Hitman is a 2016 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix. The game, which has six episodes, is the sixth mainline entry in the Hitman franchise, the first installment of the World of Assassination trilogy, and the successor to Hitman: Absolution (2012). The single-player story follows genetically engineered assassin Agent 47 as he goes on a worldwide adventure and solves a mysterious series of seemingly unconnected assassinations. Hitman features a number of large, open-ended sandboxes that Agent 47 can freely explore. The game presents the player with various assassination opportunities, many of which are unconventional. IO Interactive introduced a "live component" to the game with new content being regularly delivered in downloadable form.
Each episode is set in a location: Paris, Sapienza, Marrakesh, Bangkok, Colorado and Hokkaido. Square Enix Europe set up a Montréal studio to work on the next Hitman game, but IO Interactive returned to lead the game's development following the under-performance of Absolution. The title was conceived as a reimagining of the franchise as the team attempted to integrate the gameplay of Absolution with the open-endedness of earlier installments of the series. According to the team, Hitman is a puzzle game with action and stealth elements; the developers refined the simulation and artificial intelligence of each level. The game adopted an episodic model and the team envisioned the game as a service. It was marketed as a "World of Assassination" and provided a platform that would expand and evolve over time, eventually leading into a trilogy of games.
Hitman was released episodically for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One from March to October 2016. Upon release, it received positive reviews; critics praised the game's episodic release format, locations, level design, and its replayability but criticised the always-online requirement and excessive handholding. The game underperformed commercially and caused publisher Square Enix to divest from IO Interactive in May 2017. Following a management buyout, IO retained the rights to the series and developed a sequel, Hitman 2, which was released through Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in November 2018. The World of Assassination trilogy concluded with Hitman 3, which was self-published by IO Interactive in January 2021. In January 2023, Hitman was delisted from sales after IO Interactive rebranded Hitman 3 as Hitman: World of Assassination, with the contents of the previous two Hitman games becoming available to Hitman 3 owners, free of charge.
Gameplay
Hitman is a stealth video game in which players control a genetically enhanced assassin called Agent 47 from a third-person perspective as he carries out assassinations of various targets across the globe. As in other games in the Hitman series, players have a large amount of freedom in their approach to their assassinations. Players may use weapons including explosives, pistols, assault rifles, and long-range sniper rifles; they may also assassinate the target at close range using bladed weapons or throwable items.
Agent 47 is vulnerable in a firefight; thus, eliminating targets silently is preferred. He can use his specially equipped garrote wire to strangle his victims or disguise his killings as accidental deaths, such as poisoning the target's food or drowning them in a toilet. The game also includes scripted opportunities that require the completion of multiple tasks. Players can eavesdrop on conversations from non-playable characters (NPCs) to obtain clues about the location and routine of targets, and uncover opportunities for creative infiltration and elimination. For example, Agent 47 can tamper with a chandelier, causing it to fall and kill a target. 47 can collect items to use as improvised weapons, access previously restricted areas, knock out NPCs, or create distractions. Completion of mission challenges, such as killing targets in unconventional ways, discovering unique items, and gaining access to new areas, enables players to progress through the mastery levels for each location, with rewards such as advanced weapons and gadgets, agency pick-up locations for stashing gear, and new starting locations for that level.
Each episode in the game features a sandbox-type environment the player can freely explore. Players can incapacitate specific NPCs and wear their clothes as disguises, which allow Agent 47 to access restricted areas, initiate conversations with targets or other NPCs, and perform actions that would otherwise be highly suspicious. Some NPCs, referred to as "Enforcers", will see through 47's disguises. Agent 47 can try to blend in to prevent this from happening. Levels can accommodate about 300 NPCs, each of which reacts to the player's actions differently and has their own unique routines. Acting strangely, such as crouching or taking cover in a crowd, will raise suspicions. If 47 tries to enter a restricted area, he may have to be frisked by guards, requiring him to discard weapons or illegal items before being searched. The artificial intelligence (AI) of NPCs has several alert phases. Guards will escort Agent 47 from a restricted area if he is found trespassing and his disguise may be compromised if a NPC sees him perform an illegal action. An alert guard will first try to arrest 47, but if he resists or tries to run, they will open fire on him. Guards can be distracted and Agent 47 can hide the bodies of incapacitated individuals and other evidence to avoid alerting other NPCs. Agent 47 can also enter Instinct Mode, which highlights the locations of the targets, as well as useful items, guards, and other important information. After eliminating his target(s), Agent 47 needs to locate an exit to complete a mission. A player's mission performance review is rated with a five-star rating system and is influenced by factors such as time elapsed, the number of non-target NPCs killed, sightings of 47 performing illegal activities, appearances on CCTV cameras, and discoveries of victims' bodies.
