https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992954721



Let me start by saying that no, this is not a guide on how to find a job or freelance orders. Unfortunately, it's not about that, although I don't argue that it would be more useful.

I'm sorry, I can't help with that here. Find yourself a mentor or ask something to ChatGPT.

We have a small, cozy corner for autists here, please don't disturb us, stranger.


Why on Earth did the author write and create all of this?
The author himself often asks this question at every night. There's a version that he overheated in the sun...
Mostly, the situation is that all this information you will find in this guide is scattered across various forums and deep within the vast realms of the internet. From Reddit, IOI Forums, Discord servers, Youtube Guides, from every small topics and corners of Web. So, why not accumulate and compile it all into one gigantic guide about EVERYTHING in that mode, so everyone can get access to it in the game always, with Steam Overlay?

The author's personal experience with this mode of play is associated with intense butthurt, so maybe it will help someone land softly on his/her/their buttocks rather of stringing them, like a kebab, on a bottle.
Besides, that person enjoys writing in their free time, and autism breaks through, so don't grumble for no reason on him, please

The mode has been out for about year, and everyone who needed to try it already has, so why now? Why for whom? Are you slow?

The author's parents always told him he was slowpoke. Get used to it, he believes it's better late than never.
So first of all, that guide originally was writen half of the year ago on Ukranian language for ukranian Hitman community. At the beginning that was a small guide, innocent. But after months and months it growning up much bigger and bigger, so in one day the author realized: that why not give that guide for more wider group of Hitman Fans?
Moreover, we have second reason for justify existing that guide.
Players of 'Hitman' have a "Freelancer syndrome" – they enter this mode, get scared, and immediately exit, leaving it for months. Maybe this guide will inspire them to come back and give this mode a chance, as it's an unforgettable experience of nerve-wracking moments.
Of course, the Ukrainian community needs a guide of this scale, there are not many of them, but why is it on English when there are tons of guides on all topics around, why is this one better or what will it say that is new?
The author doesn't know, honestly. He just do it.
He hopes that will help you, stranger, with this game and you find something new.

Anyway, final moment, that guide was created and for veterans of WoA Trilogy and even more for new players – those who are barely familiar with Hitman and only found out about this fantastic series about the Romanian clone-psychopath just yesterday.




If you come across something you thinks is "offensive" and feel the need to vent, take a deep breath, relax, and imagine yourself in the Tibetan mountains, meditating with the sun warming your head and the mountain breeze filling the air with freshness and purity.

While reading, lean back in your chair, relax your gluteal muscles, and listen to something like this:


In short, don't worry.
Well, we've covered the psychological mood.

Hitman is a sandbox game about a bald contract killer.
Large open maps, many ways to complete missions.
The main mechanics here are social stealth and disguises to easily blend into hostile environments.
The main objective is to eliminate the bad guys.

Local slang:

• SA rating - Silent Assassin rating, awarded for a clean mission completion, meaning you were never compromised, only the targets were killed, bodies were not found (or found but after Accidents), and cameras did not record or the recorder malfunctioned.
  
• SASO rating - Silent Assassin Suit Only, which is the just SA rating, but with completing the mission without changing disguises. The most challenging achievement in the series, mostly for perfectionists.
  
• Enforcer - NPCs on the map who can recognize/suspect you and expose your disguise. Marked with ⚪ above the enforcer's head.
  
• Accidents - any killings NOT by the hands or weapons of the bald assassin.
  Main feature - when someone find a dead body, your SA rating is not ruined.
  The system counts this as follows - if you snap the victim's neck, you killed her with your own hands (logic). If you throw her from the 10th floor, she was killed by the pavement and gravity, meaning the SA rating is preserved. If you blow up a target with a bomb, goodbye SA rating. But If you explode a flask or gas tank that already exploded the target, it's an unfortunate accident.
  These tricks can be used to take out some targets very quickly without losing the SA rating.
  
• Challenges - optional sub-objectives for each level in the story campaign, created not only for leveling up the mastery of each level to unlock bonuses and new entrance (which is cool), but also to better learn the aspects of every map, secret paths and methods of elimination targets.
  
• Recorders - devices in guard rooms where video data from surveillance cameras is stored. If a camera records you and you don't destroy the recorder, your SA rating is in trouble.

Hitman is a broken game. And you should use it.

▣ Coin trail - NPCs, who see a coin you've thrown, will always approach it and pocket it (even sheikhs do this, because in the world of Hitman everyone, apparently, is incredibly greedy).
If you set up a chain of coins, the fool will follow this 'route,' collecting all the coins one by one, like a cat with scattered food, and this will lead the NPC to a safe zone for elimination. If you place a coin on the edge of a precipice or on the railing, it's an easy fall accident. You can also use them to open doors (more on that later).
Coins in WoA are overpowered.
▣ A burst from your SMG into the lock unlocks the door. If you don't have an SMG, google what a mudshot is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdoDo72PQkg&ab_channel=muddye
▣ Object distraction - a simple way to distract an NPC with noise from an object you've discreetly thrown. The hapless victim will stumble to the location where this object landed. This is the most common way to distract NPC.
▣ Peekaboo - the second most common method of distracting the AI.
When you enter any zone where you shouldn't be, logically, everyone immediately becomes enforcers, and if you are within an NPC's line of sight, the awareness meter will fill up completely, and an angry civilian or soldier will come running to throw you out or beat your bald physiognomy.
The principle of Peekaboo is that when the meter fills up only to 70-90%, and you immediately hide behind a corner or bushes, NPCs won't identify you, but they will head to your position to check what was there because "apparently some bald monkey caught my attention."
[
▣ Bump - this is the safest method of distracting an NPC by simply running into them and giving them a push. "Bumping" the target's guard is a good method of isolating the target. Additionally, you can use a bump to interrupt or restart NPC dialogues, which is necessary for perfect timing. Another advantage of bumping is that if an NPC hears some suspicious noise and goes to investigate, but you don't want unwelcome guests here because there's a dead body, so you can quickly run from the room with body, towards them and bump them. They may grumble some but will forget why they came and go back.
Bump is used constantly.
[
▣ Weapon lure - as soon as a guard notices or a civilian tells the guard about weapon left on the ground, they will be the first to go, inspect what kind of weapon it is, and carry it to the security room for safekeeping. This is an ideal way to isolate the target's guard - while the foolish guard is busy carrying the weapon you left behind to the other end of the map, you can quietly take out the target. It can also be used to divert a guard from their patrol route that you need to pass through.
▣ Bullet distraction - creating noise with a silenced weapon to distract NPCs. A whole guide has been written about this technique.
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2957831754
▣ Empty gun lure - when a pistol has no bullets, the clicking sound it makes can annoy a guard even through a wall. It works best with tranquilizer pistols.
▣ Briefcase lure - the champion of distraction, AIs can hear the clatter of your briefcase from the greatest distance of all items, and security personnel love to steal it when they see it. So its 2 in 1 thing.
▣ Leg shot (careful, not yours). When you shot someone's leg, an NPC immediately falls to the ground, incapacitated for a period of time. This can be combined with water or heights – one such shot can drown or throw the poor soul off the cliff. All counts like accidents.
▣ Snap shooting - a quick shooting technique. Just aim at the white dot on the screen and quickly press RMB, LMB, and release both.
▣ map buffering - that:
https://youtu.be/j3RKns5wbbc
▣ Quick item throw - aim, crouch, throw, stand up. All in a matter of a second, as the animation happens quickly, giving you an extra second to vanish before security notices.

All the gunslide, Object Boosting, and NPC clipping are purely speedrunner tricks, no need to go into detail about them.


Let me offer some advice:

First, remember order: hide the victim's body first, then disguise yourself in their outfit. It's logical that this won't work when you throw the body into a pit or something.

I highly recommend completing all the challenges to get to know the map perfectly, which will allow you to improvise and experiment with it as much as you like. Plus - it's a lot of fun.

Timing, planning, and cyclical patterns are the main features of the series. The start of each map is the beginning of the same NPC routes. Every time you launch a mission, you'll see that all NPCs are passing the same spot or doing the same things at the same time, and so on. Manipulating these routes is essential, and the game provides you with a massive timer for this purpose. Sometimes it's a matter of a split second, and sometimes the guard you detained five minutes ago won't show up at the right time to witness you strangling some of wanker

Pay attention to the sequence of actions. There's no need to dissect an electrical outlet in a puddle of water, or to first start a fire and then cause a gas leak from the stove. You're not hydrocephalic, and the author believes in you.

Freelancer mode is not just the classic lifestyle of a 4th grade graduate at the engineering university in Eastern Europe.

It's a rogue-lite dynamic game mode in the new Hitman WoA starting from late January 2023. The core of this mode is to randomly complete a generated campaign, earn in-game money, and buy gear.

There's no endgame in this mode!
In other words, after finishing one campaign, you start the next one. And so on, endlessly, campaign after campaign, until you've had enough or reach the maximum level 100 of progression and your rear end fell off from boredom.

Though there's Hardcore mode and Prestige Points for such cases, but we'll talk about that later.

In essence, the entire mode is about completing random objectives in random missions and leveling up Agent 47's Safehouse.
That's it.

There are no saves.
You can't restart a mission here.
So if things go bad, you'll have to deal with it as you go along.


Perfectionists will be hysterically stomp with their feets in the fetal position and crying because no one cares about their ratings or mission purity.

Nobody gives a damn about your SA rating (even though it gives an XP bonus). It's not necessary to complete all mission objectives 100% (though you'll get bonuses for that too). So, there's no need to stress about all of that.

The only thing you should worry about is surviving.


In general, you should get used to the fact that this mode will be as unfair and will hate you just as much as you might hate it.

It will punish you mercilessly.
Take all your money, even when you're a complete bum, a panhandler.
Your ass will constantly kicked by someone else.
Someone else ass will constantly be kicked by you.

Its a pure pain.
Such is the nature of this mode, it's in its DNA.
Animation from Cartoonishly

So don't build any lofty goals in your head regarding the mode.
Accept your fate.
Accept this pain.
The main thing here is to enjoy the process.

If you've already played this mode, then skip the all "Freelancer Basics" sections.

If you're a fan of the holistic version of your Being, simply sitting in Zen, in one stream with the Universe, and hoping that blindly playing the game is the only true experience and your Destiny will lead you down the right path, then skip the sections on "Basics" as well.

But if this is your first time and it's a little scary to venture into this wild forest without a map, then these sections are for you.

Phew, there's going to be a lot of writing now, get ready...



There is a campaign to complete.

There are criminal syndicates to eliminate.

The campaign is divided into 4 blocks, meaning the elimination of four (4) syndicates.

Each elimination of a syndicate consists of missions, ranging from 3 to 6, as you progress through the campaign.

You can see all of this here:


There are regular missions to eliminate members of the Syndicate, and there are missions to eliminate Syndicate Leaders, also known as Showdowns. The latter type is the final mission of each of the 4 Syndicates in the entire campaign.

The main objective of each Syndicate missions is to kill Syndicate members to gradually reach the Leader. The main objective of each Syndicate is to eliminate its leader. The main objective of the Campaign is to eliminate the 4 syndicates.
Got it.

As long as your head doesn't hurt, let's continue.

There are so-called Additional Objectives for missions. They are right here:


These additional objectives for each mission are randomly picking depending on which Syndicate you've chosen. For example, in Pharma, you might need to play with various poisons, or in a Syndicate where you have to eliminate everyone with firearms and without a silencer, or in one where you need to mainly avoid cameras or incapacitate everyone through accidents.
There's a special Syndicate called Sick Games where all these objectives mix into one chaotic mission, so don't be surprised if you get objectives like "poison the target like a ghost" and "BLOW UP THREE GUYS FACE INTO ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ BITS"

As the difficulty increases or if you fail one of the missions, Alerted Territories appear. Any map marked with ⚠️ becomes harder – more cameras, more enforcers, all targets are alerted and can recognize you. It's particularly challenging when this happens in Showdown missions for eliminating the Leaders.

Essentially, these maps transition from Professional difficulty to Master difficulty. If you've completed missions on Master difficulty, you'll feel right at home: notice that it's all the same - more cameras, more security, and enforcers in specific areas, like in original campaign mission on Master Difficulty.


If you encounter a challenge that seems impossible to complete (like poisoning a guard with darts when you're never saw a damn Sieker for all campaign playtime), but you still want to earn money and XP, you can take Prestige Objectives. They pay well and can be a lifeline when the main missions are challenging.

Tips:

♦ Choose Timed Prestiges when everything going down the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ drain. Especially with disguises on a timer. Especially in Hardcore Mode. You know what? Forget about it. Never touch Timed Prestige.
These assignments are more about action and less about planning. If you're considering taking them, plan for around 2:30 minutes between necessary actions.
The best Prestige Obj. involves kills using a specific weapon or weapon class and Collateral Kills. Blowing up a safe is also a good option, but check if safes are present on the map.

Note: Perfect Run Prestige assignments are broken, especially in Hardcore mode. If you take them, you might fail the campaign even after winning it.
UPD 17.08: Perfect Run (Prestige Assignments, not to be confused with the 2500 XP reward after completing a mission) were removed in the August patch due to numerous complaints about this issue. They state that it's a "temporary removal," so they unlikely might fix it and reintroduce in future patches.

