Cheatin' Hitman

There are thousands of professions one could choose from nowadays, so it’s difficult to say that there’s nothing out there for you. Even so, it’s easy to choose something that’s not right for you, but it’s pretty obvious when you are about to make a horrible mistake. Hence, some hobbies may have the potential to help you make a decent living, but most should never be regarded as more than a way to help you relax.

Cheatin' Hitman is an amusing game in which you get to have a good laugh and toy with a few interesting tools to help you stage assassinations. In short, you play the role of a man who decides to be a hitman, but without actually killing his victims. Instead, he uses props and his meager photography skills to make it look like he got the job done and fool his customers into paying him.

Nick Breckon is the name of your character, and his journey into phony killings starts when he decides to take control of his life and quit gaming all day long. Obviously, actual work is out of the question, so he decides to become a professional assassin, only without getting his hands dirty. Hence, the jobs are received by email, and your next goal is to meet the victim, explain the situation, and use everything you can think of to take a convincing photo of his/her murder.

The gameplay revolves around being able to arrange the victim in such a way as to make it look real. To do so, you have all sorts of backdrops, studio lights, cameras and environmental objects at your disposal, although you need a big budget to afford them. Naturally, you do not have enough cash in the beginning, which is why you have to make do with ketchup for blood and various other tricks.

There’s never a serious moment in the game, not even when you tell the victims that someone wants them dead, so don’t expect anything of the sort. It’s also difficult to understand how the clients assess your work and decide on whether the photos look real or not, but you should obviously let some of the inconveniences go by unnoticed, given the fact that this is a small production designed in a matter of days for a game jam competition.

As silly as it might look and play, Cheatin' Hitman might actually be up to something here, because the concept itself has a lot of room to evolve. Hence, with a bit of work and creativity, this could certainly grow into something a lot better and enjoyable.