Elusive Targets in Hitman: World Of Assassination allow Agent 47 to move outside of his usual prey and apply his penchant for pain to a new set of targets. In the past, the master assassin has matched wits against Jean-Claude Van-Damme, Sean Bean, and Conor MacGregor.

Now he’s been summoned to Paris to take on a devious new foe: LeChiffre, the cunning villain from the James Bond film Casino Royale, is planning a high stakes poker game to reclaim his lost riches, and 47 has been hired to take him down. 

We got the chance to check out the new Elusive Target mission, The Banker, at the recent IOI Showcase, and Io Interactive may have hit the jackpot in this casino royale.

Going all-in

In the onstage demo showing off the mission, Agent 47 earned his way into LeChiffre’s high stakes poker game by winning another guest’s invitation at the roulette table. Once inside, the two men shared a tense standoff at the table, with LeChiffre ultimately proving victorious with a faked tell. Afterwards, Agent 47 was drugged, captured, and imprisoned by LeChiffre in the basement of the casino. 

The beauty of Hitman, however, is that this is but one of the seemingly infinite scenarios with which you can approach this mission. As we started our hands-on demo began, we were curious what would happen if we simply walked into the casino, found our target, and eliminated him. This goes against everything that you should do in a Hitman game, and we were rightly punished by the entire casino devolving into chaos—though it was a lot of fun in its own way. 

But now it was time to get serious. 

As we approached the casino for our second attempt, we overheard a conversation between LeChiffre and a very angry debtor wanting his money back. It’s here we see why this game is being called in the first place—if 47 doesn’t kill LeChiffre, someone else will. We first attempted to replicate what we saw in the IOI Showcase demo and win the invite through roulette, but that proved harder than anticipated and we were defeated. Perhaps that’s why the stage demo began after the invite had already been won. 

With that avenue gone, we made our way to a quieter part of the casino and found a familiar face from a past mission. He has an invite, but he needs a favor: One of LeChiffre’s men has a history with our old friend, and if we take that associate out, we’ll score the invite. We complete the task, return to our friend, and the invite is ours.

The game plays out the same way as it did during the showcase: LeChiffre beats 47 in poker, the drug kicks in, and suddenly we’re in LeChiffre’s clutches. As LeChiffre leaves, the same familiar face from before comes to 47’s rescue, and even gives the master assassin the clothes off of his back so 47 can complete his mission.

Eventually, 47 speaks with the dealer, convinces him to stack the deck so 47 can defeat LeChiffre, and 47 indeed wins the day. From there, LeChiffre is sent down to the bowels of the casino and, well…let’s just say the meeting ends with Agent 47 having completed his mission. 
 

Dead Man’s Hand

The poker and roulette games that are part of this mission are but two of an entire casino’s worth of playable games. IO not only built the casino level, but the team filled it with roulette, poker, blackjack, and other casino games that 47 can approach and play in order to increase his winnings.

It is entirely possible, then, for 47 to fail his mission not because he was killed, or because LeChiffre got away, but because he became so distracted on the casino floor that he simply did not follow through with his assigned task. When IO says Hitman offers “freedom of choice,” they mean it—even if that choice is simply not taking out the target.

Each casino game is authentic to one you would find in a real-world casino, and they offer a nice little respite from all of that stressful killing work. Even the most hardened assassin needs time to relax and let his hair down (even if that assassin has no actual hair) and IO built a full casino simulation experience in order to provide that to players, if only for a little while.

The Banker is available now for free in Hitman: World Of Assassination—but only for a limited time, as the mission will be removed from the game on July 6. Check out Hitman: World of Assassination on the Epic Games Store.