♦ For Collateral Accident Kill, it's advisable not to play with electricity too much because this mechanic is little broken. After spending 20 minutes installing two pacified bodies on the right place like water paddle, risking Agent 47's virginity, you risk electrocuting only one of them. Because...because this is how it works sometimes, unfortunately.
Instead, use flasks, burn them with fire/oil or drop chandeliers (a highly effective method), but electrecution is at your own risk as it's a random chance, which you may not succeed at.




⊚ The campaign consists of eliminating 4 Syndicates.
⊚ All missions require you to kill random Syndicate members.
⊚ Choosing a Syndicate determines the set of additional tasks for which you'll be paid bonuses. For instance, with Big Pharma, you need to poison the targets to receive bonuses.
If you can't complete the additional missions, you have Prestige Assignments that pay even more money.
⊚ Completing all tasks rewards you with the Perfect Run bonus (don't confuse it with Prestige) and 2500 XP.
⊚ Keep in mind that the additional tasks, including Prestige, are optional and not required from the beginning. Don't expect to complete them all at once, especially in challenging situations.
⊚ The main goal is to eliminate everyone and get out of the area alive. That's what Hitman is all about, contract killings, it isnt?

If you've already played this mode extensively, then skip this section.

You remember. Showdown is the final mission of each syndicate.

It involves locating, identify and eliminating the Syndicate Leader.

All Showdowns are completely different from regular missions.

If your head isn't hurting from all this, let me explain:

In regular missions, it's simple - eliminate all the scumbags as you can.

In Showdowns however, you have to kill a specific baddie, but before that, you need to find him/her, and once found, you also need to sure you identify them right.

So, you enter the map with multiple targets marked in blue:



You dont know who is the Leader.
All these blue sweeties - Suspects, and each of them could be the Syndicate Leader you need to catch.

Lets find him among them.

Diana gives you a description of how the target supposed looks - for example gray hair, hat, with earrings.
Yep, you've compared the looks, gone through the options, and rejected the ones that don't look alike.

But the problem is that half of them will fit this description, with gray hair and wearing a earrings. The appearance of half the Suspects will be the same.

So, there are unique tells that vary for each one.

Our subject likes to smoke, read, pick stalactites out of his nose, watch TikTok, and so on from time to time.

You have to observe each one and figure this out, find the right moment to eliminate them later.

Your camera will help with this - you point it at them, check everything described, identify them.

Even if the leader is right in front of you - no one will tell you, no message will appear, nothing will hint at it.

You really have to guess and find the right suspect.

Or, if you're a maniac, kill all the suspects unnoticed in the search for the target, but I emphasize - unnoticed and hiding the bodies.

What's crucial is that these guys constantly meet each other in different basements or rooms in seclusion... for serious conversations and business meetings, of course, where you can catch them. Or you can arrange these meetings yourself in a convenient location.


Ok, lets get to harder part.

Targets are not alone - they are always accompanied by an assassin

Assassins are real pain in ass. That jerks look ordinary, like civilians, easily blend into the crowd, and keep a distance from the target. Very often, when our Gru Felonius choking a Suspect, assassin sneakily positions himself behind, like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Solid Snake in the Columbian jungle and without hesitation put some 9mm "olives" on our egghead carcass.

They don't have any distinctive features. The only thing indicating them is the icon on the mini-map:


And this icon only indicates that they are nearby, they could be on a lower floor or lurking behind a wall.

For example, this waiter-looking guy an assassin:


They cause a lot of damage and shoot better than any NPC. If they notice anything suspicious about you, they'll fold you like a Rubik's Cube in just a couple of seconds, and the whole campaign starts over. In Hardcore mode... well... let me put it this way - the feeling that these pricks blast you with ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sci fi railgun and packs our sociopath Charlie Brown in a bodybag in a second. Assassins will get you from long distance, and by the way, they only need one shot for that. Yeah, that's right, they one-shot always in Hardcore. So, I recommend not messing with them in Hardcore at all.
And also...you may notice a thick white outline around the assassins in Instinct, like on every guard in the game, yep, thats how you can recognize them, if you see civilian with that white outline next to Suspects - that assasin, but lets pretend I didn't tell you that......ah, nevermind, move to the next exhibit...

And then there are lookouts.
Their mission - is look for your ass.
Yes, they don't carry weapons (90% of them), formally they are civilians (not always, but mostly), harmless in terms of damage. But that doesn't make them less scary than assassins. They are scary primarily because they expose ANY disguise. Without exception. But that's not the scariest part.

Each of them patrol certain areas of the map with repetative path. If lookout recognize you, you have 3 seconds to kill the bastard before he raises an alarm that will ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up your whole campaign. Because as soon as he transmits: "the bald sparrow flew into the nest, over" - hell breaks loose, where many Suspects on the map start running, assassins start searching and tearing your ass apart. In 80% of cases, it's a campaign failure.

Stay as far away as possible from lookout in Hardcore. Fear them more than assassins, don't go off Ctrl, i.e., Instinct when entering a zone full of lookouts.

If you can kill them unnoticed and hide the bodies - please do. But if there's any percentage of risk - stay away from them.

For eliminating assassins and lookout, they give an additional +250 XP. Insignificant, but enjoyable.


That important moment.
If in regular missions, in case of an alert, the targets would hysterically run around the location painless for you, but here, in case of an alert, everyone will start fleeing the map. If you miss fleeing Leader, the campaign fails and resets.


If a Suspect or an Assassin or a Lookout finds a body, Suspect starts running away, the Assassin will see the body, warn the Lookouts and other Assassins, who will start taking out their Suspects.
If you kill someone by accident, they will react on that body the same way - everyone on the map will start running away. Mission failed.
If you put a banana under the Suspect's feet or knock him out with a Kalmer (as if everything should be fine in theory, because its ok in story campaign for SA rating) - the assassins will still panic, wake up the Suspect, warn the others and start taking everyone out. Mission failed.
If someone hears a shot, the Lookouts will be warned. Or the assassins. It doesn't matter. Panic will ensue. The suspects will start running away. What that means again? "Jesus Christ, FIsher, the mission over!".
A propane explosion? Doesn't matter. Everyone will run away anyway.


I mean, do you understand the logic now?
No illegal actions.
No unnecessary noise, not even farts, even if they are special stealth clone farting techniques that Dr. Ortmeier taught his "children" in laboratories in Romania.

All Showdowns must be incredibly quiet, and any body must be unnoticed, hidden, idk, even eaten by this business suit Saitama.
Yes, there is an option - a body can be noticed by a usual security guard and quietly removed.
But if an assassin, or Lookout, or Suspect walks by...you get the idea.

If you kill the wrong one and they notice you, there's a chance you'll miss the real scumbag.

There's a chance that in case of total chaos, you'll start running around the location like a pumped with biturates ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and finishing off all Suspects you can reach while they run. And one of them might turn out to be the Leader. Well, this probability exists, consider yourself lucky this time, but it's better not to play with this. It's all about chance, an unnecessary risk.

Once you enter Freelancer Mode, you will find yourself in your Safehouse, which serves as the main hub for your adventures. In your Safehouse, you can:

💠 Store your equipment.
💠 Select your gear for missions.
💠 Choose the campaign, Syndicates, missions, and Prestige assignments.
💠 Engage in fishing. Yes, you can to catch a fish by a rod...or catch log... Nevermind, lets go to next...
💠 Customize your Safehouse by letting players who appreciate aesthetics or are simply in-game cosmetics addict onanists, decorate their space with a variety of cosmetic items, most of which the player will receive if they buy all kinds of stylish DLC and deluxe pack ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
💠 Unlock new areas through progression, which can be used for crafting poisons or gathering items and gadgets.
💠 For those who have unhealthy farming tendencies, there's even an opportunity to grow tomatoes. If that's what you're here for, author sorry to disappoint you, but you're better off playing a different game, not here, the Stardew Valley Fan Club two floors above.



There are two main types of equipment in Freelancer Mode:

Tools: This is 3 cases with different gadgets like lockpicks, poisons, explosives etc. FIrst case, from left - explosives. Middle - different tools, lockpicks, EMP cahrge, mostly accident tools with water, tasers, oil etc. The third, right case - poisons.
These items are used for specific purposes within missions. You will lost them all after every campaign fail.

Weapons on Stands: These are your firearms and other lethal devices. The notable difference is that they won't disappear even if a mission goes wrong or the campaign resets. They remain in your inventory always exclude you lost in on the mission or after getting Prestige Level.


You start with 8 free slots for equipment, but as your Safehouse upgrades, you can carry more items on missions. It's important to choose your gear wisely, as picking up various items for a mission can fill up your slots quickly. You can get a banana, rusty nail and grape knife, but otherwise with that "professional killer gear" you can't take just a some simple pistol.
So, it's a good idea to plan what to take based on the specific mission's requirements and your strategy.

In Freelancer Mode, equipment and weapons are categorized into four classes:

🟩 Common
🟦 Rare
🟪 Epic
🟧 Legendary


The class of an item determines its overall quality and how powerful or unique it is. For instance, a Legendary ICA19 Shortballer may occupy only one gear slot and offer additional advantages like precise aiming.

Items with the Rare, Epic, or Legendary classification have superior features compared to their Common counterparts. These higher-quality items typically provide enhanced performance and bonuses, making them more valuable in your inventory.






So, complete the mission - get money and XP.
As you gain XP, you increase your Freelancer mode's mastery level.
Raising your mastery level unlocks new cosmetics and locations for your Safehouse.
Additionally, these new locations within your base can contain loot that you can find as you upgrade your Safehouse.
Initially, the loot may not be the best, but it becomes more valuable as you continue to progress in the game.
For more details on upgrading your Hideout and its various sections, you can refer to the section on "Equipment: Safehouse"

If you've already played this mode extensively, then skip this section.

The reason why you will be worried about Additional and Prestige Objectives is not so much XP as money, which is always scarce here.

Depending on how many objectives you have completed, i.e. how successfully the mission is completed, you are given a lot or a little local currency - merces.



The more mission objectives you complete, the more cash you will receive.
You can spend money with Suppliers who will be hiding in somewhere in the ass of the world in each mission.

- there how Suppliers marked (sorry, my lazy ass dont wanna find 4k suppliers icon)



Before each mission, there is a loot box where you will be given one random Freelancer Tools.

You will find the same crates in the missions, though not just one, but several - up to 3-4 per map. They contain the much worst ♥♥♥♥ in them - like a water canister, cupcake, soap, 1 chewed piece of gum, plastic spoon and other filth. And yes, you will be humiliated by this dung at the beginning of the your freelancer adventures. But sometimes, very very rare something good may drop like weapon, depending on what Lady Luck decides.



Upon successful completion of each of the four syndicates, you will unlock a special reward crate where randomness can literally throw any weapon at you - from a fine silenced sniper rifle to a small knife that won't even peel a potato. Sometimes they give you money, and it can be quite a lot, from 10 to 20k. Almost everything from this crate is better than most of the stuff you'll find in regular crates.




Next on the map, there are so-called couriers.
Ordinary walking wallets. If you give them a good whack from behind, coins will fall out deliciously. They are civilians so dont worry, there no weapons on these "Amazon" laborers. I wouldn't say you can find serious cash on them, from 800 to 1200 merces, but since there can be 2-3 of them on the map, you can get up to 4k.












Not on all, but on many missions, there are safes. You can hit the jackpot with them, earning 10k-12k for one run with completed all objectives and pickpocket all couriers ass. You can either crack a safe, searching for hints with codes (the easiest way), or you can blow them up by simply placing an explosive nearby (the "I want an adventure on my bullocks" way).



🔍 The first method to open the safe is the quietest and safest one. And the easiest. Take out your camera, activate Instinct with Ctrl, and look around for one of the three types of hints for the codes:

• a stack of documents
  
• a laptop
  
• a tablet

Simply scan them and proceed to the safe. Simple, in a primitive way, but with a reward ranging from 1k to 3k.



🔥 The last method is noisy and will draw half the map to your ass, and they won't think twice about hitting you with whips or kicking our's orphan Dominic Torreto face if they notice you near a broken safe.
However, if you chose a Prestige task involving safe detonations, that's an extra 3k on top of what you take from the safe, so it makes sense.

Choose your priorities wisely. If you've found cool loot at a supplier and want to take it, you need to get out alive. In this case, ignore all the tasks, perform them as you can, and don't push too hard on them – the main thing is to get the gear out.

If you're short on cash, the tactic is diametrically opposite. You need to take risks to complete all the tasks, choke all the couriers, and open the safes. Take with you the loot that's necessary for the tasks and what you can afford to lose (except lockpicks, it's a pity to lose them, but they're necessary. You'll lose them anyway if you fail).

Don't forget about the loot scattered around your Safehouse, which will be your main source of equipment at the beginning or when everything goes wrong.

💰 By the way, after unlocking at 14th level the Basement (or in Office, on 2 floor), you will get a one feature - stock market.
Our bald "Wall Street machine" can play on stock exchanges... but based on the percentage of losses, it looks like the 47th is just messing around on some scam crypto exchange. So the author doesn't know whether to recommend it or not.
If you want to try it, go ahead. There are two versions of this feature:
💲 Some say that you have the best chances of winning when the value of something's stocks (it's a mystery what our mirror-headed is trading, but it's definitely not stocks of the dead ICA) reaches the minimum threshold, reaching the white line for further growth. The 47th is clearly a fan of the "bull" strategy.
Since this game is labeled as a "third-person shooter," following the best traditions of the genre, even here you should buy stocks when your target, namely the minimum threshold, approaches the center of the "stonks crosshair," black crosshair across the entire screen.

