The sparsely populated town's peaceful environment and relaxed "siesta" ambience is intended to offer freedom of exploration, a deliberate choice to let players discover at their own pace weapons, secret routes and story threads that they could leverage in order to achieve the main objectives.

Sapienza reappears in further levels which were subsequently introduced by Hitman developers, such as the bonus episode "The Icon", where the town center is reimagined as a movie set run by an assassination target.

The positive reception from critics and players towards Episode 2: Sapienza convinced its developers that their approach towards sandbox game design for the series as well as overall handling of the Hitman franchise were headed in the appropriate creative direction.

The open, relaxed and casual daytime aesthetic of Sapienza was also a partial response to the night-time gala ambience embodied by the enclosed Paris fashion show, its bright and vibrant atmosphere contrasting the muted lighting and soft colours of its immediate predecessor.

According to Torbjørn Christensen, lead level designer of the World of Assassination series, the core concept of Episode 2 began with "Coastal Town" and was the only direction they had in the beginning of development.

The team never traveled to Italy on a field trip in order to create Sapienza's in-game locales; instead, much of the research was done remotely using YouTube and Google Street View of Vernazza and other similar towns along the Coast.

In an interview, he noted that if a structure looks like it cannot objectively hold its own weight or if 47's animation for throwing someone out of a window somehow does not accommodate the thickness of a medieval wall, players will notice the incongruence, which will provoke a negative subliminal reaction from within themselves.

He explained that the reason Sapienza feels larger than it is in terms of square meters is that aspects of the level are like "spirals" or a "snail house", with walls wrapping around themselves and their layers interconnected with slopes and stairways.

Elverdam conceded the team were initially concerned about the density in small pockets of the level, but felt that it ultimately worked out as there is still ample amount of space where players can "breathe" and not feel claustrophobic.

[3] The town square of Sapienza and its streets are turned into a trespassing zone for the duration of "The Icon", a creative decision which the IO team would never do otherwise because the mission's circumstances justifies the area's closure to the public.

As a result of the thematic change, the original underground gangster hideout envisioned by IO was repurposed as a secret laboratory where research and maintenance of the virus is conducted.

The changes pleased Elverdam as it present a cohesive theme with 47's mission of stopping a biological weapon, though Christensen was disappointed on a personal level as he wanted to develop a full-fledged "mafia fantasy'.

A major landmark of Sapienza is a large clifftop mansion, with an attached observatory and secret underground laboratory, that is built over a site of old castle ruins.

Example characters include Dr. Oscar Lafayette, a psychologist assigned to treat Caruso's mental health, and Sal Falcone, a private detective from Milan who serves as an informant for De Santis.

[8] "Landslide" is another bonus mission that acts as prequel in which Agent 47 is hired by Silvio Caruso to eliminate a local politician running for mayor during his campaign rally being held at the beach.

[14] Conversely, staff writers from Hardcore Gamer, Destructoid, and Kotaku highlighted concerns over the level's technical issues and mandatory online connectivity.

He called it a turning point creatively for IO Interactive, proving that the studio was capable of producing "quality assassination sandboxes" following the divisive critical reception to Absolution and a controversial episodic release plan for the 2016 Hitman title.

Jack de Quidt from The Guardian, who gave the complete version of the 2016 Hitman a perfect score in his review article dated January 2017, declared Sapienza as its standout level.

He believed that Sapienza, a "frankly ridiculous murder sandbox", indicated that IO learned from their mistakes with Absolution, even if the episodic release model was met with an initially divisive response.

[27] Martin Kitts agreed that Sapienza is a high point for the Hitman series, but criticized the third objective that involves the infiltration of the underground laboratory to destroy the virus, which he described as approaching "a little close to becoming a chore" compared to the level's other aspects.