
2. Not really loved, but I didn’t really get the hate for Colorado until I played Freelancer and I had to deal with getting spotting from all the way across the map and having to hide for 5 minutes or die. I want to actually tear my face off if I see this map now.
3. Santa Fortuna was pretty annoying in my eyes when I first played it, and granted it still kinda is with how big the map is. But damn I would be lying if I said the kill opportunities were boring. Andrea is just so fun to eliminate.
4. I don’t really hate a map outright (except you Colorado fuck you), but I’d say if I wasn’t forced to in Freelancer, I would probably have never played Mumbai again. It’s just so damn boring.
1. Sapienza as well. Love italy and it was my first time plqying Hitman in 2016. Makes me just wanna be there at the beach and chill.
2. Bangkok. Liked it at first cause its a cool concept and I was listening a lot to "one night in bangkok" at the time.
Map became pretty stale tho as its very restrictive and most of the kills just felt the same
3. Dont think I have one for this. The hated ones are still hated. (Marrakesh, Colorado)
4. See above
Love the twist, it’s a nice break from people asking this same question all the time. Anyway here’s my take:
1. Miami, loved it since day 1 and it still remains my favorite map. It’s visually stunning, has a cool premise and cool ideas (exploring the backstage of a big race, one of your targets is in a car…) and great assassination opportunities. Incredible level design. Everything I love in a Hitman map.
2. Bangkok, I was originally fond of this map because of the targets and the kill opportunities but, the more I play it, the more I feel it’s restrictive with moving around the map. Especially when compared to other maps with great versatility and many different entrances and exits to all the important parts of a map.
3. Whittleton Creek and New York, both small maps that I felt were not destined for a Hitman game. I felt like the social stealth aspect didn’t work very well here and that the targets weren’t particularly interesting to me. Not to mention that they both have an additional objective besides the targets. But these 2 maps really started to grow on me over the years, I started to appreciate the ideas being put into play and I especially enjoy the maps themselves in Freelancer nowadays.
4. Hawke’s Bay. Honestly I didn’t know what else to put here hahai, I appreciate all maps for one reason or another, yes even Colorado, but my least favorite would definitely be this. It feels even more so like a tutorial mission than the ICA facility, which was unnecessary especially considering this is the second game in the WoA trilogy. I mean that’s it really, felt more like a typical stealth mission infiltrating someone’s house compared to a usual Hitman mission. (I do love traditional stealth tho, splinter cell remake pls be good fingers crossed)
1. Hokkaido my love. I adore the aesthetic of it. I knew I was gonna be into it before I even played the game. Oh, Mendoza too. Berlin too...
2. I think I've gotten a bit bored of Paris. Maybe chongqing too
3. Sgail... Oh Sgail... I was always just so frustrated by the difficulty of it, and ngl every guard on the map suddenly knowing your location as soon as you slip up is still a bit annoying. For the longest time I had just played it once, popped sophia and zoe in the most basic way possible and didn't even explore either of the big towers or the helipad lmao. But recently been getting into it, and its sooon fun and pretty and just. Idk. Great vibes all around.
Also, Coloradoodoo is actually not TOO bad
4. I'm the biggest Sapie hater. Don't like the sights, too many noticers, the whole thing with the virus is just boring because there's only one way to take it out.
I hate that I love the train level in the Carpathian mountains. There are so many reasons to hate it, but I just love the irony of the constant feeling safe with 47 sedated and locked up on a mobile fortress, not realising that he has locked himself in an inescapable cage with the apex predator.
It's narratively perfect, there is literally an army in a linear gauntlet between 47 and the constant, and yet the constant cannot evade 47's reputation for eliminating his target no matter how impossible the odds.
1. Sapienza. The level is simply so immersive, it feels like a genuine quaint Italian tourism town.
(Honorable mention, Miami)
The apartments, church, tiny stores such as the gelato shop and salon, there’s so many details that I appreciate, it feels like a vacation I can never experience.