💲 The second category of players believes in the version that it's all fake and actually total and very rough random, and it's also a great opportunity to screw the system, as it screws us, the unfortunate middle class. In other words, the "Baldur's Gate 3 and save/load" tactic works, where players respond to bad random with an immediate ALT+F4, and on a win, they go on missions because it's during the start and finish of missions that the game saves with all the money earned. Thus, some crafty redditors proudly boasted of earnings of 250k in a single successful campaign.
But the author leaves the verification of both versions to the reader, who will decide for themselves which theory they subscribe to, as after losing 15,000 Mercs, he doesn't want to hear about this Hitman-style FTX.

If you've already played this mode extensively, then skip this section.

This is a strange thing added in the May patch but entirely optional.

It becomes available only after reaching Safehouse Level 60.

The principle is this: sooner or later, you'll reach that limit where all the weapons are collected, and you have a few million, essentially with nowhere to spend it. You're already skilled in the regular mode, Perfect Runs come naturally.

Your interest in the game slowly wanes, and you're still not eager to engage in the Hardcore mode because it's tough. And the question arises: what to do with all of this next?

And here's where Prestige Points come into play.

As soon as you've collected ALL the weapons on the stands (specifically weapons; tools don't count), you can press the laptop in your Safehouse with tears in your eyes:

▶ all your weapons from the stands
▶ all your tools
▶ all your money

EVERYTHING disappears (except for Collector's Coin and Collector's Lockpick!!), and you now have to start picking up every tool for dispatching enemies from scratch. But in return, you get one Prestige Point.



What does a Prestige Point give you? Well... Essentially, even if you look like Dr. Evil without your billions, from now for each new mission you'll receive more experience and money.

In Level 1 Prestige, you'll receive 500 Merces for Prestige objectives (not usual one's) and 1000 XP for completing any mission. And for each subsequent level, the money you receive will decrease by 50 Mercs, while the experience will increase by +250 per level.

The math is as follows:


In other words, if you used to get 3000 Merces for a hypothetical "Epic Sniper Kill" Prestige task without any levels, you'll receive 5000 Merces and an additional 2000 XP for this Prestige task at Level 5.

After reaching Level 5 Prestige, the bonuses stop coming.
So, don't expect +2250 XP and +2250 Merces for Level 6 and so on for each task.

You can have as many Prestige levels as you want, although after Level 5, they only mean something to complete a challenge, and after Level 10, they mean absolutely nothing, just a number and a sense of personal dignity.

If you reach Level 30, it will be a real achievement, but it falls into the category of achievements you're ashamed to tell anyone in your family or friends about, and sometimes even hard to explain to yourself why you, an Asperger's syndrome person, spent an additional 80 hours grinding for Level 30, which not only doesn't change anything in our worthless real life but also means absolutely nothing in the game itself.

So, level up to 5 comfortably, up to 10 if you're into all the challenges, and beyond that, it's for maintaining continued interest in the game.

These Prestige Points are a kind of clever trick from the developers that answers your question of "where to spend your millions if there's nothing more to buy from traders" and "why I collected so much weaponry."

It also keeps the interest alive in playing further if everything is maxed out, but you don't feel like jumping into crazy Hardcore mode.

If you've already played this mode extensively, then skip this section.


There are only four ways to fail a mission:

• Death
  
• Syndicate Leader escapes
  
• Voluntarily leaving the map
  
• Failed Prestige task (only in Hardcore Mode!)
  
• ALT+F4
  UPD 17.08.23 - The tricky ALT+F4 exploit was removed from the game with today's patch, explaining that there "always must be an alternative." Considering the general philosophy of the series, this is a logical decision.
  So, you can safely use Alt+F4.
  Some players will use it, some will consider it cheating that ruins the essence of Freelancer and will play without it. Both perspectives are valid because in the first case, Freelancer will quickly lose its thrill and get boring, while in the second case, the mode itself is unfair to players, justifying the fans of ALT+F4.
  How you play is your choice, your game, and that's the positive essence of this patch change.

If you die during a regular mission, Agent 47 will wake up in bed, beaten like a drum at a parade, all your tools disappear, all your gear that you took on the mission, collected or bought vanishes, and all your money is halved. If you had a million, you'll have 500,000; if you had 10, you'll have 5. But the worst part is that if you die in 2 missions for a Syndicate, the entire campaign resets, and you have to start taking down all 4 Syndicates from scratch.

Sometimes the small amount merces lies at the feet of the 47th, in a hospital bed, after "death".

If the Syndicate Leader escapes in the final mission of one of the 4 syndicates, the campaign fails, and the results are the same. Any failure in a Showdown, a mission where you have to eliminate the Syndicate Leader, resets the campaign to zero, takes away half the money, all the tools, and the gear you had on hand, even if you did all the missions leading up to it properly.

If you voluntarily exit a mission (not through the menu but on foot, to the nearest evacuation point on the map) without eliminating any Syndicate members, you fail it, but your gear on hand is saved, and the campaign continues with slight difficulty - all the remaining maps of that Syndicate become Alerted Territory. You can do this once during the completion of one Syndicate. And yes, you can use this to extract some very nice gear that you don't want to lose.

Failure of the Prestige objective in Hardcore mode results in a campaign reset, and ALL your money and tools are lost. However, if you survive a failed mission, all your equipment that you took from it remains with you

Well, the infamous Hardcore Mode...
You'll unlock it if you complete the entire campaign at least once.

🔷 It offers more XP after every mission.
🔷 You receive an additional 10,000 Merces for completing the campaign, although, in the grand scheme of your overall earnings, it's relatively modest.
🔷 In the gear crates scattered across the map or after Syndicate win, there's a slightly higher chance of finding better weapons. How much higher compared to the regular mode? Ummm... You might not even notice the difference, but anyway that a more pros, than cons.
🔷 For some reason, there was a misconception circulating on the Internet that in Hardcore mode after failed Campaign, all the weapons on stands disappear. So, let me clarify - this is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, misunderstanding, and it's unclear where this misconception start to going from. As someone who proudly has a single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ shotgun hanging on empty stands after 9 failed campaigns in the row, I can officially, honestly, and openly declare that weapons on the stands remain.

◇ This mode adds excitement and raises the stakes.
◇ If you failed the Prestige Obj., and the entire campaign but killed the targets, remained alive, and exited peacefully, yes, you'll have to start the entire campaign over. However, the gear and equipment extracted from the mission do not disappear but hang on the stands as if nothing happened.

🔶 Don't worry, they take away your Freelancer tools just like in Normal Mode.
🔶 All of your money. Not 50%. All of it. The habit of saving money is entirely harmful here.
🔶 The Prestigious mission is mandatory, and not completing/failing it means a campaign failure. It might not sound like a big deal, but trust me, this is the most challenging aspect of the mode.
This point complicates Hardcore mode so much that the following sections of the guide will mostly mention Hardcore mode in the context of "how to complete Prestigious obj. for Hardcore?"
🔶 All maps are Alerted, without exception.

🔶 The Master difficulty is everywhere, and it's not scaled down like in the regular Freelancer mode. That means:
⬤ Just like in all the Alerted territories, there are more cameras, smarter patrol placements, more enforcers bla-bla-bla, like in Normal Mode - generally more reasons to mess up our homeless Bezos on a square meter. It's clear, it's in the original Freelancer, you got it.
⬤ But add to this the principle of disguise - to dress our skinny Vin Diesel in someone else's outfit, you shouldn't create any holes in it. Any bullet or poorly thrown knife makes disguising unavailable. The 47th does not want to wear a sweatshirt stained with blood so as not to frighten passersby once again (and perhaps he is disgusted by it also) or with holes in it that let not only his coins fall out, but also a gun, a tranquilizer, a shuriken, three bananas, and a toy bird.
If you want to change clothes, go ahead, throw non-lethal items, choke ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with your hands or garrote with a fiber wire. No shots or knives.
⬤ The increased damage from the Master difficulty has been added. If in the original, it's a John Wick jacket, then in Hardcore, it's a grandma knitted sweater made of hemp. In open spaces, you're 100% done (not even 99.99%).
⬤ They notice you faster, as if Agent 47 look like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ charachter from Thomas & Friends or just expose his oily shiny forehead that blinds and annoys the guards more than earlier.
⬤ NPCs hear better. They can hear our Mr Clean running, so crouching stealthily make much more sense. Even more: in Normal mode, NPC cant hear when you throw an object to the guy head, next to them. Now they can hear it even from other room.
🔶 The interface has been slightly cut:
⬤ No one will tell you that an assassin is nearby. So, think twice before choking some Suspect guy. Keep an eye on them.
⬤ No one will inform you of the presence of Lookouts.
⬤ No gear crates with markers that you can see from about 20 meters away. Rely only on your musical hearing to find them.
⬤ The same with couriers - you only can hear them.
🔶 Did you think that having 9 Suspects during the last, 4th Showdown wasn't enough? Well, now you'll have just as many in the 1st and 2nd Syndicate Showdown. Expect 12 from 3th. Good luck.
🔶 Much more lookouts, some places in Showdown become impenetrable fortresses with 2-4 lookouts on one corridor.
🔶 After completing the first campaign in Hardcore mode, the regular Freelancer mode will seem too easy.
🔶 After completing the first campaign in Hardcore mode, most people (about 80%, if you believe Reddit) never play in Hardcore mode again, and some even quit Freelancer altogether, and sometimes even all of Hitman.

Let's be honest:
Hardcore mode is a somewhat lazy and artificially increased difficulty. The Freelancer mode is already a relentless challenge, and Hardcore makes it just as unbearable as messages from your ex at 3 AM, whom you've been trying to forget for the past 2 years, and suddenly she appears, negating all two years of your diligent psychological work on your old trauma with her "Hi, how are you? I felt so looonely."

Balancing here is not something everyone's concern. Don't expect miracles. Don't expect Perfect Runs like in the Normal mode. Forget about fights and shootouts. Sometimes missions are lost here even before they begin, and this is not an exaggeration. Here, luck and randomness play a significant role, which may not appeal to everyone. All you can do is a sitting, farting and warming.
Once the author failed a campaign because he chose Prestige with a safe explosion, but there was no safe on the map because the author was probably busy looking at the wall or stuffing his belly with croissants when he chose the mission. And so, the Syndicate Leader got to the Creator, the Syndicate is eliminated, but Diana was upset because "our serious Bill Burr in suit didn't hit the explosive golf ball charge into the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ metal box over here." Big "Campaign Failed" on the screen, start all over again. Wow.

Hardcore mode is pure depression, doom, and a tsunami of emotions (mostly negative).

However, there is something to it.
Firstly, most mechanics in Freelancer start to make more sense. Even in regular Freelancer, the author didn't run around desperately searching for any damn box of explosives, which required a bit of brainpower to figure out where it might be on this map or how to use it. Also, the lack of assassin hints makes you less attentive, the assassins less noticeable, and therefore deadlier. Taking weapons from "no big deal, if I fail a mission, I'll buy it on the next one" doesn't work anymore. In regular Freelancer, the author could casually run around with an ICA19 and take down enemies without thinking about the consequences. But in Hardcore, before the fatal shot, you can sit in the bushes for 5 minutes, choosing the right time and a convenient place where there are no witnesses and nothing. Because here it is very easy for the 47th to turn into Charles Xavier for one mistake.

Secondly, the high difficulty level with clean disguise, more enforcers, cameras, and so on brings many interesting moments. The brain completely reorients itself to the "new mode."

The essence of this mode is that the environment around you is incredibly aggressive, and, in addition to that, the rules of the whole game have changed.

So, if you enjoy challenging yourself, wearing spiked latex, dark basements, screams, hair teared from your buttocks - go ahead, but do it at your own risk.

If you decide to go Hardcore:
Activate it at least after reaching Prestige level 1 and when you are at zero with nothing more to lose.
And be sure to remember where the regular gear boxes are located on each map in regular Freelancer.

Finally, basics is done and you are here now.

I'll start with something simple - forgive me, but at the beginning, everyone around in this Mode will put you in an uncomfortable position and show you all the dangers of unprotected sex. Unfortunately, you'll have to endure bouts of love and passion for our bald fellow at the very beginning, because it's quite difficult to do anything without your equipment, and the developers have removed 60% of weapons, lockpicks, screwdrivers, etc. from each map.
It's a survival.
Especially until you open the exit from Safehouse where there are many useful items.

But more on that later.

The first thing that any campaign starts with is the choice of syndicates.



There are two moments based on which you have to choose a syndicate:

• The additional mission set it offers.
  
• Which maps will be available.

Planning begins immediately from this point.

If you choose Big Pharma, for instance, where you need to poison everyone, and you simply don't have what to poison them with, you'll get frustrated with completing the mission for just 600 bucks in your pocket.

So for the very beginning, when you have neither tools nor weapons, the best option will be...

