History VideoGame / HitMan

** Most of your inventory has to be procured from enemies you encounter, such as the katana blade, snub revolver, Bull .90, and [=M14=] (carried only by the Marines patrolling the White House).

** 47's signature weapons are a pair of custom stainless steel AMT Hardballer pistols with stylized fleurs-de-lis engraved on the slides and Pachmayr American Legend grips. Not too shabby. In ''Silent Assassin'' and the movies, even his silencers are chrome-plated.

* GunAccessories: ** From ''Silent Assassin'' onwards, 47 is never without his custom "Silverballers". It was just a plain AMT Hardballer in the original, but they got a chrome makeover in ''Hitman 2''. In ''Blood Money'', they can be given a wide range of [[GunAccessories gun accessories]] and different ammo types. There are just so many cool things to experiment with, turning it from a pretty inaccurate pistol to an apocalyptic nightmare with a jumbo magazine, scope, laser sight, full-auto capability, and other deadly extras. The M4 carbine (did anyone say "'''drum magazine'''"?), [=MP5=] Tactical, SPAS-12 and [=WA2000=] can be modded for similar purposes.

* ExclusiveEnemyEquipment:
** Most of your inventory has to be procured from enemies you encounter, such as the katana blade, snub revolver, Bull .90, and [=M14=] (carried only by the Marines patrolling the White House).
** The [=W2000=] rifle from ''[=H2=]'' is a bit different from the one used in ''[=C47=]'' in that it's a bolt-action, i.e. you have to reload after each shot. The Custom Rifle is more up your alley. It's wielded by the enemy snipers, so it's possible to grab one early -- if you don't care about ratings. The bolt-action is carried by Mr. 17, who is camped out in the Pushkin Building and waiting for your arrival.
** The cool thing about SA ranks in ''Hitman: Contracts'' is that you're rewarded with silenced versions of the bad guy weapons. So if you're craving a PGM sniper rifle, you needn't torture yourself trying to find an unsuppressed version. (If you're some kind of OCD masochist, feel free to steal one from the Gendarme.)
** Mark Puriyah has an [=SG552=] stashed in his command center (fan-nicknamed the Big Bird Building), though he oddly never uses it. In real life, the grip is made of transparent plastic to let you see how much ammo you have at a glance. Mark Parchezzi and Alexander Cayne both carry Custom [=1911s=] loaded with magnum rounds.
** Two characters in ''Blood Money'' carry their own custom 1911 pistols loaded with Magnum ammo. It's also one of the few weapons that's unavailable after completing a mission with it.
** Each of the 'boss' characters in ''Absolution'' carry unique equipment which can be added to your collect. For instance, the leader of the Saints, [=LaSandra=], carries an Ares Charging Ram with an engraving of barbed wire running up the barrel. The Agency outfits all of its people with ICA-branded guns and knives.

* AceCustom:
** From ''Silent Assassin'' onwards, 47 is never without his custom "Silverballers". It was just a plain AMT Hardballer in the original, but they got a chrome makeover in ''Hitman 2''. In ''Blood Money'', they can be given a wide range of [[GunAccessories gun accessories]] and different ammo types. There are just so many cool things to experiment with, turning it from a pretty inaccurate pistol to an apocalyptic nightmare with a jumbo magazine, scope, laser sight, full-auto capability, and other deadly extras. The M4 carbine (did anyone say "'''drum magazine'''"?), [=MP5=] Tactical, SPAS-12 and [=WA2000=] can be modded for similar purposes.
** The [=W2000=] rifle from ''[=H2=]'' is a bit different from the one used in ''[=C47=]'' in that it's a bolt-action, i.e. you have to reload after each shot. The Custom Rifle is more up your alley. It's wielded by the enemy snipers, so it's possible to grab one early -- if you don't care about ratings.
** Two characters in ''Blood Money'' carry their own custom 1911 pistols loaded with Magnum ammo. It's also one of the few weapons that's unavailable after completing a mission with it.

** The gold Desert Eagle from ''Contracts''.
** In ''Absolution'', the leader of the Saints, Lassandra Dixon uses a [[RevolversAreJustBetter Taurus Raging Bull]], painted black with white ivory grips bearing the Agency logo and a white thorn vine pattern along the barrel. Layla Stockton meanwhile has a golden SIG Sauer P226 with etched wooden grips.

* EvilOldFolks: Frantz Fuchs (ex-member of the Hitler Youth), Masahiro Hayamoto Sr. (the reclusive Yakuza boss), Don Delgado (retired Chilean spymaster), Lorne [=deHaviland=] (pornographer), Pappy [=LeBlanc=] (redneck gang leader), and Blake Dexter (weapons manufacturer).