2. Paris. This was the first Hitman map I experienced when playing it as a child, it really hooked me in, but the more I played it in Freelancer and Arcade the more simplistic I realized it is.
3. Isle of Sgàil. When I first played this level, it felt like a mish-mashed map that included too many elements, but the more I’ve explored it over the years the more it grew on me, the conversations really help sell that evil-wealthy party vibe as well.
4. Colombia. To me, a poor cartel-managed village simply doesn’t make a fun backdrop for a game like Hitman, its always good to have variety in levels, but this level has the same issues as Colorado imo.
Colombia is just sooooo big and the coca fields and caves get on my nerves. And the original targets are super forgettable. But it's one of the maps that I play a lot of because I can navigate it pretty well, even if it takes forEVER.
1. Sapienza; definitely the stereotypical answer, but this map offers a lot of creativity, freedom, and is beautiful.
2. Bangkok; beautiful map, but it feels so restricted outside of story missions. SASO is really annoying because there is really only one way to do it without glitches.
3. Colorado; although restrictive at first, once you get to know it, it offers some pretty creative ways to take out the targets and SASO can be done in several ways.
4. Mumbai; size makes this map a chore to get around and The Maelstrom is an unnecessary target. The map is also hideous.
1) I always have and will love the atmosphere and level design of Miami.
2) Colorado, I thought was a good challenging level at first, but as I attempt to do more SA/SO attempts, the more I realize how annoying the map is unless you time it *extremely* perfectly.
3) I'm not quite sure, but probably Paris. Paris was not fun for me at the start, but the more that I played it, the more fun I had with it.
4) Marrakesh was annoying to me at first, and it's still just as annoying now. I have always felt like I do more running than actually trying to kill the targets.
I'll start with the caveat that I don't hate any of the maps. I generally enjoy all of them, so it's definitely more favorite/least favorite than it is love/hate for me. Also, I won't be including any bonus missions or anything like that, just the original main story missions.
1. Initially a favorite, still a favorite:
Mumbai. This one has just always ticked all the boxes for me. The map has some verticality to it, plenty of opportunities for proxy kills and double kills, the story missions are entertaining, the map has its own unique mechanic, the challenges are fun. There's just so many ways to play this map, and almost all of them are enjoyable imo. It's my favorite map in WOA.
2. Initially a favorite, now one of my least favorites:
Bangkok. Like I said, I don't hate any of the maps, but this is probably in my bottom 5 now despite really enjoying it at first. Jordan Cross is a great target, but Ken Morgan is a very boring target. After you've done the 1 or 2 interesting ways to kill him, he doesn't bring anything of value to the map and feels like a bit of a chore. And while I like the verticality, it's a bit restrictive in how you can actually get around between the different floors. It's not that it's bad, I just think most of the other maps are better.
3. Initially a least favorite, now a favorite:
Berlin. When you first play Berlin, you don't know who or where any of the targets are, and you have to find them around the map. I don't know if it was a bug or what, but I could not find any of the targets for the longest time. I finally thought I found a target, followed him around for a while, never got any indication he was a target so I left. Turns out he was indeed a target (one of the two that you can take out with the DJ electricity kill), but the game just never told me like it's supposed to. It took around 20 minutes to find my first target and probably 45 minutes to find enough targets to complete the mission. It just wasn't fun at all. Thankfully on future replays, the targets are highlighted and you can better plan your kills while taking in the excellent atmosphere and finding all the little secrets. Now it's a map I love to replay, even if it's not necessarily at the top of my rankings.
4. Initially a least favorite, still a least favorite:
Whittleton Creek. This is actually my least favorite map, even below Colorado. It's just really boring and doesn't have much of what I consider to make for a fun mission. Limited verticality, the whole map is too same-y, nothing exotic about the location, kinda boring targets. It does have one really good story mission (Realtor 47), but outside of that, there's not a lot for me to love. Again, it's not bad, it's just lacking in what I want from a map.
