Hitman

You dress up, you stalk, you kidnap, you murder.
This game will make all your wildest fantasies come true.

Trying to find out how to buy this game was more of a challenge than the game itself. Other than that, check it out for sure.

I’ve been spoiled by having Blood Money as my gateway to the Hitman franchise. How lucky was I to be introduced to this game series when it was at its most polished state back then! Needless to say back in the early 2000s, I was looking forward to the next Hitman game, which I hoped to impress me even more.
Unfortunately, the next installment, Absolution, featured gameplay that was noticeably different from what made its predecessor great. So I’ve gone back to play Contracts as its story overlaps with that of Blood Money. It was alright – there were a few memorable missions, but it didn’t age well technologically. Surprisingly, I had more fun playing Hitman Go, the turn-based strategy spin-off game, on my tablet computer. While I believe Hitman Go doesn’t get as much praise and attention as it should, it’s still not a proper Hitman game.
HITMAN is a return to form for this amazing franchise. It brings back what made past Hitman games great, offers something new to reinvigorate gameplay, and refines a few interesting features from Absolution. The result is a Hitman game that is accessible to newcomers, and challenging for those who are familiar with the series.
HITMAN: Game of the Year Edition is the ultimate version of this game. This game package includes:
6 main campaign missions, set in Paris, the fictional Sapienza (Italy), Marrakesh, Bangkok, Colorado and Hokkaido.
Escalation Contracts missions for each of the 6 aforementioned locations that ramp up in difficulty as you play.
4 bonus missions, set in Paris (Holiday Hoarders), Sapienza (The Icon and Landslide) and Marrakesh (A House Built on Sand).
A bonus campaign called Patient Zero, which consists of 4 missions set in Bangkok, Sapienza, Colorado and Hokkaido.
That is a lot of game. Each location was designed in such a way that all of them are sandboxes for assassinating your targets in different, often creative ways. There are so many ways to kill off your targets that HITMAN can alert you of different Opportunities you can exploit and guide you through the setup. Following the guided paths can be fun, but it’s empowering to discover ways to exploit and disrupt NPC’s behaviours and paths on your own. Veterans of Hitman games are likely to seek a challenge by turning off any available hints.
Like previous Hitman games, there can be some trial and error in HITMAN. Thankfully, the game is quite forgiving, allowing you to quickly recover from mistakes so you can keep trying to solve its elaborate assassination puzzles. In HITMAN, trial and error is made more fun when we know that some solutions are more elegant (and silent) than others, and they are waiting to be uncovered. But, the loud, messy assassinations can be very gratifying, too.
The world of HITMAN is not unlike the one in James Bond movies. The villains are shady elites who shield themselves with their wealth, opulence and indulgences; megalomaniacs who have lofty, selfish ambitions; the arrogant scums who just need to be humbled. While Agent 47 may not be a spy like Bond, he is just as effective an assassin as 007, if not more so. Killing these villains regardless of their statuses, privileges and ambitions is oddly satisfying and cathartic. I do hope one day, we’ll have a Hitman level like the opera scene in Quantum of Solace.
Sadly, the story of HITMAN is paper-thin, but it is serviceable in tying the missions together and setting up the events in HITMAN 2. Individually, the six main campaign missions are fun, and unique enough from each other that they stand out in their own way. My favourites are The Showstopper in Paris, World of Tomorrow in Sapienza, Club 27 in Bangkok, and Situs Inversus in Hokkaido because of the mission objectives and maps. The bonus missions are just like those in the main campaign, only smaller in scope, and use a portion of the large-sized maps.
Still, the bonus missions and campaign are no less fun to play. In fact, the design of the Sapienza map alone allows for so much possibility that it’s hard to be fatigued by it even after having 4 missions (i.e. World of Tomorrow, The Icon, Landslide, and The Author) set in it. A House Built on Sand, may be a more pedestrian bonus mission in comparison, but with it being set in nighttime Marrakesh and having less chaos, exploring the map is a more relaxing and free experience.
To be honest, HITMAN: Game of the Year Edition has so much content that after trying to complete many of the Challenges, max out my mastery level for each location, uncover as many Discoveries as I could, accomplish as many Feats as my patience would take me, and so on, I have had my share of the game. The thought of taking on the Escalation, Featured and user-generated contracts was simply exhausting by that point. Given that, HITMAN should be enjoyed episodically and leisurely, as the developer intended, to avoid fatigue.
As much as I’ve enjoyed HITMAN and its many challenges and ways to play, the GOTY Edition is by no means perfect. First of all, to best enjoy the game, you’ll need to connect to the HITMAN server, so you can earn rewards from completing various challenges. Any accomplishment you’ve made in offline mode doesn’t carry over when you reconnect again. To make things more annoying, I found myself disconnecting from the server periodically, which can instantaneously deflate any tension that the game has built up.
It is also frustrating that this GOTY Edition is missing the much lauded Elusive Targets missions. While I could access the mission briefings, I could not play them – not even in “offline” mode – so that my score would not be counted toward the leaderboard. While I understand that the Elusive Targets missions were meant to be available on a time-limited basis, it would have been nice to play (at least a few of) them in this definitive version of HITMAN.
This edition of HITMAN also does not have the PlayStation 4 exclusive campaign, The Sarajevo Six. Again, because there is so much content in this game package already, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything major. Also missing is Jesper Kyd, who wrote the soundtrack for the first four Hitman games. While I do think the soundtrack of HITMAN works well enough, I do miss the orchestral grandeur that Kyd’s music provided.

