Agent 47 will soon become much more risky. WITH Hitman World of Assassination Setting his shot PS VR2 March 27, senior designer of Eskil Mohl games and the main technical designer, token Krainert, an understandable task – and provided the necessary Intel in the game.
What are the cold things that players can do now in the game via VR?
Eskil: We now have an amazing number of recent interactions. There is a scene where you get a unthreatening combination and you can clearly read it in your hand. A similar impression that he actually looks at such a note seems amazing. Each compact set in the game was to press the button, and now you actually reach out and touch things. Initially, we were afraid that they could not stand visually and audibly, so we were quite surprised. The next one is that you can look away or apply your arm to hide your eyes from Flashbang grenades.
Toke: There are so many ways to play and I think that in VR it just becomes better and better. It opens this set of tools even more.
Eskil: One day the token had one thing in his left hand and the other on the right, and he threw them and caught them. And he suggested that he would try to juggle three things – he was technically possible, right?
How was the fight changed by introducing the game in VR?
Eskil: It’s much improved. Now you can apply a circle of items and weapons instead of stopping the game. And with weapons you feel much more furious. Before placing it in VR, the entrance to the fight was almost failure because of how often you die, but now it is great fun.
You can move the gun on your back, and you also need to manually throw away the warehouse, apply a second hand to catch a recent one, insert it, and then prepare a weapon. It took a long time to implement, but it is so satisfying.
Was there a temptation to keep the whole game in the first person?
Eskil: Of course. For example, in a scene where you mix the soup, we created a prototype of the first person, which seemed awkward and a bit confusing. And in other places it was impossible to really get this useful review of the area in which you are, especially when it comes to knowledge where enemies are. So some scenes should seem like a more unthreatening place where you can get a strategic advantage, and actually felt better at the third person.
Did you feel that you need to do more interactive things, considering that players see the game world differently?
Eskil: Yes. When you are in the first person, it changes this perception of the game and the touch of what you interact with. But when balancing the game we could not do everything interactive.
Toke: We inherited things after the original version of the game, and when I was a level designer, we dressed locations in objects and tried to find a good balance of things to pick up. But not all of them, because then you are just lit with props. And if we have done everything interactive in VR, you would just have a whole room full of compact toys blocks that you can throw. That would be a bit stupid!
Did you have to improve the balance of difficulty, considering that players are now using more tactile and intuitive controls?
Eskil: It was a huge worry for me. Now you can double everything, and the rapid throw function makes you more fatal and agile.
Toke: But although you have more freedom, you also bear greater responsibility for performing actions that were previously automated. Therefore, aiming requires more intentional movements, loading again requires time and you need to follow where there are physically objects.
Eskil: Yes, so it is probably part of why he equalized in a sense.
Was there specific points during development where you felt the moment of “Eureka” in the transition to VR?
Toke: At the beginning, when we were still thinking about the degree of loyalty in the game, for the first time we dragged the crowbar into the door and opened. Suddenly it seemed physical. Like “Oh, now it’s a VR game.” This became an indicator of how we did all other interactions in the world.
Eskil: Yes, it was a really nice moment. And when we originally used the keys in the game, at first we just told the player to keep the door key and it would open. Then the token moved him to a higher level and said that we could have it so that you could put the key to the lock and turn it to open the door. It was amazing.
Has any of your favorite missions changed because of how you experienced it in VR?
Toke: For me it’s probably the level of the train. This is very linear. Players had mixed feelings about this, just like me, even though I worked on it, but now, when you can play with these amazing weapons in VR, it just turned into a playground. After the next one you get one nice weapon and things to throw, and many armored enemies came to you, so you really have to practice these mechanics. It’s really cold now.
Eskil: This is a type of level that is not a typical level of Hitman. This is a bit too action – but now I sway in VR. I had the same feeling in the Colorado game section. Players often evaluate him close to the lower popularity. But lighting weapons is great fun.
Hitman World of Assassination begins at PS VR2 March 27.