** ''Absolution'' is overstuffed with these. The Agency, for example, outfits all of its people with ICA-branded guns and knives. The 'boss' characters (Wade, Dixon, Skurky, Dexter, Stockton, and Travis) all carry their own unique guns.

*** Layla will occasionally step into the panic room where Victoria is held as part of her route. If you follow, a cutscene will be triggered in which Layla strips to her underwear and tries to seduce 47. Note that this cutscene, which is required to complete the challenge "Skin Trade", will not be activated if 47 is disguised as a guard for some reason (even though Layla has already seen him up-close in Skurky's jail).

* GunAccessories: Use the funds you accumulate for hits to purchase custom built weapon parts. There is one custom weapon in each category (Pistol, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Sub Machine Gun, Shotgun) that can be loaded up with suppressors, sights, extended magazines and ammo types.

** A whopping five of them feature in ''Contacts'':
### The bartender at Campbell Sturrocks's bar/opium den will give you different hints, depending on whether you're dressed as a butcher or a waiter.

** In [=H:C47=], one of the first missions requires Agent 47 to blow up a Triad limo. This is just a practice run for the game's most difficult level, "Plutonium Runs Loose": Remember the earlier mission, where Ivan tells you the location of his weapons cache (he thinks you are the arms dealer, remember?). That armory is in this mission. Just install the bomb in Boris's car and that's that.

** Morris's plan mirrors a conspiracy theory related to UsefulNotes/GeraldFord's real-life rise to the presidency. Ford was also voted into the vice presidency by congress, later to abruptly become acting president, without being popularly elected to either office. However, both of Ford's successions were caused by corruption-related resignations instead of deaths.

* BadGuyBar: Lee Hong's place (Wang Fou), The Flamin' Rotterdam, the Shark Club, and the Vixen Club. All 4 of these fine establishments contain torture rooms in the basement. That's not a coincidence.

** A whopping four of them feature in ''Contacts'':

###Campbell Sturrock AKA The Meat King, a human Jabba the Hutt holding a BDSM party in an abattoir whilst defending himself from kidnapping charges for his brother's murder of a girl.

* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Phony as they may be, most of the accents in the series are identifiable, with the notorious exception of the bartender from 'Gunrunner's Paradise' in ''Codename 47'', who can't seem to decide whether he's Russian, Scottish or German.

*** For those not in the know, a pointless item in ''Blood Money'' (a lobster in the sex club level) has no description in the inventory, but rather the message "[[AC:Allen please add details]]". This has since become a meme where IO demands "More details, Allan!" as a form of mockery.

** In ''Codename 47'', Lee Hong's Resteraunt had a swanky brothel attached. If you pocketed a VIP pass on your way inside, 47 was allowed a moment alone with Mei Ling...well, let's not get too nostalgic. Mei Ling survived, lived long and married a prince. No, actually she shacked up with yet another pimp, and can be found chillaxing in his castle (to 47's annoyance).

** Jasper Knight was world-famous chessplayer who murdered the Soviet ambassador, poisoning him with ricin-coated chess pieces during a match. Jasper then fled to communist Cuba, arranging safe passage across the Iron Curtain for himself. When Langley discovered what he had done, they hired Erich Soders to eliminate him. 47's final step toward becoming a full-fledged ICA agent is to recreate this hit.

*** The announcer is "Attack of the Saints" states that The King of Chinatown was Don Fernando Delgado's main buyer.

* CrosshairAware: "Hidden Valley" and "At the Gates" displays a HUD message when a sniper spots you. This gives 47 a chance to strafe behind a tree (or some other obstacle) and regroup.

### ''Blood Money'' opens on a relatively quiet mission in Baltimore. It's the most linear of the game's missions; each building is designed to show off the new game engine. (There's only one disguise, for instance.) It's the multiple ways in which you can kill the Swing King that set it apart from the training levels: A fire extinguisher, baseball bat, poison, bomb, strangling, pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle, or a good old push down the stairs. You have more options than Richard Kuklinski. (Speedrunners ''hate'' this level like poison, but when they are forced to do it, it's pretty interesting to see their tricks for getting Silent Assassin.)

** 47's bone marrow. Jack's main goal was to wipe out the ICA and acquire a DNA sample from 47, which holds the key to suppressing the albinos' rapid aging.

### ''Contracts'' drops you off moments where the first game began. Given its purpose (as an introduction), it's not that representative of the rest of the game, but it has a surprising amount of interactivity and layers, for instance: multiple disguises that can achieve a different goal, being able to shoot a corpse hanging from the ceiling (and you can obtain his disguise faster that way), caches of weapons to use against some difficult (armored) enemies, sniping in the courtyard, etc. The patients slaughtering clones and blood all over the place help establish the horror tone of the game.