Organ Trafficking


To break someone neck, you don't need any tools. Knives can be found on many maps, or there's a high chance to grab one from a supplier. If you buy a Suriken, randomness can help you take out two birds with one stone - achieving the Prestige for a Suriken Kill and completing tasks like Melee Kill.
If you're lucky and "Axe Kill" doesn't show up in the task list, then you'll have the best chance of achieving a Perfect Run (completing all mission tasks) out of all possible outcomes at the early stages of the game.


and Arms Trafficking

The highest chance to achieve a Perfect Run is also when you have no tools at the beginning. Firearms without suppressors can be found on all maps. Explosives are found in boxes on maps, and there are plenty of them. The point is simple - MASSACRE.


After completing at least 2 Syndicates, you can choose Assassination, and after your first exit from the Safehouse to the street, this type of Syndicates won't be a problem for you at all.

Eliminating the first assassin in Showdown missions will provide you with a silenced pistol.
Randomly, you might obtain a garotte or pull a fishing line after fishing... yes, fishing...

With the appearance of the first Sieker, you can comfortably choose Big Pharma.


So, Psy Ops... On one hand, Psy Ops doesn't look too difficult. It offers the easiest 1000 mercs in the game with "Distract Target," which is completed simply by bumping into the target. No tools or anything required. But in reality, it's a cunning and sneaky Syndicate. With the "Blind Target" task, you have to blind the target with a flash device, which isn't always quiet and not infrequently ends in a shootout, and sometimes it's challenging to find a flash device. Using concussion bombs to knock out everyone can be a hassle. Plus, any slip-up with cameras and no Perfect Run. It doesn't seem easy now, does it? Anyway, its much easier than Espionage and Eco Crime stuff.



Eco Crime, which relies solely on unfortunate accidents, is like a lottery. Not everywhere you'll find propane canisters. Somewhere, you need luck to have a fire source nearby. Electrocution? Hah, cmmon, not so naive. To have a water can and a tazer at the same time, to play with them, to make sure that some other poor person going about their business doesn't step into it? Take a canister of oil, spill it unnoticed and set it on fire in time?
It's fun Syndicate, but it's relate with you luck, patience, steel nerves and planning.


Oh, you think to take Espionage? Nah. Not so quickly. That thing is quite difficult for rookies. Even more - that prorably the most hardest Syndicate. All these restrictions on breaking and entering, pacifying someone, Suit Only, no firearms, not being seen, being discovered - let's be honest, it looks like a small prelude to SA and SASO. This is clearly not for newcomers but for those who really understand the maps and know all the paths.



About Sick Games you heard before - all objectives from all Syndicates is just randomly mixed in one big total mess. A lot of fun, believe the author.

The problem is that all these Syndicate choices based on tasks come later in the game with normal equipment - it's a nothing. With a sufficient number of mercs and a wide array of weapons, you won't care much. Out of these 8 Syndicates, you'll definitely have a choice of 5 that make it easy to achieve a Perfect Run.

And from level 15 of the Safehouse, with some more or less decent loot and a single pistol, you'll slowly transition from "choosing Syndicates based on additional tasks" to "choosing Syndicates based on map sets."

The most important thing to remember is that you choose the order in which you complete the maps and where you'll encounter the Syndicate Leader in Showdown.

The proper selection of maps will determine how you progress through the ENTIRE CAMPAIGN, not just one Syndicate.

Sorting by decreasing difficulty
(🔴 - fecal; ⚫ - difficult; ⚪ - normal; 🔵 - suitable for Showdown):

🔴 First and foremost, no Colorado. It doesn't exist for you. Forget about it. Not the worst map for the original campaign, but definitely the worst for a freelancer.
Every mission starts with a shootout.
Every wrong step or minor mistake won't just make you feel the intricacies of pushing a hemorrhoid back into ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ but will also ruin your entire campaign.
Simply avoid it. If you see this atrocity in the list of Syndicate maps, choose another Syndicate.
There's no overpowered disguise here, nothing will help the bald man pass as the Invisible Man, not even in the local toilet.


🔴 Marrakesh - no. Regardless of how big a map may seem, it is too restricted. In some places, even with normal camouflage, you can only find one path, and you'll be surrounded by heavily armed soldiers, not just security guards with pistols. It's like a light version of Colorado. Avoid it.
The best disguise - military officers (not soldiers, there are only three officers, and their uniforms are lighter. The difference in the number of enforcers).


🔴 Ambrose Island - the map in the campaign is quite interesting. But not for a Freelancer. You can't see a damn thing because it's nighttime. There are plenty of well-armed gorillas all around who can easily spot you in open areas. Taking cover in any building results in you being shot through windows and approached from two entrances, and it's impossible to control so many places at once. On the plus side, you can find Noel Crest here, and you can get an SMG with a suppressor from him. With a lot of vegetation on the map it will saves map from being turd #1 on that list. Only take it for DAK Covert Noel Crest. Otherwise, no, no, and again, no.

The best disguise - any pirate and soldier outfit.

🔴 Bangkok - not the best option, but compared to those three, it's bearable. There are too many enforcers per square meter, and in some places, it's tight and stuffy, with some essential rooms locked with electronic locks.
The best disguise - a security guard.


⚫Hokkaido - an aggressive map. It's tight with many enforcers, difficult to obtain disguises, and you can't go anywhere without one. However, it's easier for a Freelancer. Firstly, it's a small map. Secondly, you can take equipment. Thirdly, if they spawn you near the mountain with a sword, the map becomes easier immediately.
But if they spawn you inside... good luck with that.
The best disguise - a security guard and clinic director.


⚫Isle of Gail - quite a challenging map. Many enforcers, very tight spaces, lots of restricted areas, crowds of people everywhere, and heavily armed guards.
The best disguise - an elite guard.


⚪Santa Fortuna - despite the criticism, it's not too difficult and suitable for beginners, especially when following this route:

The route's advantage is that you can complete it without killing anyone, wearing any disguise, and at the end, you'll have access to any part of the map.
The safe in Delgado's office can earn you an additional 1K, the combination in Hector's room (opposite) or just blow it up.
The best disguises - mansion security, plantation guards.


⚪ Mumbai. Not many people love this map due to its dense, crowded gray streets and challenging areas within Vanya's base and Rangan's tower. But one thing you can't take away from the map is its size and openness, with verticality and bypass routes, meaning fewer chances to mess up the mission. Remember the ladder at the top and the window in the depot, which provides both a great disguise and a recorder.
[]
The best disguises - Vanya elite security, Rangan guards.


⚪Haven island - you will be quite exposed, but the map is small, and there is plenty of vegetation. The area where you need to spend a lot of time is the fence near the mansion, which can be stealthily climbed over (the exact location is marked on the map), with easy access to the mansion. The guard on the stairs is an excellent source of the best disguise. If things go very bad, there's a convenient defense point, and it's a great spot for a sniper.

The best disguise - villa guard.


⚪New York - it's great because it's a small map, and enforcers can be avoided. Why is it rated so highly? Simply because here you can make a good haul (if you don't trigger the laser grid in the safe) from 5K to 8K plus there's a lot of good stuff in the deposit boxes. The best disguises are the security guard or the head of security.


⚪Dubai - the only challenge here is that the targets might be downstairs, big hall and restaraunt zone. And you can only reach them by making a some "noise", in front of the crowd. But this is random. In other cases, it's relatively easy. Here's what an overpowered route looks like (best disguise, destroying the recorders, and access to the supplier):
[]
The best disguise is the red berets and Ingram's security.


⚪Mendoza - a fantastic map for a Freelancer. It's easy to hide bodies, create unfortunate accidents, poison, and more. However, there's an issue: the target can hang out at the dance floor, in the restaurant, in plain view of the crowd. Therefore, author subjectively cannot recommend it for Showdown (but many does, especially snipers, scroll down for "Tips" section). There's always cash in the safe in the wine cellar, usually around 1K, combination 2006.
The best disguise: any guards near the mansion wearing black uniforms.

🔵Paris, Miami, Sapienza - large, versatile maps with many opportunities.

In Paris, don't forget about the fastest and safest "elevator" between floors:
[]
In Miami, there may be problems with the target who walks by the shore in plain view of everyone. A shot from the Sieker won't isolate her but will only make her go to the shore to feed the fish with her vomit, so everyone will see how the sociopath bald guy breaks her spine.
In Sapienza, it's best to start from this tower:
[]
There's a recorder and a guard disguise, but be careful with the camera on the stairs.
Best disguises, Paris - Cicada Guard, Sheikh.

Best disguises in Miami, Sapienza: any guard.

🔵Chongqing, or Chongqing - the problem is only with access to different levels of the lower base, otherwise, it miraculously works for a Freelancer.
Door code to facility and laundry - 0118.
Door code in apartament - 2552. Best disguises: apartment security, elite guards.


🔵Berlin - just a great map for a Freelancer. The biggest problems can only be in the upper corridors of the club, where there's a lot of NPC's. Best disguises: biker and Rolf Hirschmuller.


Now, the true kings of the Freelancer mode:

Whittleton Creek US and Dartmoor.

These two maps are so fantastic that I recommend saving them for the end, for the Showdown.



The ultimate map setup to start your campaign with:
New York, because it provides the most powerful boost for merces available in the game. Merces in the Safe where Data Core, merces in the Safe right from Data Core and merces in the 2 deposit boxes in the same floor.
You also can get a free legendary shotgun and a tanto.
Dubai, because of the Shashka Covert and, most notably, the DAK DTI, which will come in handy throughout the early campaign.
Whittleton Creek, as it's one of the best maps for Showdown. You can find a baseball bat and a crowbar on the map, which is essential if you don't have your own lockpicks or crowbars from Freelancer Tools. Additionally, there's an SMG with a suppressor, although it's non-concealable.
Dartmoor, because it's simply the best map for all aspects of Freelancer, especially Showdown.

In the regular Freelancer mode, this list might not matter to you. However, in Hardcore mode, knowledge of Prestige challenges and their differences can be critically important.

It's important to understand that the selection of equipment, such as weapons and gadgets, is based not only on considerations of convenience, accuracy, price, etc., but mostly with an emphasis on completing Prestige challenges. The more normal gear you have, the more Prestige challenges you can accomplish, which means a greater chance of completing the campaign in Hardcore mode.

Here is a list of all Prestige challenges:

Melee Kill - Epic
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
If you have at least one item from this list (Eiffel Tower Knife, Burial Dagger, Bat Shuriken, Antique Curved Knife, Ice Axe), this Prestige challenge won't be a problem for you.

Shotgun Kill - Epic
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Golden Sawed-Off Bartoli 12G, Enram HV Covert, and ICA Tactical White Shotgun Covert can help you with this challenge.

Sniper Kill - Epic
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
The difficulty is the same as in the previous challenges - need good luck with randomness and enough money to buy an Epic sniper rifle.

Assault Rifle Kill - Epic
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
The difficulty is the same as in the previous challenges - need good luck with randomness and enough money to buy an Epic Assault Rifle.

Sub Machine Gun Kill - Epic
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
The difficulty is the same as in the previous challenges - you need good luck with randomness and enough money to buy an Epic SMG. But its one pros - DAK X2 Covert SMG is easy to hide and thats cheaper than Epic Rifles, so assasination will be easier.

Silenced Pistol Kill - Epic
Difficulty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Epic-level pistols are more common than Epic sniper rifles, rifles, or SMGs, which means a higher chance of finding them with a supplier. Pistols are easy to conceal, precise, and therefore, taking out a target discreetly is quite easy. This Prestige challenge is not as problematic as the previous ones.

Unsilenced Pistol Kill - Epic
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
This challenge is only feasible if you have El Matador on display. The chance of finding this pistol at a supplier is 1 in 28. Multiply 28 by the probability that 47 has 20,000 merces in their pocket to afford it. Then multiply that by the fact that this weapon is very inaccurate (so you need to be very close to the target) and very loud, meaning half the map will be running towards you. That's why this challenge is difficult.

Headshot Kill - Legendary
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Katana Kill
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
It's not a problem with finding the Tanto.

Shuriken Kill
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Your advanced lifehack - starfish. You can fish it near the Safehouse. Yep, that counted like Shuriken, you got it.

Icepick Kill
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Remember the Prestige challenge with El Matador from earlier? Well, here, the probability is 1 in 30. The only saving grace is that it's more affordable price.

Pacify - Baseball Bat
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Baseball bats are available on many maps. This is no longer about randomness but about map knowledge and finding the right moment to discreetly hit the target in the ear with the bat.

Collateral Kill - Accident
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Chandeliers, propane flasks, electricity come to your aid.

Collateral Kill - Explosion
Difficulty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Any explosion with collateral victims, and finding explosives is very easy. It seems to be the easiest Prestige.

Collateral Kill - Firearms
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
You don't need super sniper rifles with armor-piercing capabilities. There's no condition like "one bullet, two bodies." It's simpler – the challenge counts if the target and a random bystander are killed by gunfire with a one-second delay. Position the heads of your target and the poor bystander in a row and give them both headshots with an SMG. That's it.

Open Safe - Explosive
Difficulty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
You can blow up the safe with anything, even a fire extinguisher.

Silent Assassin
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Silent Assassin Prestige challenges are the hardest here. People take them either for fun or to ruin their campaign.

Silent Assassin - No Firearms
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Silent Assassin Prestige challenges are the hardest here. People take them either for fun or to ruin their campaign.

