Everything about that episode is incredible. It absolutely deserved the three Emmy awards it won (best writing, best lead actor, best supporting actress).

I can think of so many more “or shit, the scene where” sentences you could add to that paragraph. It’s just one incredible scene after another. So much happens in such a short time but it doesn’t feel rushed—you just feel things rapidly spiraling out of control in such a visceral way.

• Slay the Spire
• Slice and Dice
• Balatro
• Vampire Survivors
• Retro Bowl/Retro Bowl College/Retro Goal
• Hoplite

You can’t kill non-targets, be caught doing anything illegal, or let any bodies get discovered (unless it was an accident kill), but you absolutely can use guns. You can use them on the target, shoot out cameras, use them for distraction or panic shots, blast open locked doors, drop them on the ground to pull an NPC off their route, etc.

The game is a sandbox. They give you a ton of tools and it’s up to you to figure out how to use them. You’re meant to play each level over and over in a variety of ways (as shown by all the mastery challenges) and having all these different tools at your disposal is part of what makes that fun. But if what’s fun for you is to mow everyone down with a shotgun, then go for it. There’s no in-game incentive to try for silent assassin on every run.

I really enjoy watching Hitman competitions on YouTube. You’ll have like one person blowing up propane tanks, one person sniping the targets from across the map, and one person using poison and tasers, with all of them finishing with the top ranking and within seconds of each other. It’s wild to me how many viable ways the game gives you to kill targets and how creative it allows you to be.

I found it to be the easiest. If you’re having trouble with a boss, you can just go somewhere else and level up or upgrade your weapon before coming back. Unless you’re at the very end and explored nearly everything, there should be plenty of other bosses you could be fighting instead. Other soulslike games tend not to have as many options and I would often end up stuck on a particular boss that I had to best because there were no other areas available.

Also spirit ashes. I know a lot of people refuse to use them, but if the game gives you something that makes the game easier and you choose not to use it then that’s on you.