Hitman

10 out of 10 The Art of the Kill, Perfected

This isn't just a game-it's a masterclass in patience, precision, and beautifully controlled chaos. With Hitman (2016), IO Interactive redefined what it means to be an assassin in a modern sandbox. Gone were the linear corridors of past entries. In their place? Massive, living environments. Dozens of ways to eliminate your target. And one core rule:

"Make it look like an accident."

The Setup: Agent 47, Back in the Shadows

After a long hiatus and the more story-focused Hitman: Absolution, this 2016 reboot brought Agent 47 back to his roots-but better. He's cold, calculating, and silent as death. Each level is a puzzle box disguised as a luxury resort, embassy, fashion show, or fortress.

You're given two targets. Maybe three. That's it.

How you take them down? That's on you.

The Gameplay: Murder as Sandbox Art Disguises - Become anyone: a model, a chef, a drummer, a bodyguard. Every outfit changes your access and approach.

Opportunities - Scripted but dynamic story paths that open up unique kills: poisonings, electrocutions, chandelier drops, even launching a guy into a jet engine.

Instinct Mode - Track enemies, locate items, and see through walls like a true ghost.

Tools of the Trade - Fiber wire, coins, screwdrivers, silenced pistols, expired sushi. If it's in the environment, it's probably lethal.

And the best part? You can mess up. A plan can go sideways-and the game rewards you for improvising.

The Levels: Big, Beautiful, Brutal

Each mission is a fully-realized world: Paris (The Sanguine Fashion Show) - A glittering event of vanity and betrayal. You can assassinate a model while pretending to be him.

Sapienza - A sun-soaked Italian town hiding a bioweapon lab beneath it. It's basically a murder vacation.

Marrakesh - A riot-torn city with a dictator, a banker, and a mess of politics.

Bangkok, Colorado, Hokkaido - Each more dangerous, intricate, and stylish than the last.

No game before this gave you such detailed, replayable maps where everything matters.

The Structure: A New Format, Bold and Smart

The game was released episodically, which at first raised eyebrows. But it worked. Each level felt like an event. IO Interactive wanted you to replay missions-over and over-mastering every method, unlocking new gear, and challenging yourself with: Escalation Missions Elusive Targets (one-shot real-time contracts) User-created Contracts

This turned Hitman (2016) into a living, evolving game. And it still holds up today.

The Tone: Dark, Cool, Self-Aware

Agent 47's deadpan seriousness paired with absurd assassination methods (death by exploding golf ball, anyone?) creates a tone that balances slick professionalism with dark humor. The story is subtle, slow-burning, and becomes more important in later entries-but the real narrative is how you kill.

Verdict:

Hitman (2016) is where the modern trilogy began-and it's a flawless return to form. Rich environments. Limitless creativity. And a central gameplay loop that never gets old. This is what happens when a studio knows exactly who its character is and builds the perfect world around him.

Silent. Precise. Brilliant.

10 out of 10.

The world is your weapon-and you are the ghost in its shadow.

Is this the best hitman game ever? No. I'm no blood money purist either because clearly that game has shown its age. This one is absolutely quantity over quality. Every level is massive, diverse, somewhat lively and a step in the right direction than some forgetful B action movie the previous game was. They learned a lot from that experience and when time came to make this they didn't do a horrible job for the most part.

There is a ton to do if you're going for 100% if you get the game of the year edition. The escalation challenges go from fun to ridiculous really quick. There feels like 1000 things to do in the game so this is giving DK64 on N64 a run for its money.

The stealth mechanics improved from absolution.. but.. The big but 70% of the time if you are about to get spotted you can run. Yet in the earlier games such as 2 and contracts you weren't allowed to run as it would gain suspicion. There is no metal detectors, targets can get knocked out and stay knocked out giving very little challenge. The video cameras are a joke on normal difficulty, they just give you an excuse to run back and dispose of the cameras. That's it. Where as on professional you HAVE to destroy them and if you get caught doing anything illegal you're compromised. I love the fact that blood on clothes ruins the disguises as well on the harder difficulty and Agent 47 does talk to quite a few more people so David Bateson who voices Agent 47 earned his pay cheque this time around. You can also pacify targets by choking them even if they have seen your face and knock people out with blunt objects. There is very little to do with syringes in this game yet they can be unlocked later in the game by doing some challenges.

On one hand you've got more to do than just rush through in about an hour or so if you know the answer to every puzzle it feels like for all the levels. Yet there is WAY too much to do. I thought watchdogs 1 (Ubisoft) was bad. Padded with tedious tasks to do. Most levels feel too big where all 47 does is run around and unless you know the challenges some of them you just wander aimlessly. By the time I got to Japan the first time as I wanted to see what happens in the story as usually I like to solve every puzzle and get a silent assassin but it got so annoying that I just plowed through everyone.

After Morocco the game felt rushed. Bangkok they placed most key items VERY poorly. Hardly anywhere to stash bodies and the key items were placed in the worst possible spots, sure I could bring a lock pick or something automatic with a suppressor to take the door out but that ruins the fun. The ways to kill the enemies for the most part is satisfying but the level design for the suites and a few other things drove me nuts. There is an easter egg and possibly challenge as it was in Hitman 2 that you have to wait 10 minutes and 5 seconds for this one man to appear. Yeah how about no.

Everyones apparent favorite level or so I was to believe in this game on youtube was Colorado and I thought it was boring to say the least. Some argue and compare it to "a new life" where you take out the former mob member in a suburbs. There are too many targets in the level too. If I wanted to murder lots of people I'd just play GTA. I wish they did a few smaller levels and gave you one target like the first two levels. There is one last challenge I have to do and it's a broken mess that i hope someone got fired over. Taste your own medicine I had to attempt like 10 or 15 times in the span of two days. It's poorly described and even more poorly thought out. They are possible to do but way too difficult. Colorado reminds me of a rehashed version of that level you got to take 3 nuns out in the corn field. Just that is a much better designed level and it has way better designed challenges. I'd rather do Angel Of Death 2 if memory serves me right being the toughest challenge in Absolution than the scarecrow ones in this game.

