A New Life is the 5th level in Hitman Blood Money and sees Agent 47 assassinating Vinnie x who’s under witness protection in a suburban neighbourhood. It is a fan favourite amongst the Hitman community due to its freedom of choices, and the setting.
The Setting is Feels Like Home
A New Life takes place in a suburban neighbourhood and focuses on Vinnies house which is guarded by several FBI agents who patrol the house, restrict entry to areas, and overall make life difficult. This all adds to a feeling of being a master assassin when you’re able to get by these measures and enter the house without suspicion which is not a feeling that’s experienced much in Hitman. You certainly feel like a spy when you leave with no one knowing a thing.
This does unfortunately lead to the disappointing fact that if you acquire the FBI disguise then you will have full access to everywhere in the house which does make things a little too easy. A surveillance van across the street will have some donuts delivered to them and spiking these donuts will give you easy access to not only the FBI disguise but also the security tapes. I feel like the security room could have been placed in 1 of the many unused rooms in the house to add an extra challenge but I can understand it being in the van.
Other than the house, the rest of the street has other residents who go about their business including a jogger, a bin man, and someone doing gardening. These characters don’t interact with the house but do act as potential challenges to overcome, especially the jogger whose route takes him around the whole map and will often be the 1 to catch you doing anything illegal. There isn’t much to do in their houses except for picking up the tranquiliser gun and ammo but it does add to the realism.
Opportunities are Everywhere
Given that A New Life takes place in a relatively small area, but that area is packed with guards and characters walking about, there’s a lot of opportunities to mess with people. This mission is often referred to as “the clown level” because there’s a clown who’s disguise you can acquire which then allows you some private time with the wife which is a great approach but does limit you since you only have 2 sedatives. You can also approach the wife as a pool boy which leads to her taking you to another private room.
The most famous opportunity is probably the BBQ where you can add extra lighter fluid which cases the wife goes up in flames when she tries to use it. This not only looks cool and get’s you the necklace but is also quite funny. There’s also a cool easter egg where you can put double the amount of lighter fluid on the BBQ which will result in all the guards clapping around the pool as the wife jumps in. Similarly, to Curtains down, it’s memorable moments like this that stick with people years later.
Even thought there around only about 2/3 ways to kill the target and to acquire the necklace, thanks to the layout of the map and the number of moving parts it feels like there’s a lot more. It feels like more because there are several smaller opportunities to mess with different routines, such as setting up the tranquiliser gun to put the dog to sleep or by taking out the surveillance team, which feel like big moments due to the impact that they have. Many of these smaller moments take some effort or patience to pull off which adds to the feeling of achievement once you’ve completed what you planned to do.
Is A New Life a Good Hitman level?
A New Life is ranked highly amongst most Hitman Blood Money fans with it often being placed either number 1 or 3. This is mostly due to the number of opportunities available to the player in such a small map as well as the feeling of the suburban setting. Unlike other settings which take place in places of business, A New Life takes place in a family home and there’s something about that which resonates with people.
Overall, A New life is one of the best levels in the whole Hitman series. It’s simple but has so many small opportunities that make it feel larger than it actually is. It’s fun to play through, makes you feel smart, and is a great level.
In Summary
- A New Life makes you feel like an assassin when you’re going about a small tightly guarded area with no one suspecting a thing
- There are so many smaller opportunities that can have big impacts that it feels like A New Life is an open sandbox
- Whilst the level can become very easy due to the surveillance van, it’s the memorable moments with the wife and the feeling of the map that keeps it in players memories
