Hitman (2016) - Challenges, Assassination, Discovery and Opportunities

The primary goal of the Paris Showstopper level is to eliminate Viktor Novikov and Dahlia Margolis, but that doesn't mean the game is up once these two have been put down. Hitman is stuffed full of additional challenges, from the way you achieve your objective to the weapons, equipment and disguises that you use along the way.

Here, then, is your guide to completing the most useful, interesting and straight-up outrageous of the varied tasks and challenges, which themselves help open up off-limits areas and facilitate additional versatility. Think of these tasks in the areas of Assassination, Discovery and Opportunities as tools in your arsenal to help maximise experimentation in your own playthrough.

As a general rule worth remembering, the picture in-game that accompanies each challenge serves as a clue to how and where you can expect to achieve it.

Discovery: An Invitation Upstairs

Requirement: Without doubt the most useful Discovery in the game, An Invitation Upstairs requires you to find an IAGO invitation. Doing so gets you into the IAGO auction and opens up many other options for you to deal with Dahlia Margolis on the difficult-to-reach third-floor of the palace.

Method: From the central lobby at the start of the level, veer to the right of the grand staircase and exit via the open door at the back of the room. Turn immediately right and go through the door, where you'll see two women engaged in tense conversation.

Loiter here until they've finished talking and then follow the young woman into the nearby bathroom. Subdue her and pick up the IAGO invitation. Walk outside in the direction of the patio bar out back and follow the building around towards the northwest gardens where you'll see two guards standing by a door. Show them your invitation to get in, and you're free to proceed to the third floor IAGO auction.

Result: As a welcomed guest, you can plot your next move at your leisure without fear of being turfed out on your ear. From here, you can achieve numerous other challenges, including A Break From the Auction, To Your Very Good Health, A Permanent Break, and The Mysterious Mr Reaper. Locate and subdue the visiting Sheikh to complete Guest of Honor, while also being able to partake in the IAGO auction itself and granting you a private audience with Margolis.

Opportunity: 15 Seconds of Fame

Requirement: Become the fashion model, Helmut Kruger. This Opportunity is described in full in the Silent Assassin portion of this guide, but it also has value in its own right, regardless of whether you're attempting to achieve that rating or not. Obtaining the Helmut Kruger disguise opens up much of the otherwise off-limits ground floor areas for Agent 47 to come and go as he pleases, disguised as the famous model.

Method: Head to the northwest garden, where Kruger is being shot (with a camera, not a gun). Loiter out of sight until he gets bored and walks off, then follow him down to the end of the garden. Subdue him and take his disguise. Afterwards, head back inside to get your make-up done and your face becomes your pass to wander unimpeded backstage. This not only grants you access to a number of useful items, but also puts you much closer to Viktor Novikov, making it easier to eliminate him by fair means or foul.

Assassination: The Showstopper

Requirement: Assassinate Viktor Novikov with the light rig.

Method: At the opposite end of the spectrum to the Silent Assassin approach detailed elsewhere in this guide, is this messy, noisy and audacious Assassination Challenge. Achieving The Showstopper will leave you with the blood of a whole bunch of dead bystanders on your hands and zero score at the end of the level, but it will also give you a warm fuzzy feeling of maximum carnage!

To quickly achieve this catastrophic challenge, nab the IAGO invitation by way of the Discovery feat, An Invitation Upstairs, detailed above. At the top of the stairs leading to the third floor a helpful member of the auction staff will point you to an area to the right. Ignore him and enter the door behind him, immediately to your left. You're now trespassing, so stay out of sight of the two nearby guards to creep round the corner where you'll overhear a conversation between two bewildered guards about the shoddy job someone has done of the lighting rig.

This will trigger the Lights Out Opportunity and place a marker all the way downstairs necessitating a trip back to the first floor. You now have two choices, you can either follow the markers to peek at the stage schedule, distract designer Sato and then head back upstairs to the lighting rig - where a handy crowbar will enable you to achieve a dastardly deed - or you can simply wait atop the lighting rig for both Novikov and Sato to take to the stage and bring the gigantic light rig down on their heads. A great many people will die by way of collateral damage but, on the plus side, it will register as an accident!

As you complete the Paris Showstopper levels multiple times, achieving multiple challenges, you'll unlock different options to use in the Planning stage of the mission. A variety of starting locations, disguises and weapons are available to unlock, and achieving the Challenges outlined above will ensure you unlock more toys to play with more quickly. This in turn will give rise to your own experimentation and mastery of the level.

- Our walkthrough continues with a step-by-step guide to creating and completing Contracts in Hitman.

- You can find the rest of our Hitman walkthrough from the first page of this article.

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