I highly recommend HITMAN to any newcomers and veterans to the game franchise. In fact, there is the GOTY Legacy Pack DLC for HITMAN 2, which includes remastered versions of all main and bonus campaigns and missions from HITMAN. (Owners of HITMAN can get this DLC for free.) At the time of this review, the DLC seems to be the cheaper and better option, since you can also take advantage of the technical, graphical, and gameplay improvements that come with the sequel.
According to IO Interactive, the GOTY Legacy Pack DLC contains most of the contents in HITMAN, making HITMAN 2 pretty much the default launcher of game content for this generation of Hitman games. So, even if you decide not to get HITMAN: Game of the Year Edition for cost reasons, consider this my enthusiastic endorsement of the DLC.
Welcome back, Agent 47, it feels just like old times again.

We've come a long way, haven't we? From sniping Russians in St Petersburg to strangling drug pushers in Chile, from recovering idols for a South American tribe to burning a man alive in the sauna of a Budapest hotel, from infiltrating a BDSM party in a meat production factory to assassinating the Vice President of the United States. Yes we've come a long, long way. Truth is there isn't really any other game like Hitman. Yes, there are games that have you shoot and beat and kill but there is essentially nothing to compete with this. Thankfully, IOI consistently pushes out what are incredible games revolving around the murderous world of quite possibly gaming's best anti-hero. Except Absolution but we don't talk about that.
Before we go any further, I'm-a say one thing: I still consider Hitman Blood Money to be peak Hitman. The combination of mission setup, the complexity of the hits themselves, the varied environs and the way the story is told makes it simply the best game in the franchise, in my strong opinion.
But boy oh boy, does Hitman 2016 come a close second. First of all, this is the most polished Hitman ever. It's no surprise to see this game being used as a standard in multiple GPU benchmark systems; it looks absolutely beautiful. Whether you're gazing land-ward at the lush green hills on the Amalfi Coast, marvelling at the crowds busying the alleyways of Marrakech, their eyes glued to TV screens or watching paper 灯籠 soar up into a snowy Hokkaido sky, it's abundantly clear that IOI spared no expense on graphical fidelity.
It's also smoother in other, more subtle ways. AI is significantly improved over previous iterations. You do not, for instance, have an all-access pass anymore and you will be noticed much more readily by other individuals who can ostensibly tell whether you're supposed to be wearing a particular disguise or not. Targets are responsive and will become suspicious if you stay in their presence for too long without good reason, and they will go into outright lock-down if it becomes apparent that their safety is threatened.
As ever, the freedom of how you choose to go about the art of assassination is entirely up to the player and you can be as ruthless or as professional as you deem fit. Mission environs are not particularly big - not as outrageously horizontal as Bjarkhov Bomb or as vertical as Traditions of the Trade, for just two examples - however they are very finely focused and the system of opportunities means there is never a shortage of methods by which your targets may be killed.
Of course, there are the usual ways of killing targets you will likely be familiar with; strangling, poisoning, suppressed gunshots and so on. However the game challenges you and encourages you even, via mastery levels, to apply ever more insidiously creative methods to ensuring those red crosshairs don't get away with the bad things they've done or will do. The mission-unique mastery challenges can be particularly fun - I never thought I'd see the name Cottonmouth uttered in a Hitman context.
Agent 47 (although it's difficult to tell whether he's really an agent anymore) is also more capable than ever. The initial review season comparisons to Jason Bourne are apt: 47 can engage in close-quarters combat now, even faking surrender if compromised only to spring into action with a couple of dull thuds to the stomach and face. He's also more athletic than ever, vaulting all manner of obstacles and hanging indefinitely from ledges and pipes. In addition, non-lethal knockout via stranglehold is an extremely useful mechanic and he can throw objects with pinpoint (some might say lock-on) accuracy, for example by forcefully re-locating a scalpel from its natural position on a clinical gurney to the cranium of an unsuspecting individual.
Where Hitman 2016 is concerned, game performance is sometimes cited as a con and sometimes cited as a pro. All I will say on this apparently subjective matter is that using a R5-1600/RTX 2070S combo with a mix of high and ultra settings I get upwards of 60fps, usually flitting between 90 and 150, at 144hz on a 1080p monitor. The DRM is...there. It's neither a pro nor necessarily a con it's just an unfortunate part of the game. Put it this way: if you don't have a reliable internet connection, you may well run into problems. Really the only main con I have with the game is that it's too short and I didn't particularly enjoy its episodic nature. I would've preferred to have a few more missions and for all of them to be released at once, which I suppose is asking a fair bit for a niche game but it's fair all the same. Other than that, it's a solid thumbs up.