Silent Assassin - Suit Only
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
SASO rating. The most challenging not only in Freelancer, not only in the Hitman trilogy, but in the entire series. Even if you get "Lose the campaign and uninstall the game" and "Stand up from the computer and jump out of the window" Prestiges from the list, ignore the existence of this Prestige.

Timed - Time Trial
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
For each target on the map + 2:30 minutes. So, if there are 3 targets, it's 7:30 minutes. When all targets are eliminated, the timer stops, giving you unlimited time to complete your tasks on the map. Why is it challenging? It requires incredible map knowledge and the ability to quickly orient yourself. Avoid it at all costs, 100% of the time in Hardcore mode.

Timed - Hide and Seek
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
There are 2:30 minutes, which refresh every time you hide in a closet/box. Bushes are not counted. When all targets are dead, the timer does not stop.

Timed - Get Disguises
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
There are 2:30 minutes, which refresh every time you change disguises. It only works if you change to a new outfit, so you cannot use the same disguise twice. Timer stops after elimination of all targets.

Timed - Silent Takedown
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
There are 2:30 minutes, which refresh every time you take someone down unnoticed (unnoticed means when the system counts exactly 3 seconds after this action, and if someone notices the body during this time, it doesn't count as "unnoticed").

Timed - Pacify Suspects
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
There are static 2:30 minutes, which refresh every time you subdue ONLY Showdown Suspects. It's a real hassle; avoid it.

Neutralize an Assassin
Difficulty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Neutralize means either kill or, if you don't want to get your hands dirty, subdue and hide the body in a closet/box. The system only counts this Prestige after that.

Neutralize Lookout
Difficulty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
The same as the previous one, but with the Lookout.

Pacify Suspects - Silent
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
You need to subdue three suspects unnoticed. It requires a lot of patience and time, but it's not that difficult.

Eliminate Leader - During Tell
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
This only applies to the habits of the Suspects – when they drink, smoke, eat, etc. If you eliminate the target during this, the system will count this Prestige. The difficulty lies in identifying the target, and if you kill the wrong person, everyone will start running. By the way, if you poison the target food or drinks were poisoned beforehand, the system will not count the Prestige because formally, the poisoned victim will stop eating/drinking and die afterward. Scripts... they can be brutal.

Eliminate Leader - Escaping
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
A very risky Prestige. It's best to take a very close look at the Suspects first, find the target, place an explosive nearby, and be ready to eliminate the Leader when the commotion starts.

Eliminate Leader - Heading for a Meeting
Difficulty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
This applies even for meetings that you arrange.

Eliminate Leader - Oil or Water Canister Trap
Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
This Prestige depends so much on randomness and the situation that it's better to choose it only for very adventurous individuals.

Arrange Meeting
Difficulty: ⭐✰✰✰✰
You must not just call anyone to arrange a meeting. You have to call exactly the group where the Syndicate Leader is located. Then the system will count this Prestige.

Perfect Run
Hallelujah, they removed this crap.

First of all, in the very beginning, you will be living off the equipment from the "dump," which means the crates in the Safehouse and on mission maps. In most cases, it will be meager and mocking, but a very small percentage will be something genuinely useful.

What's good about these crates is explosives. You will be picking up a ton of mines, grenades, rubber ducks, and similar items from these crates in the Safehouse and on missions, so there's no sense in spending money on them in the shop unless you're really need this so bad.

But a lot starts to change from Level 12 of the Safehouse when you can go outside (poor 47 can't go to the toilet or peek outside, cosplaying as a mole until Level 12).


Interesting things start happening out there. Since you'll be dying constantly before Level 12 and losing your equipment because you don't have lockpicks, crowbars, or melee weapons, you can compensate for all this by finding these items around.

First - it's the rusty nail. Aw...yeah... A bald bastard running around outside looking for a rusty nail - that's right, that's the harsh reality of Hitman Freelancer, that's how the developers humiliate you constantly, forcing you to comb through the local burdocks in search of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rusty nails.
But hear me out
This nail can save a mission or your life, especially at the beginning when you have no money for lockpicks, no luck with them appearing in crates, and no hope of finding even a rusty crowbar in a mission. This nail is single-use, so you need to think about which door you really need to open. It's advisable to take it on every mission until you can afford a crowbar or lockpick.

Second - the grape knife. I understand that author here talking about nails and grape knives when I promised to blow your mind with cool discoveries. Be patient. If it's embarrassing to show a rusty nail to people (and not just talking about the beach or sauna with friends), this knife then is a very tricky thing.
It is quite surprising that such a superb knife is given for free.
The reason for its magnificence is that it is one of the few knives that can be carried safely in civilian disguise, so if you pull it out of your pocket in front of a dozen mercenaries, they won't even pay attention to you.
When you are searched, it will not be detected, you will not be turned around in the course of a russian warship, no one gives a ♥♥♥♥ what it is doing in your pocket, and no one will ask why a bald troglodyte needs a grape knife in a New York bank.

All these things are next to the barn, only one nail will randomly spawn further up the stairs (there are only 3 or 4 places where they can spawn and they are all nearby)


Fishing can give you fishing line to use for strangulation... and it also helps calm your nerves a bit (not strangulation, fishing).


In the garage, there is a wrench that is useful both for missions and for fixing the distiller to make poison from mushrooms...
Yep, there are mushrooms nearby, along with rusty nails...
Listen, It's hard to explain to regular people what kind of defective killer it is with a mild form of mental retardation who collects nails and mushrooms, but you will understand it all, give it a chance, please, give a time, it's Freelancer...

So...
You can also catch fish and prepare it on the kitchen table to obtain poison (it's unknown where our fox got so many fugu fish in the pond).

Here's the scheme:
💊🤢 The mushrooms themselves create emetic poison.
💉🤢 Mushrooms can be converted into emetic syringes in the medical room, but first, you need to expand the Safehouse.
💊☠️ Mushroom poison in the distiller is lethal.
💉☠️ Poison obtained from mushrooms can be converted into lethal syringes also in the medical room.
🔨💤 The fish hits on the back of the head painfully, but it's not lethal.
💊💤 Fish poison in the distiller is a sedative.
💉💤 Poison taken from the fugu fish can be converted into sedative syringes as well, as you already know where.

When you upgrade the Safehouse Garage, you get a workbench in it. Take a Fuse from the garage, take a bag of gunpowder from the garage - voilà! Our virgin Andrew Tate has prepared free explosives for you.

In the Safehouse, this "Chrome Dome" man can find and use various items in different situations:
Kettlebell, weight 3, in the gym
Letter opener knife, weight 3
Stethoscope (can be used as a garotte), in the medical room
Hammer, weight 3, in the garage
Shell by the shore
Soap, 2nd floor
Car battery, in the garage
A bottle of red wine on the table
By the small lake, Igor the Bald can catch Patrick, a starfish, which he can throw into someone's eye socket like a shuriken.
Sometimes, a coin spawns near the helicopter, on a tree stump bird nest.
and in the kitchen you can find... a banana.
Yes, laugh all you want, but the banana may save you one day as well. It's not a bad fruity anti personal mine (just like a bunch of grapes or soap that you can pick in your Hideout). Or at the very least, it's a good meal, and our murderous Billy Corgan won't go to the meat grinder hungry.
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➤ Everything you pick up around the Safehouse and inside it before each mission is not saved separately, and you need to repeat this ritual over and over again.

➤ I understand this is quite far, but after level 76 of the Safehouse, a window will open in the Shed (where you make poison), and you can find a wooden crate with a Silverballer and a garotte. Unfortunately, this item doesn't respawn. Supposedly, it requires purchased DLC for this.

➤ The most important upgrades for the Safehouse include the house (level 6), yard (level 11), garage (level 12), shed (level 32), reaching level 60 (unlocks Prestige Points), Ornament weapon sets, money, and of course, equipment slots.

Everything else - cosmetics

First and foremost, silenced pistols. This is the thing that will make your life easier (both in Freelancer mode and in real life).
The very first place where you can get such a pistol is your first Showdown, and any assassin will have the Assassins's HWK21 Covert.



Keep an eye on the suspects - most of them are followed by assassins. And literally after your first or second syndicate in Freelancer mode, you will have your silenced pistol, bravo. Some could only dream of it even after ten syndicates, chewing on rusty nails for lunch... yes, the author is talking about himself.

Unfortunately, the developers nerfed the cool weapon that you can find on the maps in security. In most cases, you either have to buy all your gear or silently endure until you get a cool box after a syndicate takedown. The first option is expensive and time-consuming, and the second is extremely time-consuming.

There are all the classic pistols, rifles, shotguns on the maps, such as Bartolli, Fusil G1-4, but they are almost everywhere, carried by every guard, they lack silencers, make noise, and are not suitable for most missions. You can find a list of these items by scrolling down to the "Gear Lists section".

There is only one free sniper rifle - Bartoli Woodsman Hunting Rifle, and it lacks a silencer.

The most interesting part is the stealth weapons themselves. From what is available on the maps for stealthy gameplay:
1️⃣⫸ The mentioned above Assassins's HWK21 Covert is used by assassins.
2️⃣⫸ HX-7 Covert is used by security personnel and can be found in Cassidy's house on Whittleton Creek.
3️⃣⫸ Hackl 9S Covert can be found on the Isle of Gail, the Mason island, and it may be dug up in the catacombs on level 1.

Additionally, this pistol is very rarely found in Whittleton Creek. Specifically, when there's a safe on the map in the basement, near the secret entrance to Janus's basement. The guard who guards this safe carries this weapon.
4️⃣⫸ Shashka A33 Covert is carried only by certain elite guards in Dubai.
5️⃣⫸ DAK DTI. Also in the hands of guards in Dubai. A true golden map.
6️⃣⫸ DAK X2 Covert in Noel Crest's possession.
7️⃣⫸ Burial Dagger. You can find this in the Isle of Sgail island in crates if you have a crowbar. "What is it, this dagger of yours?" Our dagger is of Epic quality, it's free, and it comes with Prestige/Extra Objectives for Epic Melee Kills.
8️⃣⫸ Tanto. In Hokkaido, at the starting location near the mountain or in Yuki's room. Alternatively, in Bangkok, in Cross's bedroom. Why is it so important? It can be concealed in your pocket, and it counts as a katana for kills. You can't carry a katana when in civilian disguise, carrying a briefcase is inconvenient, but you won't have these problems with the tanto. In other words, two birds with one stone: you get the Katana Kill Prestige for melee kill objectives and break the bank with a concealed blade that you can obtain without too much hassle for free. Profit!
9️⃣⫸ Baseball bat. Here's the problem... Take a look at this nonsense:

There's just something wrong here, isn't there? Exactly. When playing in Hardcore mode, among the Prestiges, you often faced with this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Timed Prestige, Silent Assassin, and Pacify Baseball Bat. The first thing you start questioning is yourself and your luck regarding why you haven't managed to buy this "big sports rod". These three Prestiges will start dropping for you VERY often. That's why the baseball bat in Freelancer mode is your "magic stick" that will literally save your game all the time. Therefore, you should get it as soon as possible, possibly right after the first Syndicate. Its location is listed in the "Gear Lists" scroll down.

There's one more interesting thing:
A free legendary shotgun. You either wait for it for a very long time until random gives it to you, or you buy it. Or you get it for free in New York. The challenge is to infiltrate a bank robber disguise and pick up 7 bars of gold near the main checkpoint with Merces. The main thing is not to touch the lasers!


So there you have it, you get a free Prestige for Epic Shotgun Kills, which means less reason to fear Hardcore mode or just get free +3000 at the beginning of the game.

And what's also important is crowbar. Not rusty, but regular, reusable ones, but they cannot be taken out of a mission. You can find them in the following locations:

• Whittleton Creek, near the bulldozer, where construction workers and Betty's house are, the guy in the cap.
  
• Berlin, near the footbridge between two main buildings that leads from the club to the bikers' base.
  
• Dubai, above the exhibition hall where technical workers are working.
  
• Dartmoor, outside the mansion, near the orangery.
  
• New York, in the garage near the armored car or in a corner near the vending machine on the floor where you have the interview.
  
• Hokkaido, where the guard sleeps and the pilot visits to sample the "wheels."
  
• Miami, a room near the healthy gym with aquariums and two guards.
  
• Isle of Sgail, one floor with architectors, near the security room with recorder, behind electronic lock doors
  
• Ambrose Island

Everything else can be purchased from traders or obtained randomly from crates after eliminating a Syndicate.

The problem with suppliers is the same annoying randomness. The author can write here a PhD thesis on what weapon or tool is best to buy, but if the supplier doesn't have anything like it during the mission, you'll be left with a naked ass.
However, this does not mean that these recommendations are not worth describing.

Get used to the fact that hucksters have one annoying feature - the constant 10 seconds they want to spend peddling their wares. It might seem trivial, but it becomes noticeable when half of Colorado is hunting you. Sometimes they do their work, ignoring you, and you have to wait for their Highness to chat with you.

Do not ignore the traders and do not be afraid to spend money down to zero; you will lose it anyway after inevitable defeats in the early stages. Don't wait to accumulate "a 100k $ and go to vacation in North Korea with Dennis Rodman". It doesn't work that way here. In the early game, give yourself a limit, for example, 20k or 30k. When you have 20k, spend it all on pistols or lockpicks. The main thing is your equipment because it will help you successfully complete the entire campaign and earn new Merces for new gear.

