The Nintendo Switch 2 is home to quite a few already released titles making their way into the Nintendo ecosystem. While Hitman 3 was available for Nintendo Switch via a cloud edition, for the first time, players can enjoy Hitman: World of Assassination natively on a Nintendo console. Hitman: World of Assassination – Signature Edition comes with everything the previous editions had, as well as the recent DLC. It’s a truly complete package, but is this the best way to play the acclaimed series? The Nintendo Switch 2 is the most streamlined way to play on the go, and on television. Does this game hit the mark? Let’s line up the crosshairs and fire away.
47, Agent 47
For those with zero knowledge on the mechanics of a Hitman game, this review is going to skip the formalities and dive right into the performance on Nintendo Switch 2. If you want to know more about Hitman: World of Assassination, check out our review here.
If you’re reading this in 2025 just after the Nintendo Switch 2 launched, you probably know IO Interactive as the company making the next 007 video game coming soon. Before this current claim to fame, they made the incredible Hitman series. The collection in the World of Assassination brings together all 3 rebooted games in one package plus DLC. It also comes with the same tutorial as the first game. After playing this same mission 3 times now, I realized that there’s so much more to do than I remembered. The object of a Hitman game is to do exactly what the title says. Assassinate a target and make it out without being caught. While it sounds simple in theory, the more creative players get, the greater the rewards. The gameplay is similar to puzzler meets thriller. It takes time to figure out the best course of action and the sandbox style of every level is a delight.
Murder He Wrote
There are literally so many exciting ways to kill your target.
IO Interactive has truly designed these games beautifully. The different locales are albeit a bit bitesized—breathtaking in handheld mode on Nintendo Switch 2. There were moments I had to remind myself that I was playing this on the go (I would be remiss to mention though that I wish this was an OLED screen on this game especially) Hitman is the perfect title to land on the hybrid Nintendo console for some quick hits on the go, or longer premeditated murder sessions in docked mode.
Docked, the game looks fantastic with a few caveats. Some textures aren’t as crisp as other versions of the game, but I found I needed to actually test this and compare it to the game on other consoles to really notice. The game runs near flawlessly, less than a few frames dips in extremely overcrowded areas. I tested it out on the recent Arcade Mode and found the French flag waving proudly amongst a crowd of poker guests. It really does show that this is not the Nintendo Switch console we all know. Nintendo Switch 2 has got the power.
Online Vs. Offline
One major point of contention for this review is the warning the game gives players off the top. Hitman 3 is primarily an online game. The reason? Leaderboards and data intake. Thankfully there’s an option to play offline, but doing this separates save files… meaning data doesn’t transfer over.
If you start a mission in airplane mode, you won’t be able to finish it later. This is a major drawback and frankly, a shocking one. Granted, this may not be a problem for most players. But if you plan to take an airplane ride soon and you’re bringing Agent 47 along for the flight, assassinate your target in one sitting before the final snacks arrive to your seat. But even so, most won’t be playing Hitman on the transit or super quickly. An attempted assassination run is best played in one sitting so you don’t lose your train of thought.
Arcade Targets
Hitman features exclusive arcade targets for players to assassinate. At the time of this review for instance, Le Chiffre makes an appearance from the James Bond film, Casino Royale.
These are high stakes missions that can be played for free for a limited time, however failing them means players cannot try another attempt for 12 hours. The variety offered here is excellent and they feature the same amount of detail as a campaign mission.
Overall it’s a juicy addition to keep players jumping in for more even though the game has been out for quite some time.
Conclusion
While this isn’t necessarily the prettiest way to play Hitman: World of Assassination – Signature Edition it certainly is the snappiest. The load times are impressively fast on Nintendo Switch 2 for a game of this scale. Overall the frame rate is smoother than expected and the game plays well docked and undocked. It’s a treat to be able to take Hitman with me into any room in my house and continue the mission, but be careful not to go too far from Wifi without saving. While it’s understandable the game requires players to be online at launch, hopefully this will be ironed out with a patch so you aren’t at the risk of losing a save file. For an arcade gaming experience, or a story based campaign, IO’s Hitman is a clear example that Nintendo Switch 2 is ready for larger scale core gaming experiences.
Hitman: World of Assassination – Signature Edition Review
Summary
Hitman: World of Assassination – Signature Edition is a great example of a complete experience being offered to players at a digestible price. Getting all 3 games, and DLCs with the promise of more support like Arcade style contracts, it’s a no brainer to play this title on Nintendo Switch 2. While performance isn’t quite the same here, it’s worth having the game playable on the go or on the big screen. Just make sure you keep a steady internet connection if you are jumping in to Hitman 3.
As always, remember to follow us on our social media (e.g., Threads, X (Twitter), Bluesky, YouTube and Facebook) to keep up with the latest news.