HITMAN and HITMAN 2 are almost identical games, just different missions.
If you want to play this game and HITMAN 2, I recommend you buy the HITMAN 1 DLC in HITMAN 2 which lets you play the entire HITMAN 1 game within HITMAN 2.
I recommend it. You can read my HITMAN 2 review here:
My review applies just as much to this game as it does to HITMAN 2.

After 330 hours I finally managed to get 100% achievements, and let me tell you: I loved every minute of it! This game is just something else entirely. The locations are all stunning, they are designed with a mindblowing attention to detail. The gameplay is so smooth and allows you to complete so many different actions, it's incredible. The hundreds of lines of dialogue include some truly amazing bits - some of the best things I've ever heard from NPCs are in this game. All the level-specific challenges and the alternate game mode of contracts grants so much replayability to this game. This is truly just an incredibly amazing game!

Rough start
There are so many things about this game that I really, really hate - the individual episode system during release, the fact that all the achievements of this game are carried over to Hitman 2 so you have to do them all over again, the fact that IOI has basically abandoned this game by upgrading it to Hitman 2, the inclusion of Elusive targets which are one time affairs, generic accents for all NPCs, the inability to throw guns, lack of suitcase and gloves, absence of gun/suppressor customization, no dual wielding, etc, etc.
47's triumphant return to glory
But hot damn, the game is good. This, ladies and gentlemen, is IOI's grand return to form and 47's homecoming after a long, long time of no proper Hitman game. I never hated Absolution like others do, but it's true that the game did not have the essence of what made Hitman games special. This game has that in spades.
Hitman games have always been a sandbox and had that way of making you feel like a genius when you pull off an assassination properly, but this game and it's sequel really redefine the whole concept of Hitman video games. There are so many ways to go about in a mission that it's almost crazy. For the first time in the series, IOI has included the Challenges option, which list all the ways a target can be assassinated. The first time you complete a playthrough and look up this list you will be amazed and confused about how some of the ideas are even conceivable, but trust me they are, and the deeper you go into each level the more you will be amazed.
Balancing old with new
It's a pity that IOI tried something different with Absolution and that it failed. By their own admission, they wanted to chase the mass market by making a more traditional shooter like Gears and then changed design principles halfway through development after negative feedback. The end product was a half hearted romp through a journey that holds your hands too much, that definitely had it's fair share of special moments, but alienated the fan base.
Hitman now has the best of both worlds. If you are a veteran of the series like me, you have the option to embark on your own blind Silent Assassin/Suit Only playthrough; if you are new to the series and want a flavor of what makes this series special, there are the newly included Opportunities, which are elaborate scripted missions to take out your targets, which are all so cleverly designed and executed. Even in your blind playthrough you will stumble upon options that are not included in Opportunities and it's totally up to the player to find them out, execute them and feel like a genius.
Movement and gunplay has always been the dark horse of the series, and they do not exactly shine here either, but handling and shooting mechanics have never been better. 47 has never been more mobile in his approach, with the ability of vertical approach to missions being expanded by a long margin. Gunplay feels very satisfying and there is a huge variety of weapons this time around; breaking rules of trade and playing like a gun toting maniac is now totally viable and encouraged unlike the previous games of the series.
There are a slew of unlockables that include a large selection of various types of guns, poisons, phones capable of electrocution, rubber duck explosives, melee weapons and devices for unlocking stuff. These are tied to the game's newly defined progression system, which is another highlight. You can unlock everything by attaining a certain mastery level in a mission, or by completing escalation contracts, which are basically replaying a similar scenario but with harder parameters each time. This makes the game progression based reward system much more satisfying.