My personal route is to head up to the money pit, back through where the Initiate looking for the token is into the crypt, grab a guard disguise from there and up the stairs, then use the mortician's room as a shortcut up to the tower elite guards.
1. I'm also fond of Sapienza -- loved it from the beginning, and it's still one of my go-to's, both for regular missions and showdowns. 2. I liked Bangkok early on, but nowadays I dread missions there. Anytime you have a target up in the Cross studio area it's just a pain getting around. 3. I didn't really understand all the love for Miami at first, but over time it's become one of my favorite maps. The juxtaposition of teh two halves of the map presents you with such a variety of approaches. 4. I've always hated Colorado. An ugly brown slog loaded with hopped-up armed militia types. Yuck.
Valid points about Bangkok! It's great to look at, but it's horribly un-fun, especially when it's alerted in Freelancer. I'm with you on Miami too. I didn't get the hype until I played it a few times. Now it's one of my preferred maps for leader showdowns.
1) Mumbai. This might be an unpopular opinion but I really like Mumbai. The music and general presentation of the level are great, and it's so packed full of so many small details and area that have no bearing on the mission but make it feel a little more real. I also think that the various trespassing zones are really fun to sneak through, so the whole thing comes together as one of my favourite levels. 2) Bangkok. While I was initially excited by a hotel level and liked a lot of the initial impressions, the more I played it the more disappointed I was. There are comparatively few options to get initial disguises, and while one wing of the hotel being on lockdown seems cool at first, there are so few options to enter it that aren't also locked down. The only options for entering the locked down wing are from the basement (filled with NPCs), two guarded doors on the ground floor, entering through the back (filled with NPCs), and sneaking across the 2nd storey roof (not filled with NPCs but still requires some sneaking). I was really hoping that there would be a way to sneak from the top floor of one wing to another through a suspended beam or cable, but the two wings being entirely unconnected is a serious missed opportunity that really brings down the level. 3) Hokkaido. I found the restrictions on the level really frustrating at first, but the more I learned the ins and outs of the level, the more fun I found it to navigate. While I still think it's one of the roughest master mode experiences, I still enjoy it and find the general layout of the level to be fun. 4) Colorado. The moment I entered Colorado I got immediate flashbacks to the worst aspects of Absolution's level design, with lots of levels where the whole thing is trespassing, filled with hostile NPCs, and very flat level design that limits your ability to sneak past NPCs. While I do think that Absolution generally gets more hate than it deserves, this was an aspect of the gameplay that I was not excited to see return.
I had the same idea on Hokkaido from the beginning, liked it, played it too much there's nothing left to enjoy. I also like Mumbai, just definitely not my favorite. I also like Columbia.
1. Paris. It’s always been my favourite map, from the first time I loaded into my first mission until the present moment. 2. Marrakesh, Bangkok and Hokkaido. I’ve put them all into the one category because I feel the same way about all of them. While I fell in love with the aesthetic of all three maps (the gorgeous sprawling vibes of the living streets of Morocco/the stunning scenery of Japan and the perfectly designed look of the Gama facility/the incredible concept of an assassination in a beautiful, exclusive, hotel) I find them too restrictive and they leave not enough room for innovation in my eyes. On all three maps there’s only really one viable route to kill one of the two targets (Cross and Soders in particular) suit only - highlighting how limiting, and therefore repetitive, all three maps are. 3. Whittleton Creek. Initially I found the suburban setting uninspiring and the targets both lacklustre, and though I’m now annoyed by the massive amount of wasted space and tedious clue objective, getting to know the map better (especially in Freelancer) has warmed me up to it a great deal. Getting used to the ins-and-outs of how to navigate a home environment as a murderous assassin is somehow such a satisfying experience. 4. Santa Fortuna. Despite the incredible premise and beautiful design of Santa Fortuna, the massive distance between the three targets coupled with the fact that (in my eyes at least) all three of them have relatively boring movement loops mean that I think this map is filled with wasted potential. The monotonous nature of traversal coupled with the relative ease of infiltrating the compounds of all three targets, in contrast to the difficulty of securing all three kills silent assassin in any reasonable time period, makes playing this map feel almost more like a chore than an exciting experience.
