PC Gamer - UK (2022-01)

(Maropa) #1

is remote, and its very existence is obnoxious. Why
would you work there?
And oh my god, what kind of judgemental psychopath
have I become, slowly by degrees? This is where Hitman
is, in fact, a litmus test for your humanity, a moral traffic
light, like Tom Waits in The Fisher King.
There is a moral dimension baked into the game, but
it isn’t just in the irredeemable targets or the penalties
for non-target kills. There’s another level that the


targets. He isn’t even doing it for the money. He’s doing
it because it’s all he’s ever known. It’s what he was
created to do. And he’s YOU. You are doing it.
There’s a level on which the game is saying, it isn’t
OK to like any of this. You are indulging yourself,
immersed in self-righteousness. The degree to which
you are enjoying it is a little window into the darkest
parts of yourself. You are the Shadow Client. Most
therapists will tell you that this is a healthy thing, it’s
called owning your own shadow. But therapy is hard and
upsetting, and sometimes you don’t know what to do
with what you’ve found out. In my case, it’s that this
game isn’t meant to be played like this. Attempting to kill
everyone has left me wanting to kill no one, in a game all
about killing people. Maybe that’s the point? Anyway,
that’s Hitman ruined. Thanks a lot, conscience.

THEY ARE BORED, RICH,AND


ENTITLED IDIOTS. SO, ALL


THE GUESTS DIE


laissez-faire attitude to other
people’s lives comes to highlight.
You can target the super-rich as
fundamentally unethical, with
immoral goals, but the organisation
you work for is also corrupt, just
another resource for the obscenely
wealthy to wield power. Your
handler is just yet another
sociopath, working through her own
grandiose and skewed notions of
morality. The Moroccan coup isn’t
being prevented because that’s a
good thing, it’s just about a defence
contract held by a western
corporation. 47 can talk about a “just
hit” but he’s kidding himself. He’s a
monster too, as ghastly as those


EXTRA LIFE

NOW PLAYING (^) IUPDATE (^) IMOD SPOTLIGHT (^) IHOW TO (^) I DIARY (^) I WHY I LOVE (^) IREINSTALL (^) IMUST PLAY
A good
night’swork.
Almost exactly
when this stopped
being fun.

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