Hitman
Hitman ![]() | ||||||
Series information
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Hitman is a stealth video game series developed by IO Interactive. You play as Agent 47, a professional assassin hired through the International Contract Agency, or ICA, to perform hits on high-profile targets around the world. Unlike most other stealth games, Hitman's approach to stealth focuses not so much on sneaking around and being unseen, but rather on going unnoticed through clever use of disguises and figuring out how to use your environment to set traps for your targets.
Series
The series consists of the following parts:
- Hitman: Codename 47 (2000)
- Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002)
- Hitman: Contracts (2004)
- Hitman: Blood Money (2006)
- Hitman: Absolution (2012)
- Hitman (2016)
- Hitman 2 (2018)
- Hitman 3 (2021)
Characters
See also: List of Hitman characters
- Agent 47 (Lead Mastermind): A man raised in an underground facility to be the perfect assassin. After escaping his captivity, 47 starts putting his skills to use as a hired killer, and in the course of his career ends up coming face to face with the truth about his origins.
- Diana Burnwood (Backup Mastermind): 47's handler in the ICA, responsible for giving him assignments and helping him complete them by providing equipment and intel.
- Carlton Smith (Commoner): An inept ICA agent who has a habit of getting himself captured, forcing 47 to rescue him.
The Battle of Wits
See also: List of Tricks in Hitman
Each game in the Hitman series consists of a series of missions. Most often, they are contracts acquired through the ICA, but at times 47 has taken jobs from other organizations or individuals, or for his own purposes. Each mission usually includes multiple objectives, the most common of course being the assassination of one or multiple targets. Other common objectives include retrieving an item or rescuing a hostage. Although the player has the freedom to complete a mission in whatever way they prefer, including going in guns blazing, the games often encourage more subtle approaches, involving infiltration via disguises and finding opportunities to set traps for the targets by observing their behavior and the environment around them.
Because Agent 47's targets rarely are aware of his presence before it's too late, most of the Tricks in these Matches come from 47 or Diana. Occasionally, however, 47 is taken by surprise and targeted by an enemy assassin in the middle of a mission. These assassins often use 47's tactics against him, by disguising themselves as civilians or trying to lure him into a trap, for example by using his target as bait. There are also cases where the entire mission is revealed to be a set-up by a third party.