I hear you on Santa Fortuna. It really feels too big for its britches. It's like three levels in one.
I've always loved Hawke's Bay. I can really get behind the home invader/stalker vibe because it feels so different from regular Hitman. I used to like Haven Island, but they tweaked it in Hitman III so people can see you over insane distances and there was a glitch that let people see bodies through several floors. I hate spending so much time combing the entire resort in freelancer so I can kill the witness who saw me on the other side of the island, and killing someone around the shacks always turns into a gunfight somehow. Plus Tyson Williams has seen bodies in the server room so many times, so he'll mess up whatever I plan on doing to him later. I didn't like navigating Dubai at first, but it became a lot simpler once I unlocked the elevators. I don't have much to say about it because every other map I like, I've always liked. Obligatory Colorado. 98% of NPCs are guards, getting into a gunfight is a gigantic inconvenience, and your suit is hostile everywhere. Aside from that, Santa Fortuna. Everything is just so spread out that I can't really enjoy it. I hate spawning at the bar in freelancer and my target is all the way in the jungle or cocoa fields, for example.
Definitely gotta show some love for Hawke's Bay too. My fiance and I say we're gonna build us a house like that one day.
1: Whittleton Creek. Easy one, it's packed full of little secrets, Janus is one of the best targets in the series and if you get in a huge gunfight with the entire police force you can hide in someone's attic and they have no way up. 2: Bangkok. I like the vibe but it's so aids to get around the place. 3: Chongqing. I didn't get it at first and I hated the lab. But now I've learned the map it's one of my favourites. 4: COLOFUCKINGRADO
Whittleton Creek is so pretty and so much fun to play. It's definitely my second favorite after Sapienza.
1. Sapienza. Who doesn’t adore this map? 2. Sgail. Looks cool, however I feel like I haven’t explored about half the map and constantly get lost. 3. I didn’t initially like Berlin. I am an idiot. 4. Marrakesh at a push. I don’t really hate any of the maps (though I don’t try to play SO 99% of the time). School and consulate are both pains in the ass to get to and get around in.
I get lost in Sgail too! It's aggravating, especially when you're trying to escape a gunfight.
Maybe it's just an especially confusing map, but having learned Sgail I feel like I can navigate the whole thing like the back of my hand. Felt really rewarding moving to only just barely manage to cut off a fleeing syndicate leader in Freelancer (literally had like a second left). Felt very much rewarded for my map knowledge.
Ahah, I'm a Sapie hater and a Sgail lover. We should fight to the death in a Denny's parking lot.
1. Berlin (loved it when played the main campaign, love it even more in Freelancer). 2. Hokkaido (I normally love anything Japan-themed, but I hate the crazy amount of security there, at this point I'd even take Colorado over it). 3. Paris and Sapienza (not so much hated, just didn't get the hype, but now absolutely love both in Freelancer). 4. None. The rest I'm just neutral towards, I usually only hate any of the maps when they're Alerted. The only map that frustrates me at any level is Dubai, it's an unnecessarily convoluted maze that's almost like a deliberate exercise in bad architectural design. And I say this as someone with a good sense of direction, I don't get lost in any of the maps like I do in Dubai.
1. Sapienza, no explanation needed 2. Bangkok, the more I played it, the more I disliked the targets and the layout of the hotel 3. Hokkaido, I didn‘t like the door system and small map at first but now it‘s one of my favorites 4. Isle of Sgail, I never liked the maze like map design and how difficult it is to navigate in a suit. It comes after colorado for me.
