This is a catalogue of all the cameras I could find in this game, excluding those mentioned in previous posts. Credit to https://www.youtube.com/user/HassanAlHajry for capturing most of these shots, and obviously to Io-Interactive for developing the game and engine.
Signature Stealth Cameras
All of these cameras have a completely hidden mode in close up third person, and transition to a pseudo first person perspective camera when the player chooses to look out of their hiding space. There are a few more variations on the stealth camera that derive from other cameras:
Derived from dumpster camera:
Derived from dumpster camera:
- Crate
- Ice chest
- Fancy wooden chest
- Giant birthday cake
- Variations on the dumpster type body container
- Variations on the closet type body container
- Scarecrow
- Samurai armor
Feature Specific Cameras
1. Contextual Gameplay Actions
These are related to actions that the avatar is only able to activate when close to specific objects and is in a specific state. If an enemy is nearby and unaware of the player, they can do takedowns, typically accompanied by a boom drop on the camera. The specific takedown camera is related to the weapon the avatar currently has equipped.
This may be followed by a quick time event (QTE) style camera that allows the player to subdue the enemy and stays low until that action is complete.
If the enemy is aware of the player when they attack, then a QTE camera shows Agent 47 fighting the enemy. Often the fighting sequence ends with a takedown.
Another camera appears when the player chooses to hide a body by dragging it towards a dumpster, edge of a cliff, etc. The avatar automatically crouches while dragging a body, so the camera for dumping the body starts low and swings high to return to the standing camera.
This may be followed by a quick time event (QTE) style camera that allows the player to subdue the enemy and stays low until that action is complete.
If the enemy is aware of the player when they attack, then a QTE camera shows Agent 47 fighting the enemy. Often the fighting sequence ends with a takedown.
Another camera appears when the player chooses to hide a body by dragging it towards a dumpster, edge of a cliff, etc. The avatar automatically crouches while dragging a body, so the camera for dumping the body starts low and swings high to return to the standing camera.
2. Cinematic Point Shooting
This camera adds a cinematic slow-motion feeling to one very specific in-game situation. The player can choose to enter or be forced into a freeze-time point shooting event where they have to target as many enemies as possible before their instinct meter depletes. The shots are fired in rapid succession when time return to normal speed. This camera option is intended to provide a visual reward but some players, including the maker of this video, prefer to disable the targeting option to stay in the gameplay camera for the payoff instead of slow-motion.
Locomotion and Movement Cameras
Whether it is interacting with doors at the end of a mission, shimmying or hanging off a ledge, vaulting through a window, or climbing a ladder; Hitman: Absolution gives the player a lot of ways to move around. Most of them require a unique camera, in some cases (discussed in the next section) that camera is not used anywhere else in the game.
Generic door cameras do not always match the intention of the moment, so there are a few different kinds.
Ledge cameras are a generic type of static camera that give the player limited control while maintaining focus on the avatar, but each shot and behaviour for the camera needs to be tuned for every instance it is used.
The window vault is a type of synchronized action similar to the contextual gameplay actions discussed earlier. It has a systemic camera solution that can be applied throughout the whole game. The player experience is not degraded by the short interruption in their ability to control the camera, especially because it is their choice when to interact with these contextual actions.
Ladders require their own unique camera and controls. This makes ladders a more expensive feature than most people would assume.
Generic door cameras do not always match the intention of the moment, so there are a few different kinds.
Ledge cameras are a generic type of static camera that give the player limited control while maintaining focus on the avatar, but each shot and behaviour for the camera needs to be tuned for every instance it is used.
The window vault is a type of synchronized action similar to the contextual gameplay actions discussed earlier. It has a systemic camera solution that can be applied throughout the whole game. The player experience is not degraded by the short interruption in their ability to control the camera, especially because it is their choice when to interact with these contextual actions.
Ladders require their own unique camera and controls. This makes ladders a more expensive feature than most people would assume.
Miscellaneous and One-Off Cameras
- Carry camera (pictured below) - used once during Victoria's Ward in Rosewood
- Hostage camera (similar to carry camera)
- Sniper scope first person perspective camera
- Static camera (e.g. Resident Evil 1) - used once during Dead End in Dexter Industries
- Narrow corridor camera - used once during Parking Lot in Attack of the Saints
- Elevator camera (an in-game cinematic with limited control) and addition cameras for entrance and exit - used once at the beginning of Upper Floors in the mission Terminus
This is my last post on camera in Hitman: Absolution, although I may edit it to add anything I missed. I hope you found this useful, it serves as a good warm up for future camera analyses because its' development team used a systemic approach for the majority of their cameras.
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