Here's a list of the essentials to buy from suppliers:

🔵 Lockpick.Especially when you get tired of collecting ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nails before every mission. There's also a cool Collectors lockpick that doesn't count as a tool. So, in case of a campaign failure or even prestige level up, you won't lose it, and it will be there to save you in the most terrible moments.
🔵 Silenced pistols. Any will do. Make sure to have at least one Epic and one Legendary in your collection. As a backup of Assasins HWK21 (or just primary), the perfect classic ICA19 for 12k is the best in terms of price/accuracy/no fear of losing. Among the Epics, there are ICA19 Chrome and ICA19 Black Lily because they are the best among Epics in terms of accuracy/damage/silencer. Legendary? Any of them, all are excellent. Legendary pistols don't cost more than 27k, so at the beginning, it's normal to spend mainly on pistols - after buying them, everything will go smoothly.
🔵 The next must-have is the emetic pistol, namely Sieker. This is an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ beast, OP, God-tier equpment from the Heaven directly and should be taken on almost every mission, both in the original campaign and in Freelancer mode. In short, syringes are stick out a mile for NPC, you need to put poison somewhere, and the gas bomb drops very rarely, so Sieker is an infallible gadget, as versatile as the old Zippo lighter. With just this pistol, you can handle the entire Big Pharma syndicate. This pleasure costs 4k.
There is also the Collectors Sieker, which doesn't get lost in case of a campaign failure, but you'll pay a hefty price for this convenience. This thing will cost you more than a hair transplant operation for 47, 40 000 Merces, which means you will be working like a slave on the old Roman Empire plantations to cover the cost of the emetic pistol for at least three syndicates. After purchasing this item, you'll be running around with only one kidney, but this is the point where you should not hesitate a momen to buy that ♥♥♥♥ out from supplier.

🔵 DAK X2 Covert Special. Firstly, this is the only Epic SMG that fits in your pocket, which means Prestige for Epic SMG Kills (by the way, it will drop quite often) will be a just a walk in the park for you. All jokes aside, this will save your game in Hardcore mode sooner or later. Secondly, it will help with the Additional Challenges (where SMG Kills also pop up often, like in Organ Trafficking). Thirdly, if you lose your DAK X2 Covert from Ambrosia, this is a replacement. Very worthy purchase.

🔵 Sniper rifle. Any with a silencer will do. The cheapest and perfect for beginners is the Sieger 300 for 6,500. Essentially, after a couple of successful Syndicates, you can afford it (if the random factor is kind to you). However, I recommend looking for sniper rifles of Epic and higher quality because an Epic sniper rifle is not only a good way to our barbershop ambassador's heart but also Prestige, which means either +3,000 or a saved Hardcore run. The best Epic one is the Sieger 300 Advanced, as it takes up two gear slots, unpacks the fastest, and... you'll get to listen to Ave Maria for free.
🔵 As you progress, you'll face more and more tasks like "Kill three guards with a shotgun" or "Assault Rifle - three kills". To keep it quiet, it's desirable to have at least one silenced shotgun in your arsenal, such as the Enram HV Covert. The Arctic shotgun has a bug - it only provides 7 rounds per mission, which is why the author highly recommends the Enram HV Covert.

And an automatic rifle, the best one is the RS-15 - high damage and accuracy. The price of 17k is not so frightening for such a BFG-like weapon.

And don't forget, these two guns are Epic, which means hello Prestige, 3k Merces, and your rear end saved in Hardcore.
🔵 El Matador - the only option suitable for the Unsilenced Pistol Epic Kill Prestige, giving you even more chances to save your run in Hardcore.
🔵 Bat Shuriken. It's simply amazing. It's an Epic-tier item that covers two Prestiges: Shuriken Kill and Epic Melee for +2-4k. It takes up one gear slot. A pleasant bonus is that it can be used for all standard Melee objectives. Your welcome.
⚪ Ice pick. Thats not only for cosplaying a bald Catherine Tramell, but for completing one of Prestige. Yep, its Rare, but weight 1 gear slot and undetected during frisk. Someday it will save your Hardcore run.

⚪ Eiffel Tower Knife. It's an Epic knife, which means +2500 from the Prestige task. Oh, and its concealable, like Ice Pick, so dont worry about frisks.

⚪ Ice Axe. Yes, the only Epic axe that fits in your pocket. Purely for convenient Axe Kills, which only appear in one type of Syndicate, plus Prestige for Epic Melee.

⚫ Kalmer. Not for any Prestige, but useful for many regular tasks.
⚫ Gas Grenade or mine.

In short, with such great gear and a little luck, Perfect Runs will happen effortlessly:


❗ Advice on what NOT to buy at the begining: ❗

🔴 Any unsuppressed weapon (except El Matador) - purely for stands. You don't need to invest heavily in this. There may be standard Unsuppressed Kill tasks, but you can find this type of weapon on-site.
🔴 No need to spend on explosives. Yes, they are worth 500-1000 Mer each, but you can find them in regular crates or throw them in the garage. Explosives are everywhere.
🔴 Coins? A Collectors Coin costs 5k. It's almost the price of a Sieger 300 sniper rifle. In the original campaign, you get three coins, but here you only get one. Yep, it doesn't disappear after earning Prestige level up, which is cool, but...save your money for something more useful.
🔴 Krugermeier is a perfect tool in the original campaign, but in Freelancer, you don't need to play with maximum caution, worrying about blowing a SASO run or someone's eardrums (if the associated Prestige is not active). Therefore, the necessity of buying this weapon is eliminated.

⭕ The most important thing in Showdown is that each Suspect has a phone for initiating meetings with other Suspects, including our Syndicate Leader.
The principle is that in each Showdown, there are two to three groups of Suspects:
💬Handover Meeting
💬Business Meeting
💬Secret Meeting
Members of each group occasionally arrange meetings with each other. Meetings are only held with members of their respective groups, and members of different groups do not intersect.
Each of these meetings can be identified in several ways. First, by what they talk about and, especially, their gestures. If you observe them up close with a camera in hand, symbols of their respective groups will appear above their heads on the meeting. However, if you're far away, can only hear them, or see them through Instinct, or with a sniper rifle scope, it's important to know what gestures they use.
📦Handover Meeting: They've come here to exchange a package. If you see two Suspects at the middle/begining of the meeting passing package to each other, that's Handover.
🤝Business Meeting: At the end of the meeting, Suspects always shake hands.
🔇Secret Meeting: Nothing special. They don't exchange anything or use particular gestures. They talk and then disperse.
The second way of identification, albeit strange, is the color of each Suspect's smartphone.
🟢Green: Handover Meeting
🔵Blue: Business Meeting
🔴Red: Secret Meeting
If a Suspect takes out their phone to set up a meeting for a member of their group, you can easily determine which group they belong to. When you eliminate a Suspect, that same smartphone drops and you should use it.
It is logical that after the call, not all 6-12 Suspects on the map will come to you, but only members of the group that included the Suspect whose smartphone you used.
Yes, there is technically a third method, the "run and shoot at everyone until some bullet get the Leader" method, which sometimes works, although it sucks, but let's not get hung up on it.
First, The Exclusion method, looks like that: find one of the unlucky Suspects, devise a way to whack him without being noticed, take his phone and initiate separate meeting for his group members to isolate them by place phone in any secluded spot and make them easy targets then. Bullet in all Group of Suspects heads will take Leader out. Yep, its cost a money a bit, but that seems the safest method (and sometimes faster, especially on Hardcore).
⭕ As soon as you acquire the Sieker, take it with you often on regular missions (not always, based on the situation) and especially take it in every Showdown without exception. The Sieker is the best way to isolate any target. Do not refuse to use it constantly and let our Uncle Fester "soak in the toilet" some more poor souls.


⭕So, second method is detective where you identify the target based on the available information and observation and kill whatever you want. This can be done using labels when you point the camera at a Suspect, you can tag them as "Not a Suspect" or "Potential Target" by pressing R or C.
Look into the camera and observe the Suspects. Of course, compare the appearance description, which already eliminates 60% of the population. With other 40% it gets trickier - look Leader by tells:
🔘 Bookworm - the target sometimes sits down with a newspaper or magazine.
🔘 Allergy - The target will uncontrollably sneeze from time to time.
🔘 SweetTooth - target might occasionally take out a box of candie from pocket.
🔘 Dehydrated - will sip some water. This characteristic already serves as a good clue to finding that cup or bottle of the Suspect, where our Jason Statham could pour poison or simply spit out of contempt for the global criminal underworld.
🔘 Foodie - same as above, but with food.
🔘 Smokie - smokes, you can gently assist global anti-smoking campaigns by propagating the harm of cigarettes.
🔘 Nervous (Nervous) - a paranoid who sometimes looks around.
If anything in behavior or appearance doesn't match, even a small detail - it's not your target! Aim the camera, press R - and move on.
But that method can take a lot of time and be a little risky, especially in Hardcore with army of lookouts and enforcer Suspects.
Find the suspect by the signs, neutralize someone from his group, pick up the phone, and call a meeting and kill him in the safe point. Don't rush to conclusions, Sherlock; take another look from the side at the encounters or grab some Suspect phone and get all of them.
No matter what method you use or both the same time - recommended to use the Suspects' phones whenever possible.
⭕Don't choose Alerted Territory if you're proceeding with Showdown. It's a challenging map with all Suspects are Enforcers, and it's set on Master difficulty with more cameras, guards, and so on.

⭕If you are eager to meet the Leader on Alerted Territory, there is an interesting feature. Yes, all Suspects are Enforcers, but they will only reveal your disguise and become enforcers when you are wearing a 47 suit or any security disguise. Any civilian disguise (waiter, janitor, etc.) does not arouse suspicion among Suspects on Alerted Territory!
⭕before Showdown, don't hesitate to take all the best your Freelancer Tools, because in case of failure in this mission, you will lose them anyway.
⭕Additional and Prestigious Objectives. If completing them encourages you to take a lot of risk, it's better to forget about them. A couple of uncompleted extra Objectives are not worth losing the entire Campaign; you will lose more than you gain.
⭕If you are eager to complete all the Extra and Prestigious Challenges and you have to eliminate couriers and crack safes, or maybe you're playing on Hardcore Mode and have the Prestige for blowing up a safe, remember: first, eliminate the Leader, then everything else.
After eliminating the Leader of the Syndicate, you can do whatever you like— poison the butler, detonate toilets with ducks, throw axes at the old ladies, leak the gas from all stoves — it's your right. Just make sure you stay alive afterward.
⭕If you enjoy playing with fire and make the Leader of the Syndicate run away from the map, Diana will surely let you know that Target is escaping . If a Suspect is fleeing, and Diana remains silent, it's definitely not your target; move on, scare others.
This little tip will help a little in this chaos that you have created with your own hands.

So, the main rule in Showdown:

At the beginning, you need to choose a map list that includes at least Whittleton Creek US or Dartmoor because they are the easiest maps for Showdown missions.


In Whittleton Creek, there's a simple secret - this basement:
[]

The only downside is that you'll need a lockpick or crowbar (which is always near Betty's house, the imbecile in the cap, near the cabins where the repairmen hang out).

The principle of this basement is that it's easy to access, it has a recorder, a free security guard suit, and no one goes there. So any hidden bodies will remain there until the end. Most importantly, Suspects, enforcers, assassins, and many others hang around nearby.

This is your hub, your spider's lair, where you can gradually lure the Suspect(s). It's an excellent place for our bald thug to extract phones from them.

Here, you can catch anyone - assassins, enforcers, Suspects, or extra guards for some additional tasks like SMG Guard Kill.

[]

You will stay here until you quietly eliminate the first Suspect with a stool and take his phone. If he turns out not to be the Leader, no need to panic. Hide the body and pick up his phone.
[]
Move on to plan B, which is initiating a meeting.

The point of marking these phones is to have full control over both the Suspects who have already entered and those who are coming from behind. Therefore, it should be placed in such an inconspicuous area that allows you to capture them unnoticed, so that others don't notice what's happening.

And what's the best secluded place in Whittleton Creek?
The Kennedy's Rental House

Head there, prepare a meeting on the 2nd floor, and calmly eliminate everyone. No one will ever go there, except for these Suspects and their assassins.
[]

Or use the Cassidy house and fumigate everyone ♥♥♥♥ out in pet control worker disguise

The map is filled with all sorts of nooks, secret passages, bushes, travel pipes between different floors, rooms that no one ever enters, bathrooms to isolate Sieker's victims, and wardrobes nearby. It's the perfect map for Hitman.


First, you need the optimal routes to infiltrate in any disguise and get a security guard costume.
[]

Just like in Whittleton Creek, there's an issue with the route if you don't have a lockpick. So, yes, first play through the original mission with the Shortcut: Balcony Ladder challenge, take a crowbar to break that damn lock, and then proceed with the mission.

The same principle applies - you should have your hub where you can comfortably track your targets and an isolated place for initiating meetings.

The hub can easily be a room with the dead Zachary, where you can take the security guard outfit and where that troublesome ladder is.