I never realized how small Hokkaido really is. But that door system still drives me bonkers. 🤣
1. dubai, it was the first map i played on the introduction escalation before i bought the game and it will always hold a special place in my heart 2. isle of sgail, when i first saw how it looked i was in love then i played it and almost cried 3. chongqing, once i actually learnt about the dongles and the core ive found it so much fun 4. colorado.
1. Whittleton Creek is a really interesting map that has the same "stronghold" level design as marrakesh but does it much better. Outside of houses, you have total freedom, but inside of houses, you are much more restricted by npc supervision. 2. I don't really have any maps like this 3. After the first run in Colorado, I kind of didn't like it. After getting to know it though, its definitely not as bad as it is made to be. First, clothing is super accessible. The most important disguise on the map is also super easy to access. 4. I definitely don't like bangkok or marrakesh. Just seems big and confusing with not much space without npcs breathing down your neck.
The one employee at reception in Bangkok who sees through every disguise pisses me off. What is he, Rain Man? Christ.
1. Miami. Has been my favorite for a long time now. Still like picking it up in freelancer. 2. Used to like Santa Fortuna, but after while it got old and I don’t like playing it as much 3. Definitely Isle of Sgail. Absolutely hated trying to figure out that damn map lol. Now that I know it, it’s one of my favorites. (Still don’t care much for the targets in the campaign though) 4. Bangkok. I know the map inside and out, literally. If I play it in freelancer, I can use instinct to check where the targets are and I know who it is and what they do on the map lol. Still do not like it.
1. Sapienza, easy, best map ever. Also best for contracts and has so many extra maps 2. Hokkaido, I used to love it but now there's nothing to do on it, it's just, boring pretty much. 3. I didn't know much about Miami at first, but then I got used to it, love it for contracts, also love the Albert Noah guy (Flamingo Blackmailer) So much opportunities. 4. Probably Berlin, I need a target to enjoy life, there's literally nothing to do, and when I'm sitting around just doing a contract, an agent sees me and it starts a whole warfare.
Berlin is such a beast, especially when you're gunning for Silent Assassin, but you have to kill someone on the dance floor. Like...HOW?!
1- Sapienza, I love that town. It even gives me nostalgia remembering playing it in my grandma’s house back in my school vacation of early 2017, before university and work… Good times… 2-the ICA Facility maps. I was shocked by how big they were in comparison with other games and how much freedom I had. I spent a lot of time doing all challenges before moving on to Paris, and then my mind was blown by how larger and even better it was. So although I had a great impression of the ICA Facility, it paled in comparison with the other maps, even with Hawkes Bay. But I don’t hate them. I don’t think there’s a map that I hate except for Colorado. I usually avoid Isle of Sgail due to how difficult it is, but I can’t say I hate the map 3- Mumbai. I was so overwhelmed by this map and how large and confusing it was I avoided it for months. After some time, I’d end up getting used to it and appreciating the map 4- Colorado. I always like playing maps using the suit and first and surveying the territory. On Colorado there are guards everywhere. On freelancer I haven’t had a single game session that didn’t end up with me shooting everyone and dying half of the times
I get nostalgic for Sapienza too. I remember getting Hitman for free on Playstation Plus a few years ago and it was Sapienza that got me to fall in love with the game. Because after Paris, I was ready to quit. I hated that level the first time around. But then, Sapienza was followed by Marrakesh, which also had me wanting to quit. 🤣
1. Paris 2. Dartmoor 3. Mumbai 4. Colarado
1) Sapienza - I'd vacation here if it was a real place. I've also always enjoyed Miami and New York. 2) Chongqing - I enjoyed the story mission here but find myself avoiding in Freelancer. It's such a pain when you have one target on a lower level in the ICA facility and another in the upper labs. 3) Mendoza - I didn't get this level at first but I just needed to really learn the map. Great map to take out Syndicate leaders. 4) Marrakesh and Mumbai - maybe I just need more time in these but I find both to be large and tedious. Too many eyes on every move. I used to hate Colorado with a passion but am now ambivalent.
