That might read in a negative tone, but it's not; I'm genuinely asking, in what way do you play it that makes you enjoy it most? I like the games just fine, albeit I don't think I like it as much as others on here. I don't think I do anyway. I bought two because it was on sale, but since I never played through the first game in its entirety on the Xbox One X (I played it on the base PS4 originally and bought it later on the X), I am currently going back through it with the second games updates. The difference here is that I'm not just going through the levels once, I'm selecting one mission objective, then doing each and every one. If the level allows me to do multiple missions at once due to not making me have to kill the target, then I'll do it which also allows me to hear all the little bits of dialogue and see as much of the locations as possible.

I try not to kill any of the non-targets, although I've gotten to the point where I think it's fun to just knock dudes out in multiple ways. I'll probably do this as well with two when I get into it. I do, however, sometimes feel like I'm not playing it 'like it's supposed to be played', where if someone that played it a lot watched me play it, they'd be like 'dude, why aren't you doing all this and all that?' I can't tell if it's due to me not knowing about it, or me not wanting to do it all. I know I'm not going to 100 percent each level. If I've killed the targets in two or three different ways, I probably won't go for a fourth if I feel satisfied with my completion level of those stages. What difficulty do you all play on? I just play on easy because I think it makes for a more experimental experience. I like the Hitman games, and I'm enjoying going back through the first and excited to play two more, but to be totally honest, I really just want another Freedom Fighters from IOI, which is partially why I bought two. Buying Hitman 2 may not translate to more Freedom Fighters, but still.

One more thing, is Hitman 2 anyone's game of the year on here, or top five? Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

My Number 2 game of this year.

I enjoy it by picking apart each level, learning some of the intricacies of the level and simply seeing what works. The Elusive Targets add a nice twist each time as well. I play on the normal (professional?) difficulty

Oh, something else I'm curious about, I'm not sure how many people play on the Xbox One X, but I know all platforms have multiple visual options. What's the one you prefer? I just leave it on quality and capped at 30fps. I like a good 60fps, but I don't mind the 30 with a little extra clarity in image quality.

I think it'd be interesting to see how people approach the game, I only really see the videos on here outside my own playing as a benchmark. I've been going through a handful of the stories on each mission before moving on, maybe play enough to unlock a particular starting item I am hankering for. In terms of approach I follow the Mr White/Harvey Keitel school of thought, no casualties unless a wannabe hero is between me and the exit. Occasionally, through a series of unfortunate events I can get a bit off track and it becomes all flying by the seat of my pants - fun but terribly stressful, sweaty palm gaming.

My PC is a tad underpowered so my choices on running it are a bit limited - I'll take low graphics if it keep a consistent framerate. I'll say this though, more than most games this gives me gaming burnout. After a particularly long, stressful level I will tend to be like, "that's enough for today, something else now". I don't see this as a negative though, it's quite a nice to keep coming back to. Having not played some of the big releases this year it would sit quite highly if in my end of year list, but it's maybe not hooked me as much as the 2016 one did.

I don’t mind bad scores, so I will have fun by chipping away at little corners of the world until I’ve either given myself some huge windows or I’ve been discovered and it all goes to hell.

No minimap, no instinct mode, no opportunity hints, generally no saving/reloading, highest difficulty, Silent Assassin or bust. For me carefully exploring, observing, planning and then executing my plan is the main source of enjoyment in these games. I can't imagine enjoying them with X-ray vision and what's more or less a built-in step-by-step walkthrough of the missions.

Opportunities off. Instinct is fair game for me. As for approach, whatever happens happens.

Hitman 2 was my #4 game of 2018, and Hitman 1 was my #3 game of 2016.

A big factor is I like watching other people play it. Hitman 1 probably wouldn't be as high if it wasn't for watching the various Giant Bomb streams, seeing 4 people try that one elusive target at once, and, of course, Hitsmas.

In terms of how I play the game, I poke at each level for a good 2 hours and then work my way through them again to attempt specific things. Like in Paris, you can launch the fireworks early, and then push Dalia on top of Viktor and kill them both. So when I figured out you could do that, I would replay a level to pull that specific thing off. The more I see of Hitman, the more I admire how funny and slapstickey that game can be. When I played through Hitman 2, I took a similar approach of walking around the levels and seeing all of the things I could do. But more often than not, I killed a target because it a certain opportunity would be too funny not to do. I did some things thinking that people would catch me, but I couldn't not take the shot.