47 goes places
The graphics of the Sapienza trailer totally blew me away in 2016 and does so even now. Hitman games have always been beautiful, a little ahead of the curve when it comes to graphics, and IOI carries on the tradition here. The graphical fidelity of this game is hard to put into words. Be they lush green forests, or snow covered mountains or a rusty Italian town, Hitman is a treat for the eyes, despite being pretty low on requirements and quite forgiving on older systems.
Same goes for the cutscenes - you will have to see them to believe them. The cutscenes probably had some large budget assigned to them, because they really feel like high budget CGI movies. Everything from lip sync to animation to lighting is really top notch. It's a pity IOI did not have the resources to pull the same off in Hitman 2, but they are pretty good at it.
Hitman games never had deep stories to begin with, but they were always impactful. The idea of 47 atoning his sins in SIlent Assassin, or reliving his rainy memories in Contracts while lying on deathbed, or the redemption arc of Blood Money, they were all appealing in their own special ways. In this game I personally felt that the story was a tad dry and I did not really pay much attention to it, despite the awesome cutscenes. They are always short and precise, but have introduced a boatload of characters and organizations which can be a little confusing. However, the characterizations of NPCs in the maps is very commendable; they have their own life and stories and the assassination can often tie into a personal journey of the target in various ways. They feel like real people, not just random targets.
Speaking of the available maps, some of them are a little hit and miss, but the sheer genius of the level and gameplay design makes everyone of them worthwhile, even the training levels. Hokkaido is my personal favorite and I find it the most beautiful map. Overall, it's a good combination of geographical variety and terrain design.
A masterful act
I bought and played the hell out of the Paris and Sapienza maps back in 2016, got tired of waiting and only bought and played the whole package 3 years later. And it was worth the wait. I am glad they went with a full release for Hitman 2 which, believe it or not, is somehow a better game than this one. You can even play this game in Hitman 2 with all the new features in an upgraded engine and for achievements in that game. I would have loved if IOI had somehow carried over the mastery progression and achievements from this game to the sequel, but that is not the case.
Does that invalidate this game? No. The elusive targets are gone, but the challenge and progression is still tracked online and the servers are still available so that's not an issue. It's just a better idea to buy this game, but play it from within Hitman 2, which you can do even if you haven't bought the sequel. This way, you can net all your progression in a single game. But if you are not into progression and achievements and stuff, then this game works fine as a standalone.
The Hitman franchise set out to be a thoughtful, provocative stealth action game with some scripted assassinations every now and then, to a full blown assassin simulator. There are so many puzzles, actions, consequences and possibilities that it blurs the difference between what's scripted and what's not scripted. Everything feels natural in a world that is fully dynamic, and often very funny in it's approach to realism. Despite having such a serious tone, it would be remiss to mention how frequently I have chuckled out loud as the game is unintentionally funny and wholesome.
Hitman is not a perfect game, but you learn to live with it's flaws and adapt to them and make them your weapon if you want, because the journey and endless replayability is so captivating and well laid out. Being a longtime hardcore fan of the franchise, I feel good about it's future and the fact that Hitman, despite still being a niche thing, is one of those rare remaining franchises that has not only evolved in it's gameplay and ideas, but has completely redefined a gaming genre.