When comparing Hitman (2016) vs Assassin's Creed Unity, the Slant community recommends Hitman (2016) for most people. In the question“What are the best open world games on Steam?” Hitman (2016) is ranked 7th while Assassin's Creed Unity is ranked 35th. The most important reason people chose Hitman (2016) is:
The game's six levels are all big sandboxes that allow players to complete their tasks in any way they see fit. This allows players a great deal of freedom in experimentation and the customization of play style. One of the earliest assassinations in the game can be achieved through the manipulation of a chess board, sabotaging the ejection seat of a fighter jet, or faking a radio call, among other things. Hitman provides a strong context for the player's actions, but there is no wrong way to play, so long as you get the target.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Tons of choice
The game's six levels are all big sandboxes that allow players to complete their tasks in any way they see fit. This allows players a great deal of freedom in experimentation and the customization of play style. One of the earliest assassinations in the game can be achieved through the manipulation of a chess board, sabotaging the ejection seat of a fighter jet, or faking a radio call, among other things. Hitman provides a strong context for the player's actions, but there is no wrong way to play, so long as you get the target.
Pro Hiding in plain sight is intuitive
The game allows for players to easily hide in plain sight through a disguise system, like dressing up as a model at a fashion show, which gives the player access to anywhere they might want to go. This is expanded upon by having a helpful hint system for those who are unfamiliar with its intricacies.
Pro Replayability through escalations, contracts, challenges, and masteries
Once the main level and objective is complete, players can move on to escalation missions or player-created contracts. Escalation missions remix the maps, giving players new targets to complete in the same maps. Paris features 17 escalations, Sapienza has 9, and the other missions have some as well. More are being added all the time. Escalations are unusual in that they feature specific constraints, such as specific uniforms that must be worn, or specific methods of assassination. This increases the difficulty, but it's a great to expand each episode. The player contracts are similar, but this game mode allows the player to choose who their target is and what constraints to put in place, making for an endless list of possibilities in a particular level. Each level also features 20 'Mastery' levels, which unlock tools and insertion locations that expand the way the level can be played. Hitman is a game built to be replayed.
Pro Interactive environments
More so than previous games in the series, Hitman has many objects that can be tampered or interacted with. Nearly any problem the player faces can be solved by using the game's many interactive objects. For players unsure where to start, the challenge system offers a wide variety of hints. For instance, the optional challenges for the first training level include one where the player must disguise himself as a special character who is scheduled to meet the target and another where the target can be given rat poison at the bar.
Pro Crouch walk finally implemented
Assassin's Creed Unity has finally added in a method for players to crouch-walk, allowing them to remain hidden going from cover to cover. It makes the stealth controls much more fluid, giving you the freedom to stalk your target from a closer distance instead of relying on you blending in with the crowd or staying on a rooftop. This was an often asked-for mechanic and is now finally implemented into the game series.
Pro Four-player online co-op
Assassin's Creed Unity features up to four player online co-op. You can join up with three other friends or get matched with others to play through certain assassination missions together.
Pro Intuitive stealth gameplay
The stealth mechanics feel natural and fluid in how strategic they are.
While tracking your targets, you blend in with each city's citizens or climb up to the tops of buildings to perch there and avoid getting spotted by the templar or their guards. You can either wait for the perfect opportunity to strike with a hidden blade up your sleeve that silently assassinates your target, or you can go all-out and have a sword duel with them if you'd rather take a more aggressive approach. After they're dead, you make your escape and become incognito again.
Everything goes together nicely in a way that feels satisfying.
Pro Impressive recreation of Paris to explore with buildings to climb freely
The city of Paris is beautifully done. The level is massive and dense with detail, with well-designed areas from the era such as towers, open plazas, religious buildings, and recognizable landmarks. You can climb anything, anywhere, and run along the rooftops as much as you want. Scaling the tallest places gives you an amazing bird's eye view of the city and the mountain ranges beyond, along with a vantage point to plan out how to assassinate your targets. The realistic architecture makes Assassin's Creed Unity feel like a true period piece set in Revolutionary Paris.
Pro Wide range of customization
There are lots of options to customize your character. You can change your weapons and your appearance, down to the individual hood that you prefer to wear. The sheer amount of things you can choose from is pretty impressive, helping you feel like your character is really your own.
Cons
Con DRM issues
While playing single player, if the player loses connection to the game's servers (through their own internet going down or the servers going down) the game will boot the player back to the start screen, meaning any advancement made in the game will be lost. To see this happen in single-player is concerning, as there is no reason for the single-player experience to take place online.
The game features frequent online updates, limited-time event assassinations, and other features that benefit from an online connection, but players cannot opt out of these features if they simply wish to play the single-player campaign.
Con First chapter does not offer a ton of content
Much of the content in the first chapter are a bunch of training levels that are represented as being done on a set of some kind, giving a feeling of not being real. The problem here is that there is little in the way of giving a feeling of wanting to revisit these training levels, which drastically cuts down on the playable content in this chapter.
Con Generic premise of a revenge story
The revenge story has been done to death, and Assassin's Creed Unity doesn't really add anything new here. From the beginning of the plot, you see some of the major cliches that often pop up in these types of tales. And while Arno's cause is just, it's hard to care on an emotional level about his mission to kill Paris' high-level templars. But if you're not one to care too much about stories in games, then you probably won't even notice that anything's off.
Con Unsatisfying ending that ends on a lame note
While the story itself is passable, the ending may leave a bad taste in your mouth. After a a generic final boss and an unnecessary and frustrating character death, things just end abruptly. There's no closure, and there isn't a real sense of satisfaction at the end of your journey.
Con More of the same
The gameplay of Assassin's Creed Unity is just more of the same from previous titles. If you've played one Assassin's Creed up to this point, you've pretty much played them all. It's the same type of revenge story of an assassin seeking out the templars, the same bloat of icons and little things to do across the map, with the same type of stealth gameplay, and the overall same structure to the missions. Aside from the new crouch mechanic, the customization, and the location in Paris, this is too similar to other games in the series.