In the case of hubs, Gregory and Emma's rooms also work perfectly for meetings.
If Gregory's room is filled with the bodies of the first Suspects and the Leader is not there, then book the next meeting in Rebecca's room. No one ever enters either of these rooms.
[]

In this case, the old Carlisle's room on the top floor was used:
[

Before that, you'll need to clean it quietly, but you will have enough drawers on the floor for at least six bodies.
Once the bald maniac has cleaned up everything, go down to the 1st or 2nd floor (because there are necessities and closets for bodies nearby) and look for an opportunity to use your Sieker on some unfortunate soul. Assassins are English gentlemen, so don't expect them to go into the restroom with Suspects.

The videos above shows a very rough First, exclusion method, which was written about earlier, so the author here lost about 2000 merces. However, the work is done, done fast and without risks.

So, there are at least 4 rooms on the map where no one will ever enter (as there is no one in the butler's office either).
A few places where Sieker-poisoned victims can be neatly eliminated and hidden.
Easy access to the best disguises.
Easy escape routes.
Few people per square meter, meaning you won't feel crowded by enforcers.

This is a 90% guarantee that the Showdown will go as planned on this map (5% attribute it to chance, and the other 5% to possible player clumsiness).

This is how you start and complete your first Syndicate. Four more such Dartmoors and Whittleton Creeks, and your campaign will be complete.


And our Lex Luthor rightfully goes on a well-deserved vacation... until the next campaign.

➤ EMP Charge is a OP device. It can disable electronics and ignite flammable substances, such as gasoline or oil. Or work like a taser and electrifies water. It can also be used as a distraction by throwing it like a coin. It's not considered illegal to carry. It's an all-in-one tool.

➤ Cameras can be destroyed by throwing any item at them. So, I recommend bringing something with you on the mission to have a chance to protect yourself from them.

➤ Homemade explosive devices or synthesized poison in Safehouse do not take up any equipment slots.

➤ You will be fined 50 Merces for killing a civilian and 1000 Merces for killing the wrong target during Showdown (thats why clear Exclusion method cost you a money). Lookouts are considered civilians, so you'll also be fined 50 Merces for killing them (but not for incapitate and hide body).
There are no penalties for any scumbag types like bodyguard or assassin, or, of course, for the target.

➤ Some objectives may not be possible to complete, its absolutely ok. If a regular objective conflicts with a Prestige objective, always choose the Prestige objective.

➤ Freelancer mode don't give a damn about your knowledge of item placements on the map from the original campaign. The appearance of 70% of the items, such as poisons, gas cylinders, flasks, crowbars, knives, etc., is randomized with probability before each mission. Therefore, it's a good idea to bring extra poisons, melee weapons, and other equipment with you from Safehouse.

➤ Explosives: Any target on any map that gives you trouble can be dealt with using explosives.
Rubber duck and Blownaparte explosives are don't expose you when it throwned. Don't even think about throwing other bombs on NPC's sights, they will immediately open fire. If you don't have rubber ducks but can get close to your target, you can place any explosive near them by press Caps Lock, and quickly get away and blow this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ up. This method won't compromise you most of the time.
Proximity explosives must be used with caution. They are deployed without a detonator and explode when someone or something approaches them. If you place a proximity explosive, you have 2 seconds to get out. Never place them using Caps Lock; you won't have time to get away. If you can't throw them because you'll be exposed, then run towards your target, and as you pass by, press Z without stopping and keep moving. If you want to blow up a safe with a proximity explosive, throw them at a safe distance and then throw something near them. Alternatively, shoot them if you need to.

➤ Concussive Explosion also includes fire extinguishers. Stunned NPCs from fire extinguisher explosions won't ruin your SA rating.

➤ A brilliant solution for accidents: propane flasks. Any explosive death caused by a propane flask is considered an accident. You can throw one near the target when they are smoking or simply shoot the flask, and you'll still maintain your SA rating, even if half the map rushes to the crime scene. That's why these flasks are referred to as "portable accidents."

➤ The principle behind any gas cylinders or fire extinguisher is that one shot triggers an explosion with a 3-second delay. However, propane flasks follow a different logic. Mentally divide its health into two sections. When the first section is gone, the flask starts leaking gas. At this point, it becomes sensitive to external irritants, such as fire, sparks, someone lighting a cigarette nearby, and more.
If you shoot it, the first shot only releases the gas, and a second shot will detonate it. When you place the flask using Caps Lock, it will have both sections intact. As soon as you pick up a damaged flask, it automatically stops leaking (it's a bald magic). Knowing this will help you manipulate this tool with minimal risk to yourself.

➤ Want to turn a regular propane flask into a mine? A Proximity Taser and a propane flask with leaking gas can lead to a clean SA rating explosion.

➤ The easiest Collateral Kill method is through accidents: incapacitate the target and another NPC, then carry them both under the same chandelier.

➤ What's one thing common to Collateral Kill - Accident, Open Safe Explosion, and Collateral Kill - Explosion? You guessed it—those overpowered propane flasks. They're the only items in Freelancer that can complete so many objectives.

➤ Google what is HITMAPS.

➤ It's true, any explosive seen by NPCs will be pocketed by a guard. Furthermore, if you leave an explosive so tricky that the target's assassin or bodyguard picks it up, that bodyguard becomes your weapon against the target.
The duck explosives can be picked up by ANY NPC like a coin, not just by guards.

➤ An NPC put to sleep with a Kalmer doesn't ruin your SA rating.

➤ Poison syringes result in accidents, so there's no need to worry about bodies. However, the action is highly visible, and NPCs can spot it from quite a distance.

➤ Fuel and water canisters are reusable. Regardless of whether you've emptied the container, they will remain fully functional and available in your equipment for future missions. You don't need to buy them again. Just make sure to extract them from the mission after use.

➤ The regular large Proximity Taser is a tricky device. When picked up by any guard in its path, it will instantly electrocuted him. That's another Accident to your collection.

➤ Indeed, virtually all your disguises are blown when holding a sniper rifle. So, rifles should always be in cases. However, you don't have to worry about this when in disguise as a:
- Biker in Berlin
- Head of Security in Mendoza
- Elite guards in Dubai
- Point man in Colorado
- Pirate on Ambrose Island
- Mercenary on Ambrose Island

➤ Most Freelancer players prefer not to get their hands dirty with the courier, so they always bring a banana on the mission. Yes, you heard it right, a banana. You can bump into him and place that anti-personnel slippery mine right in front of his nose. When guard finally wake up the poor courier, he'll forget about dropped Merces and continue on his way, and your SA rating will remain untouched like an agent's 47 hairstyle.

➤ Agent 47 can grab a Driftwood Log from the pond or simply take an accumulator from a car in the garage so you will get to mission a free briefcase. You'll have something to carry a baseball bat or whatever else you desire.

➤ If you've taken out the target from 5km with a sniper rifle and think about staying to pick off the rest one by one, that's a bad idea. In Hitman, as soon as any shot takes out the target, quickly stash your rifle and run as far away as possible, because the security already knows where the shots came from and is rushing towards you at full throttle. Staying on the same position a 100% death sentence.

➤ Before taking any moderately risky action, plan your escape route in your head. If something goes ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up because a guard/lookout is coming out of the door, you need already know where to run, where the Suspects will be running, and which way to escape. If you decide to make some noise with a sniper rifle or a bomb, have 1-2 escape routes. If you want to make noise with unsuppressed gunfire, do it where there are crates, cabinets, bushes, and so on - hiding in them make 47 more invisible than Drax, you can wait a minute, before NPC's calms down.

➤ If you don't stash bodies (i.e., no cabinets, no crates, nowhere to put them, not even any bushes), it's a 95% guarantee that the body will be found. NPC's see the bodies from VERY FAR distance.

➤ Many speedrunners often use Mendoza as a Showdown and simply take out the leader and the Suspects with a sniper rifle on the parking lot, hiding behind Agent 47's car, which serves as cover from the guards near the gates. This is a fairly common method, as almost every Suspect ends up in your line of sight.

➤ Not the most obvious life hack, but if you have nothing for the Rare Melee Takedown mission, throw your phone at the target (any phone, explosive or flash). Yes, ICA phones are considered Rare. If you lose the gadget, it can be easily replenished from crates.

➤ Yep, it was written before, but maybe somebody skip it: to complete a Shuriken Kill when you don't have shurikens easier than it sounds. The answer is simple: starfish. Yes, that's right, it counts as a shuriken. You can either fish it near the Safehouse or pick it up on Haven Island, Ambrose Island, and Miami.

➤ ANY NPC sees a remote EMP charge, it will pick it up like a coin. This is how you can turn off cameras or recorders remotely.

➤ Eliminating a Leader Escaping is a tricky tactic, but it works if you're certain about the target. Poison them with Sieker, take a leg shot while they are vomiting in the toilet, watch for the target escaping, and when you hear Diana say, "The target is escaping," finish him off. It's risky, but in Hardcore mode, you might not have a choice.

❔ Unverified theory: There is a version that suggests that when Suspects flee, only one group runs, not all of them. Theoretically, if even this might be true, don't forget about the chain reaction when the other group starts paying attention to the panic around. So it doesnt make a sense.

➤ There is a thing called a Breach Charge. Disable the target, place it on the body by pressing Caps Lock, and then detonate it. And nobody from other rooms will hear it. Even more - this is the most safest tool for cracking safes, because it's the only silent explosive in the game. Yep, weak, but silent.

➤ Unpacking all Sieger rifles is much faster compared to other sniper rifles in the game. Additionally, all Sieger rifles have a 2-second longer breath-holding delay (slow-mo on Shift) compared to any other sniper rifle.

➤ Perhaps it's a bug, but Suspects with assassins in Showdown couldn't care less if you enter a restricted area where you shouldn't be. This also applies to couriers. They are quite apathetic.

➤ A good accident: place any weak concussive explosive (even a fire extinguisher) near a car that doesn't kill the target but causes the car to explode what kill target, and it's counted as an accident kill.

➤ Explosives, or even an explosion from a fire extinguisher, unlock all locked doors, except for electronic locks.

➤ It is very effective to subdue enemies, waiting for them from the corner (who doesnt know, Spacebar is hidding behind corner) and aggressively press Q when they come close

➤ If you're engaging in a Showdown that includes 'Distract Target,' all you have to do is bump with a every Suspect to identify the target. Poison Target obj. does the same. Hello, Sieker!

➤ Before you proceed with Prestige, make sure to complete a showdown and after mission do not take merces from reward crate yet. Take to Prestige lvl. and merces in the reward crate will remain, providing you with a small starting fund to kick things off.

➤ Note for Hardcore mode: noticing couriers is easy.
First, remember that they are new NPCs on the map with new routes, it should be easy to spot them if you remember that a specific person should never walk this way on this particular map. Second, sound. When couriers are nearby, you can hear the sound of coins jingling.
Third, couriers always move around nervously and sometimes stop and talk to themselves in some kind a panic/frustration tone, so you can identify them from long distance.

➤ The sound system here is such that no one will hear your loud gunshot behind two doors in a room. If your room are into an empty room, your shot will most likely not be heard at all. Author can't say for sure regarding the explosive, but there is a fact: its use on a completely cleared 5th floor of the hotel in Bangkok (not on the side with rehearsal, Cross, etc., but on the side of Morgan's presidential suite) or an explosion on the fully cleared 3rd floor in Dartmoor did not trigger anyone on the map at all.

➤ "Fishing" for the necessary tools.
The three equipment slots before the mission correspond to three groups or three cases of your Freelancer tools. Knowing this fact significantly simplifies obtaining some genuinely useful Freelancer tools.
For example, if you want get Sieker the fast as you can, remember that Sieker is placed in the third case, i.e. belongs to the third tool group, and therefore take only equipment from the crates from the 3rd slot, the rightmost one, before each mission, or buy equipment that fills the third tool case (where there are only poisons). The more 3 case fills, the higher the chance that the Supplier will have your Sieker next time or even that you can take it free from the equipment crate before the mission.
If you dont understand what a ♥♥♥♥ author just wrote, look at this pixelated bad quality screenshot, you will get it:

➤ Imagine that after you shot someone, an invisible big red dome appeared in your place. When you are under this dome and an NPC in that "KILL EM ALL" state notices you inside it, you will be compromised and will be instantly shot at. If you run away from it unnoticed or hide in a box, the guards who arrive and examine this area of the "red dome" in 5-10 seconds become enforcers. As Enforcers, they check the area and around it, and if they notice you, they will only Suspect you, not shoot at you, an exclamation point will appear above their heads, and they will start running after you with questions. If you are in the Suspect state, you just run away from them and turn the corner and NOT TO DO other suspicious stuff (even crouching or drop some coins) - the NPCs will calm down after a while and continue to be enforcers. If they notice you again in the Suspicion state, they will continue to chase you and after a some time you will be compromised, so wait for ⚪ to bring bald butt to your previous shooting position.
This is how the AI in "Alert mode" works in WoA.

➤ One-handed melee weapons are less noticeable than silenced firearms.
When an NPC is hit by even one bullet, anywhere, lethal it was or not, the security knows where the shots are coming from and heads towards you, you know it already.
However, if you've hidden behind a corner or in some bushes, are within 5 meters of the target and their guard, and discreetly throw a one-handed melle weapon like a knife, shuriken, tanto, etc., the NPCs won't know where the attack is coming from. If they spot you near the crime scene, they won't immediately turn red and start firing. Instead, they will act like classic enforcers, searching every inch for the culprit. After the throw, you can crouch down quietly and not worry about being shot in the back.