Professional difficulty on the Paris and Italy levels in particular they have the courage to move certain items around and do other things to make your life miserable. The game should have stuck with one difficulty as to my understanding doing all the levels on professional you can only complete 2 or so challenges at a time. Thankfully they corrected this in Hitman 2. Some you get a few at a time such as suit only, no evidence and whatever. Certain challenges you wander aimlessly and at times there's not enough red herrings. It's just too obvious to too cryptic.

Last but not least, aiming in the game i could never get right. I adjusted the sensitivity of my controller when i found a setting that absolutely worked for every other game. Resident evil 4 to metal gear solid 5 and not this. The mouse is usually my only option for a few challenges such as taking out Jordan Cross from another balcony. Thankfully you can get a sniper rifle that you can slow down time. The weapon selection is quite poor too. There are gadgets to make you feel like james bond but for the most part i wish that the pistol and a few other signature items could be upgraded instead with money like blood money instead of having to go to missions level 10 - 20 to get stuff or complete specific challenges. This isn't goldeneye on n64, give 47 some cash instead of all these slightly different guns. 47 Should just be able to craft the guns into stuff that we are using in that menu. Plus a fire rate button and the ability to take the suppressor off.

The story is pretty dull, like all hitman games. I play it for the action but there's probably 20 minutes maximum of cut scenes and dialogue it feels like. Get this on sale, don't pay full price this one was somewhat of a disappointment. This at best is a DLC. Get it on sale with Hitman 2 and just play it on Hitman 3 if that makes any sense so it feels like a complete game.

The more "mainstream" last game somewhat divided the community. Its not my favorite entry either, but the negativity is a bit overblown and Absolution certainly proved to be a clear stepping stone for this refresh of the series. The old canon still stands btw. but I noticed that a few of the targets aren't "evil", which was nearly always the case in previous games. The game is a bit more "goofy" too and could easily be reworked as a spy caper. The story is less focused on this time around. Not that Hitman games ever managed to tell a good one, but this tale is overall fine. The main selling point is obviously the finely tuned gameplay and the levels are now more open than ever. The huge crowds are another plus and now feel less of a gimmick. The game is actually a huge technical accomplishment, outside of the again janky animations, and the levels all feature astonishing attention to detail. The levels may even be a bit too huge and I would have broken some of them into 2 separate ones. I understand that the developers want the player to replay them multiple times, with changing conditions but less is sometimes more. The way the game locks away the new weekly targets after that very week is clearer misstep. Especially as you only get 1 try but the high amount of user created level remixes somewhat makes up for that. There is a lot of content to be enjoyed in this first "season" and playing though the game over 2 days felt like binge watching a Netflix show. I have full trust in the developers to deliver another quality follow-up and the retail version of the game is the best Hitman entry yet. I just hope that the "Bonus Episodes" will rely on more levels, as Sapienza ended with with 3 separate missions assigned to it. The game is lastly a great entry point to the series. 9/10

'Hitman (2016)' reboots its classic franchise, aiming to recapture the open-plan feeling of earlier titles instead of the more linear - though still good - vibe of 'Hitman: Absolution (2012)'. In almost every way, it succeeds. The game is staggering in the amount of ways it an be approached, with large and labyrinthine levels that take place all over the globe. Within each map, there are a variety of varied yet believable areas - some of which are restricted and tightly guarded - that come together to form completely cohesive experiences, a microcosm of the wider world. From fashion shows packed with literally hundreds of people to clinics littered with only the most elite, the locations do a fantastic job at keeping you on your toes, tossing you more opportunities than you know what to do with. Even though there aren't tons of them, each area can be completed in a myriad of ways. The base mechanics always remain the same so it's up to you how you use them. It's all remarkably intuitive. On top of this, the game provides more scripted moments that you can opt into if you want a more guided experience. While perhaps not as satisfying as a naturally occurring success, these sequences are spectacular in and of themselves and are surprisingly rewarding if you stumble upon them yourself. Going for the coveted 'silent assassin' rating is one way to ensure bang for your buck; you have to study your target, learn their behaviours and strike in whichever way suits the situation before blending into the background once more. The piece makes particularly good use of the disguise system, often setting things up as a sort of puzzle that requires you to get a chain of costumes to move through the level unnoticed. Of course, you could always go for a 'suit only' run, which is where things get really interesting (if perhaps more traditional). One of the game's most major downsides is that it was released episodically, a format which isn't inappropriate but which saps the energy from an initial play-through. Those with spotty internet access may now opt to buy the disc version, which comes with all previous DLC, but a download is required for all levels but one and the game requires you to be 'online' in order to save your stats and challenge progress. This 'always online' angle is troublesome, as it prevents you from playing a single-player game if your wifi goes down. Still, most people won't have a consistent issue with their wifi. The game's story is quite oblique, delivered via beautifully rendered but elusive cut-scenes in-between missions. It's good enough but nothing more, never really feeling like it relates directly to your actions. The pre-mission debriefs, on the other had, do a good job of preparing you for the task, aptly coming up with a reason why your often cartoonishly evil targets must be eliminated. The thing is about gameplay, first and foremost. It's immersive, impressive and, most importantly, fun. The game really is breathtaking at times. It's a joy to dig into. 9/10

This game is lokie pretty good, but Hitman 2 is better overall because there is more rewards and ect