1. Dubai. Maybe it’s because it’s the first map I got full mastery on, or the way it looked but I’ve always really loved this map. 2. Whittleton creek. I recently came to not like this map because once you realize that there’s like four or five houses you can actually explore (I guess you can kind of explore the one that’s connected to Janus’s house but that’s just the basement), it becomes way less interesting. 3. Mumbai. I didn’t like the map at first because I was having a bad day the first time I played it, so I didn’t even really try to explore the place or do any mission stories. But after playing it a couple times from freelancer and escalations and contracts, I really like how much stuff is packed in this map. The crows hideout is a pretty neat secret that I didn’t go to much on my first playthrough, the slums and all the shops are cool, and of course rangan tower is pretty sweet with the blend of a construction site and a movie set. 4. Dartmoor. I mean, it’s cool that we got another really big mansion but it’s just a slog for me. If you’re going in your suit the two starting locations you have are the front gate and garden, so it’s not the easiest thing to get a disguise. You could go over the front gate and wait for phineas witmer to arrive, but he takes a while. And the garden is too open for me, I’m always paranoid that I’ll get caught. And it gets bland after a while, just running around dark brown corridors. It also feels a little small for my tastes, like it’s missing a couple rooms or a basement. Is this list good? Probably not. I’m aware that my reasons for liking and disliking some of these maps are probably bad, so please tell me if you disagree and why.
1. Chongqing 2. Haven Island 3. Berlin 4. Colorado
1. New York. I've always loved that bank, I couldn't even tell you why. It's just always been such a joy for me to play. Honestly a bit too easy but still a great time. 2. Mumbai. Playing Mumbai for the first time was great. There's so much to do, a lot of exploration and opportunities and cool little details across the map, but playing it now when I know all the maps so well, it's just a pain. Enforcers around every corner even in the public when you're in a suit? Completely absurd idea and I hate it. 3 targets in 3 different sections of the map, one of which you have to uncover? And they all need different guard disguises to get to them safely? Just unnecessarily eating up time 3. Colorado. I get why people hate it, but honestly I think there's some charm to it. I like the upped difficulty, even if the targets are kinda super easy. I also love the characters across the map. There being so little pistol ammo proves a problem, but a fun one to work around. Overall though I think Colorado has been misused because all of the ETs and the freelancer targets and that Sarajevo 6 mission are always annoying lmao. Always avoid on Freelancer though because it's glitchy as hell. 4. Haven Island. I can't crack it. I can't work a solid SASO for this map. I genuinely am just so bad at it. That's my only real complaint, I just suck ass at it. But I can't stand it lmao Honourable mention for No. 1 is Berlin. Probably my favourite map in the whole game. The first few times playing and getting to uncover the targets was so much fun, and even beyond that I think it has the most possibilities for the future. It's such a brilliant map imo.
1. Berlin was always cool to me. The vibe and atmosphere of the map is just awesome. 2. Not really loved, but I didn’t really get the hate for Colorado until I played Freelancer and I had to deal with getting spotting from all the way across the map and having to hide for 5 minutes or die. I want to actually tear my face off if I see this map now. 3. Santa Fortuna was pretty annoying in my eyes when I first played it, and granted it still kinda is with how big the map is. But damn I would be lying if I said the kill opportunities were boring. Andrea is just so fun to eliminate. 4. I don’t really hate a map outright (except you Colorado fuck you), but I’d say if I wasn’t forced to in Freelancer, I would probably have never played Mumbai again. It’s just so damn boring.