➤ The Supplier is like your favorite weapon storage.
By the time you've collected ALL the weapons in Freelancer, you should have a lot of money. So those chasing Perfect Runs leave a LARGE weapon convenient for them in the mission so they can repurchase it from the Supplier when needed in future missions. For example, you've completed a mission and left your Epic shotgun behind. Yes, it's not on the stands, but this weapon will 100% be available from the Supplier on all future missions. Don't worry about extracting it, just drop it for later repurchase as needed. Great tactic when you have in the same time "Sniper Kill", "Shotgun Kill" and "Assault Rifle Kill" Prestige and normal objectives.
This simple tactics makes sense only with sniper rifles, shotguns, baseball bats, and assault rifles.

➤ Coins can open locked doors. Place it in front of a locked inaccessible door, and the NPC comes and opens it. I don't know how desperate your situation with lockpicks must be, but you may need it lifehack someday.

➤ ❔ The author can't say for sure, but judging by his observations during a dozen Showdowns (especially in Hardcore), the Syndicate Leader mostly goes to places with the most Lookouts in the map. If you have a Dartmoor, for example, and the 3rd floor is teeming with Lookouts, your target is most likely walking around somewhere nearby.

➤ When you at the combat with tons of NPC's and everyone on the map looking for your ass, unnoticed change disguise can help you to win 5-20 seconds for escape from combat zone without flying bullets in your back. Dont worry, if they find a body.

➤ The Chloroform Flask.
This item serves a dual purpose beyond its typical pour in food, ventilation etc. It can also be employed for incapacitating NPCs by thrown it. Upon impact with the ground, the chloroform is dispersed, causing everyone within the cloud radius to lose consciousness.
However, there are specific considerations:
First. Tossing chloroform immediately compromises you, prompting guards to open fire if they witness it. So throw it that way no one can see it. If you dont have a choice, work it like as with explosives - approach the target, press Z near them without stop moving. You will lose some health, but thats not a big problem.
The second point. Discovering a body subdued with a chloroform throw does not impact your SA rating. It operates similarly to a Kalmer shot or a sedative syringe.

➤ Dart Gun's do not work when NPCs are in combat/suspicious.
Don't expect Kalmer immediately to put to sleep a guard who's following you like a tail because of suspicion, your shots at the enemy's carcass will do nothing in that situation.
Shoot Kalmer and Sieker mainly in the back or side of the victim, when they can't see that.

Concealable



Can be found:
Isle of Sgàil - in the boxes, Warehouse zone. Take a shot or find a crowbar









Concealable






Concealable











Can find in:
- Bangcok, Cross bedroom, 5th floor
- Hokkaido, Yuki room
- New York, Athena's panic room, near her office room






Can find in:
- Marrakesh, near the shop leading to the tunnel; general's office in the school
- Paris, museum 1st floor
- Isle of Sgail, Constant's office






Can find in:
- Ambrose Island, worn by some pirates
- Sapienza, cafe near the shop with 2 guards
- New York, worn by a bank robber
- Mumbai, the house where Kashmir hangs out
- haven island, in the closet (need a picklock), near the lab in the lower floor (where is flash device from campaign)



Can find in:
- Miami, medical room where Sierra Knox gets an injection



You don't need to pick up the machete on Haven Island - it's not counted as standard weaponry, with rarity rate. Whether it's a bug or a feature is unknown, but that's the fact - this machete will not be on the stands, so only buy it.

Can be found:
- Santa Fortuna, construction site near the river
- New York, near the armored truck



Can be found:
- Bangkok, security room with a recorder
- Hokkaido, security room near the sushi bar
- Haven Island, small security building with a tower
- New York, two police officers watching football



Can be found:
- Bangkok, Cross' office
- Sapienza, shop near the clock tower
- Whittleton Creek, Wilsons' house, in the attic
- Berlin, Hirschmuller's office
- Colorado, top floor of the building
- Santa Fortuna, shack to the right of Martinez's house
- Miami, near the boat exit
- Hokkaido, clinic director's office
- Haven Island (?)

Subsonic - requires very short distance from you to NPCs to hear the shot.
Piercing - penetrating qualities; one bullet - two bodies; mostly one shot kill.
Scout - less scope sway while aiming, higher rate of fire for sniper rifles.
Marksman - the ability to hold your breath or, in other words, slo-mo.
Rate of Fire - Firing speed increased a lot; Rifle with "Scout" RPM < Rifle with Rate of Fire Perk RPM
Versatile Scope - 3 levels of zoom.
Extended Scope - 4 levels of zoom.



Subsonic, Extended Scope, Piercing, Marksman



Subsonic, Marksman, Extended Scope



Piercing, Marksman, Versatile Scope



Piercing, Marksman, Versatile Scope



Versatile Scope, Marksman



Versatile Scope,Marksman, Ave Maria



Piercing, Marksman, Versatile Scope



Extended magazine, Piercing



Piercing



Piercing



Subsonic, Scout



Piercing, Variable Scope, Marksman



Extended magazine, Rate of Fire






Can be found:
- Mendoza, snipers, where Sieger in campaign was
- Mumbai, with Kashmir



Scout



Subsonic, Marksman, Extended Scope

Can be found:
- Ambrose Island, at Noel Crest
- Mendoza, guard with glasses above the dance floor



Can be found:
- Dubai, in red berets and Ingram's security



Can be found:
- Whittleton Creek, Cassidy's security












Can be found:
- Dartmoor
- Whittleton Creek
- Sapienza, laboratory security
- Paris
- Santa Fortuna, mansion security
- Mumbai
- Miami, Kronstadt security
- Isle of S'gail, in the raiders
- Hokkaido
- Haven Island, in the secret room in the villa



Can be found:
- Chongqing, lab security






Can be found:
- Ambrose Island
- Mumbai, Rangan's security
- New York, bank robber
- Santa Fortuna
- Whittleton Creek, armory on the second floor of Cassidy's house



Can be found:
- Colorado
- Hokkaido
- Isle of S'gail
- Marrakesh
- New York

Can be found:
- Dubai, red berets















Можна знайти:
- Ambrose Island, pirates
- Berlin, bikers
- Marrakesh
- Mumbai
- Santa Fortuna, some of villa security



Можна знайти:
- Mendoza



Can be found:
- Bangkok, external security room
- Colorado
- Haven Island, secret office in the villa
- Isle of S'gail, elite guards
- Paris, Cicades



Can be found:
- Ambrose Island
- Haven Island
- Whittleton Creek, weaponry on the top floor of Cassidy's house



Можна знайти:
- Colorado
- Isle of S'gail
- Mumbai, Rangan Tower security



Can be found:
- Whittleton Creek, weaponry on the top floor of Cassidy's house

Can be found:
- New York (see section "Equipment #2 Missions"")









Can be found:
- Berlin, under the table in Hirschmuller's office










Can be found:
- Dartmoor, first floor, behind glass
- Mendoza






Can be found:
- Ambrose Island



Can be found:
- Sapienza, upstairs in the tower of the castle ruins + one guard near the mansion kitchen
- Isle of S'gail, guard near the butler in Constant's office



Can be found:
- Whittleton Creek, Spencer Green has it in the Cassidy house
- Sapienza, laboratory security
- Santa Fortuna
- Paris, security room in the basement
- New York, security room near the safe
- Mumbai
- Miami, Kronstadt security room
- Marrakesh
- Isle of S'gail
- Haven Island
- Dartmoor
- Colorado
- Chongqing
- Berlin

Full Auto







Full Auto












Concealable









You can find:
- in any assassin, on any map, in any Showdown




Concealable









Can be found:
- isle of Sgail - (look at Equipment №2 Missions)
- Whittleton Creek - (look at Equipment №2 Missions)

Explosive Ammo






Full Auto






Explosive Ammo






Can be found:
- Bangkok, Cross bodyguards
- Sapienza, mansion guard
- Mendoza
- Haven Island
- Colorado
- Chongqing



Can be found:
- On ALL maps, except Mendoza



Can be found:
- Mendoza
- Miami
- Whittleton Creek
- Chongqing
- Berlin



Can be found:
- Chongqing
- Isle of S'gail
- Miami
- Whittleton Creek

Good for Rare Melee Takedown

That a list of ALL Showdown Leaders in Hitman Freelancer.
That are 72 unique Showdown Leaders, which always dressed the same.


That section will helps you find a Leader a much faster by their look.


If your target, for example, has black hair, go to the section with black hair.
Then compare other physical tells to eliminate those who do not have tattoos, glasses, hats, etc. from your "Potential Suspect List".
Ideally, you should have around 2 to 4 Suspects left on the map, whom you should further filter next based on their habitual tells, such as smoking, etc.
In Hardcore Mode with 12 suspects, this can help you avoid sitting in bushes for half an hour, hiding from lookouts, and instead act a bit faster by screening out 80% of the Suspects in 5 minutes.

These codenames don't really mean anything special. It's for better navigation and memorizing the targets.


A little tip or helping hand - maybe:)
But calling it cheating - that already sounds too loud, you're exaggerating too much.


Again, it's your game and your way to play.
If you want to play without that list, ignore it.
If someone wants to play with it, they are here.
Hitman is about choices and how challenging the gameplay must be for you.
The author doesn't pressure you and respects any choice of play you make.

So, until you've gone about your business...

YOU'RE PLAYING HITMAN WRONG

Yeah, the author pointed that out to you quite bluntly.

"So what's wrong, damn it?"

Let me explain. Patience.

First

just look at what you get for reaching the maximum level of the Freelancer Safehouse:


Sitting for a hundred hours for some virtual stylish outfit with a hood - well, to put it mildly, it's not that great.

All this eternal obsession with numbers and virtual items - that a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I won't argue.
Mildly speaking, this is not the best that video games can bring.

HOWEVER

We are lucky that it's Hitman.

Playing for cosmetics in Hitman is complete nonsense, and you'll burn out after the first 1-2 campaigns.

It's like playing some Mount and Blade, or Minecraft, or AoE, Kenshi, Crusader Kings, or Civilization for some icons, outfits.

Hitman is a gameplay-oriented game, not a story or grind (well... the last one is still present a bit).

It's a classic sandbox.

Its hard playing Freelancer all night long, as demanded by other big open-world or story-focused video games, is not necessary.

You don't have to stick to the game's plot for days to avoid losing sight of some event or character.

You don't have to travel from point A to point B in an open world to listen to a cutscene, then go from point B to point C to shoot everyone for 10 minutes and return to point B, watch another cutscene, please repeat the same thing 80 more times.

For Hitman, this is not needed.

As hypocritical as it may sound from someone who has played almost 500 hours, Hitman is great because it is simple, like two fingers - turn it on, action and gameplay immediately, run around for 15 minutes, get dopamine, turn it off and go about your business. Or run a couple more missions for half an hour and then turn it off.
And at the same time, it is complex, with many mechanics that can be combined and many mechanics that can be broken.

And Freelancer is just one variation of how to play Hitman. And it's a new, fresh, not bad sip in the series.


So, first and foremost, what's the approach here:

Get rid of something like "COMPLETE THE GOAL, GET A REWARD" from your mind.
Enjoy HOW you execute it, the process, how all the domino pieces are strategically falling and forming your own picture, or how beautifully you fit into the timings, achieving the Perfect Run and SASO for your patience and planning.

If you find it uninteresting and just want action, then go for the "Kill em all!" approach. No one is going to beat you for that. It's your game.

Or try strangling everyone with your hands.

Or chase a maid throughout Dartmoor with a crowbar in hand.

Definitely try to reach Mastery 20 on each map because only that way you'll discover many ways and paths to complete the same map.

Try completing the Fleelancer campaign with only Perfect Runs on each mission just for fun, whether it works out or not.

Beat your friend's Steam record on some map. Can't do it? Curse, mutter to yourself "oh, you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I'm gonna..." and try new paths, take risks, plan your routes, and choose your gear.
Or if you're really lazy, jump on YouTube and watch how speedrunners tackled the map and try to replicate those complex maneuvers.

Download mods, give yourself 999 syringes, and inject everyone, why not?

Damn, here you can summon the Kraken in the sea or feed the bald serious clone killer drugs so it pets a blue dragon and rides it to distant far lands.
[]
You can complete the game with just a banana in your hand
and execute tens of thousands of contracts in many ways.

Have you never played Hitman with only syringes?
Haven't taken SASO on all maps?
So why not try?

Otherwise, if you play for the skins, always the same way or by a known route, without experimentation, fooling around, etc., you'll burn out in games "Hit the Man" series and won't catch the taste.

Here, the final goal isn't as crucial as the process itself.

It's the same principle that works in many RTS games like Age of Empires, Starcraft, or Men of War, or how it works in Mount and Blade, Kenshi, or those same Stalker or Metro games on the highest difficulty, or even Deus Ex.
The key is the process itself and your sequence of keystrokes, something that no one can take away from you, overshadowing it with tons of cutscenes and grinding.

And now

the author believes that with such an attitude, it's better to let you into this series.
And so, playing Hitman will be much more enjoyable.

What else is there to say?

As patches are released, I will try to update the guide.

If something needs fixing, we'll fix it. Write, suggest.

Well, that's it.

It's time for you.

Go on, attend to your affairs.

The author is done.