IO Interactive introduced a "live component" to Hitman; new content, which was regularly delivered in downloadable form, includes time-limited missions called "Elusive Targets". If a player fails to kill an elusive target before the mission expires, or alerts targets and allows them to escape, the targets will not return. Players are rewarded for successful killings with cosmetic rewards. Unlike the main game, players cannot save their games when they are completing the Elusive Target missions. "Escalation Contracts", which are contracts created by the developers, include stages that require players to complete tasks such as assassinating a target using a specific weapon or disguise. By completing a stage, players progress through the escalation and the level of difficulty will increase with new challenges to comply with or changes to the level. Hitman: Absolutions Online Contracts mode also returns in Hitman, allowing players to assign up to five NPCs as assassination targets, set requirements for their killings, and share their contracts with and compete with other players.
Synopsis In 1999, an unnamed man is initiated into the International Contract Agency (ICA) and demonstrates exceptional aptitude as an assassin. The ICA is unable to verify his background or uncover any information about him, which disturbs Erich Soders, the ICA's training director. With the help of his handler, Diana Burnwood, the initiate passes a final test that Soders had rigged against him. The director reluctantly approves the initiate for field duty and washes his hands of the matter. The man tells Diana to call him "47" and leaves to await further instructions; this prologue leads into the events of Codename 47, the first game in the series.
Twenty years later, 47 completes a series of contracts provided by Diana, who has risen to a senior position in the ICA. At first, the contracts appear to be unrelated, but Diana gradually uncovers information that an unknown individual referred to as the "Shadow Client" has covertly coordinated these contracts to attack a secretive organization called "Providence", whose existence and total control over global affairs were thought to be a myth. The Shadow Client uses the ICA and 47 to kill Providence agents, making the ICA appear culpable and hiding his own involvement. The game ends with Diana being approached by a representative of Providence, who requests that the ICA deal with the Shadow Client.
Plot The Shadow Client performs an assassination for Viktor Novikov, a fashion mogul and head of the international spy ring IAGO, and receives a copy of all of IAGO's files as payment. Using the files to identify Providence's secret operations, the Client sends an anonymous warning to MI6 of an impending IAGO auction of a stolen non-official cover (NOC) list that will take place at a Paris fashion show by Novikov's label, Sanguine. As a result, MI6 hires 47 to prevent the sale; he assassinates Novikov and his business partner, IAGO's true leader, Dalia Margolis, at the fashion show.
The Client sets two more ICA contracts in motion to disrupt Providence's activities without exposing himself. He first discloses a secret project to develop a deadly weaponized virus to a disgruntled shareholder in the Ether Biotech Corporation, knowing that the shareholder will then hire 47 to assassinate Silvio Caruso and Francesca De Santis, the scientists in charge of the project, and destroy the virus prototype housed at Caruso's private lab in the fictitious Italian town of Sapienza. Providence dispatches an agent to investigate the incident; the Client ambushes and kills him, and takes a key in his possession.
The second contract involves the Client disclosing an impending military coup in Morocco to Hamilton-Lowe, an international contractor with lucrative Moroccan government contracts. The company hires 47 to eliminate General Reza Zaydan, the mastermind of the coup, and fugitive bank CEO Claus Hugo Strandberg—both of whom are undercover Providence operatives—in Marrakesh. As 47 completes the contract, the Client breaches a Providence vault in New York City and steals valuable information on Providence's assets and operatives. The leaders of Providence realize that a coordinated attack has been launched against them.
The Client puts a third ICA contract in motion to reveal another Providence member, the reclusive media tycoon Thomas Cross. Cross had ordered a coverup that enabled his son, famed indie rock singer Jordan Cross, to escape legal consequences for the murder of his girlfriend Hannah Highmoore by disguising her death as an apparent accident; the Client reveals the truth to her family. The Highmoores hire 47 to kill Jordan Cross and Ken Morgan, the Cross family lawyer and fellow Providence member who oversaw the coverup, while both are staying at a private resort in Bangkok. Deploying forces from a private militia under his control, the Client kidnaps Thomas Cross from Jordan's funeral and kills him, then steals billions of dollars from his offshore bank accounts. The ICA, realizing an unknown party has benefited from the Cross contract, re-examines 47's previous contracts and discovers the Client's role in setting them up.