1. Sapienza as well. Love italy and it was my first time plqying Hitman in 2016. Makes me just wanna be there at the beach and chill. 2. Bangkok. Liked it at first cause its a cool concept and I was listening a lot to "one night in bangkok" at the time. Map became pretty stale tho as its very restrictive and most of the kills just felt the same 3. Dont think I have one for this. The hated ones are still hated. (Marrakesh, Colorado) 4. See above
Love the twist, it’s a nice break from people asking this same question all the time. Anyway here’s my take: 1. Miami, loved it since day 1 and it still remains my favorite map. It’s visually stunning, has a cool premise and cool ideas (exploring the backstage of a big race, one of your targets is in a car…) and great assassination opportunities. Incredible level design. Everything I love in a Hitman map. 2. Bangkok, I was originally fond of this map because of the targets and the kill opportunities but, the more I play it, the more I feel it’s restrictive with moving around the map. Especially when compared to other maps with great versatility and many different entrances and exits to all the important parts of a map. 3. Whittleton Creek and New York, both small maps that I felt were not destined for a Hitman game. I felt like the social stealth aspect didn’t work very well here and that the targets weren’t particularly interesting to me. Not to mention that they both have an additional objective besides the targets. But these 2 maps really started to grow on me over the years, I started to appreciate the ideas being put into play and I especially enjoy the maps themselves in Freelancer nowadays. 4. Hawke’s Bay. Honestly I didn’t know what else to put here hahai, I appreciate all maps for one reason or another, yes even Colorado, but my least favorite would definitely be this. It feels even more so like a tutorial mission than the ICA facility, which was unnecessary especially considering this is the second game in the WoA trilogy. I mean that’s it really, felt more like a typical stealth mission infiltrating someone’s house compared to a usual Hitman mission. (I do love traditional stealth tho, splinter cell remake pls be good fingers crossed)
1. Hokkaido my love. I adore the aesthetic of it. I knew I was gonna be into it before I even played the game. Oh, Mendoza too. Berlin too... 2. I think I've gotten a bit bored of Paris. Maybe chongqing too 3. Sgail... Oh Sgail... I was always just so frustrated by the difficulty of it, and ngl every guard on the map suddenly knowing your location as soon as you slip up is still a bit annoying. For the longest time I had just played it once, popped sophia and zoe in the most basic way possible and didn't even explore either of the big towers or the helipad lmao. But recently been getting into it, and its sooon fun and pretty and just. Idk. Great vibes all around. Also, Coloradoodoo is actually not TOO bad 4. I'm the biggest Sapie hater. Don't like the sights, too many noticers, the whole thing with the virus is just boring because there's only one way to take it out.
I hate that I love the train level in the Carpathian mountains. There are so many reasons to hate it, but I just love the irony of the constant feeling safe with 47 sedated and locked up on a mobile fortress, not realising that he has locked himself in an inescapable cage with the apex predator. It's narratively perfect, there is literally an army in a linear gauntlet between 47 and the constant, and yet the constant cannot evade 47's reputation for eliminating his target no matter how impossible the odds.
Hokkaido, Colorado, Isle of Sgail, Paris (not hated, just never saw the appeal
1. Sapienza. The level is simply so immersive, it feels like a genuine quaint Italian tourism town. (Honorable mention, Miami) The apartments, church, tiny stores such as the gelato shop and salon, there’s so many details that I appreciate, it feels like a vacation I can never experience. 2. Paris. This was the first Hitman map I experienced when playing it as a child, it really hooked me in, but the more I played it in Freelancer and Arcade the more simplistic I realized it is. 3. Isle of Sgàil. When I first played this level, it felt like a mish-mashed map that included too many elements, but the more I’ve explored it over the years the more it grew on me, the conversations really help sell that evil-wealthy party vibe as well. 4. Colombia. To me, a poor cartel-managed village simply doesn’t make a fun backdrop for a game like Hitman, its always good to have variety in levels, but this level has the same issues as Colorado imo.
Colombia is just sooooo big and the coca fields and caves get on my nerves. And the original targets are super forgettable. But it's one of the maps that I play a lot of because I can navigate it pretty well, even if it takes forEVER.
1. Sapienza; definitely the stereotypical answer, but this map offers a lot of creativity, freedom, and is beautiful. 2. Bangkok; beautiful map, but it feels so restricted outside of story missions. SASO is really annoying because there is really only one way to do it without glitches. 3. Colorado; although restrictive at first, once you get to know it, it offers some pretty creative ways to take out the targets and SASO can be done in several ways. 4. Mumbai; size makes this map a chore to get around and The Maelstrom is an unnecessary target. The map is also hideous.
SASO in Colorado?! I'm gonna need a tutorial for that because I am absolute garbage at that level. 🤣
Funny enough, I managed it without a guide.
Now you're just rubbing it in. 🤣🤣
You will get there eventually. There was a time when SASO on Paris scared me.
1) I always have and will love the atmosphere and level design of Miami. 2) Colorado, I thought was a good challenging level at first, but as I attempt to do more SA/SO attempts, the more I realize how annoying the map is unless you time it *extremely* perfectly. 3) I'm not quite sure, but probably Paris. Paris was not fun for me at the start, but the more that I played it, the more fun I had with it. 4) Marrakesh was annoying to me at first, and it's still just as annoying now. I have always felt like I do more running than actually trying to kill the targets.
I'll start with the caveat that I don't hate any of the maps. I generally enjoy all of them, so it's definitely more favorite/least favorite than it is love/hate for me. Also, I won't be including any bonus missions or anything like that, just the original main story missions. 1. Initially a favorite, still a favorite: Mumbai. This one has just always ticked all the boxes for me. The map has some verticality to it, plenty of opportunities for proxy kills and double kills, the story missions are entertaining, the map has its own unique mechanic, the challenges are fun. There's just so many ways to play this map, and almost all of them are enjoyable imo. It's my favorite map in WOA. 2. Initially a favorite, now one of my least favorites: Bangkok. Like I said, I don't hate any of the maps, but this is probably in my bottom 5 now despite really enjoying it at first. Jordan Cross is a great target, but Ken Morgan is a very boring target. After you've done the 1 or 2 interesting ways to kill him, he doesn't bring anything of value to the map and feels like a bit of a chore. And while I like the verticality, it's a bit restrictive in how you can actually get around between the different floors. It's not that it's bad, I just think most of the other maps are better. 3. Initially a least favorite, now a favorite: Berlin. When you first play Berlin, you don't know who or where any of the targets are, and you have to find them around the map. I don't know if it was a bug or what, but I could not find any of the targets for the longest time. I finally thought I found a target, followed him around for a while, never got any indication he was a target so I left. Turns out he was indeed a target (one of the two that you can take out with the DJ electricity kill), but the game just never told me like it's supposed to. It took around 20 minutes to find my first target and probably 45 minutes to find enough targets to complete the mission. It just wasn't fun at all. Thankfully on future replays, the targets are highlighted and you can better plan your kills while taking in the excellent atmosphere and finding all the little secrets. Now it's a map I love to replay, even if it's not necessarily at the top of my rankings. 4. Initially a least favorite, still a least favorite: Whittleton Creek. This is actually my least favorite map, even below Colorado. It's just really boring and doesn't have much of what I consider to make for a fun mission. Limited verticality, the whole map is too same-y, nothing exotic about the location, kinda boring targets. It does have one really good story mission (Realtor 47), but outside of that, there's not a lot for me to love. Again, it's not bad, it's just lacking in what I want from a map.
1. Miami 2. Paris 3. Haven 4. Fuck Sgail. All my homies hate Sgail
Sgail was one I hated at first, but eventually grew to...kinda like. I'd like it more if it wasn't so tricky to get an Elite Guard disguise.
It’s really easy if you start on the roof
That's true! I always hope that's my starting location when I play it in Freelancer. That one disguise is everything in that level.
roof start rocks!
My personal route is to head up to the money pit, back through where the Initiate looking for the token is into the crypt, grab a guard disguise from there and up the stairs, then use the mortician's room as a shortcut up to the tower elite guards.