** No shortage of ammunition in South Dakota. You can get up close and personal if you want, or you can pick off the Cougars from a second-story window. "Birdie's Gift" can go very wrong if 47 starts a shootout; all [=NPCs=] except for one are packing firearms.

** In ''Silent Assassin'', 3 missions are set in and around the Patronas Towers.

** Averted on any occasion that 47 actually visits Paris; In ''Contracts'', he's holed up in a hotel while recovering from a gunshot wound that he got after performing a hit at an opera house during the events of ''Blood Money''. The 2016 game's first episode is entirely set at a major fashion event. None of these events occur anywhere near the Eiffel Tower.

* EliteMooks: [=SWAT=] officers are equipped with body armor, assault rifles, and have a unique A.I. that actually sweeps through the level in squads searching for you, instead of simply guarding one location and reacting to your actions like every other enemy type in the game. They also attack much faster than regular enemies. ''Absolution'' has commandoes in full body armor and wielding assault rifles, and the final confrontation is [[spoiler:against a 3-man team of the Agency's best commandoes, codenamed the Praetorians.]]
** There are Elite Mooks up the wazoo in ''Absolution''. Chicago SWAT officers wield sub-machine guns and wear body armor, Blackwater Tactical Team members come equipped with body armor and silenced weapons, and the mother of all Elite Mooks, the Agency Heavy Troopers, who are covered head to toe in armor and use the most powerful assault rifles in the game.
** The Saints are played up in the promos to be a badass group of assassins dressed as nuns, and 47 just barely survives the encounter. In-game, however, they are as susceptible to all the [[OneHitKill One Hit Kills]] the normal mooks are, from headshots to garroting.

** Happily averted in ''Hitman''. Our globetrotting 'hero' rarely checks himself into a conspicuous place ("So this is Hong Kong...Not really my scene"), though Blood Money eventually led him to Washington D.C. The mission? Make like Nic Cage and break into the White House.
** IO Interactive landed in hot water when they included the Harmandir Sahib, a Sikh temple, as a sniper's nest in ''Silent Assassin''. Whoops.
** In the second act of ''Absolution'', we fade in on Mt. Rushmore as Birdie is haggling with two Southwestern men. Blake and his henchman present their counter-offer: dangling poor Birdie over the gorge like he's Vanilla Ice.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: Kind of like how James Bond still manages to be a "secret" agent while being treated like an international rock star, somehow, the Slenderman impersonator with the barcode tattoo doesn't get detained on sight, despite him being in the vicinity of high-profile murders . As the games go on, though, it becomes less and less plausible, particularly since (before the PS4 release, that is) 47 never changed his standard appearance until he was neck-deep in the mission.

* JustifiedTutorial:
** Five of the six games in the Hitman series (''Codename 47'', ''Silent Assassin'', ''Blood Money'', ''Absolution'', and 2016) have one (''Contracts'' has a dreamscape training ground instead)
### Ort-Meyer's laboratory in [=H:C47=]. The only thing to do, apart from putting a few bullets in the orderly and making your escape, is to pick up the weapons and wait for instructions.

### ''Blood Money'' opens on a relatively quiet mission in Baltimore. It's the most linear of the game's missions; each building is designed to show off the new game engine. (There's only one disguise, for instance.) You can still go off-script if you want. Ditto ''Absolution'': the tutorial lady holds your hand during the hit on Diana's place.

** Dr. Ort-Meyer created you from the DNA of himself and that of his friends, Lee Hong, Pablo Belisario Ochoa, Frantz Fuchs, and Arkadij Jegorov. They all met during their stints in the French Foreign Legion. After they went about their separate ways, they helped to set up Dr. Ort-Meyer's experiments in DNA research and cloning using money from their respective enterprises. However, the impatience of the other participants, gathered from the letters left behind after killing them, may have led Ort-Meyer into using The Agency to kill them. In addition, judging from the Doctor's own ramblings, another reason for having his friends killed is so he could have all of the clones, and glory, to himself. The power he gained from all of the cloning research made him megalomaniacal.

** Lord Winston is an "amorous" old croaker who preys on the maids in his mansion. He even built a secret passage and two-way mirror near his bedroom which allows him to spy on them showering. Anyway, he seems to have some sexual prowess in him (he shares his bed with a maid during this mission), but it's implied that they strongly dislike him. If you don't want to awaken his mistress, you can suppress the muzzle flash with a pillow to kill Winston. Bonus: you don't even have to dump the body.

* ISurrenderSuckers:
** In ''Absolution'', if 47 is caught by a guard, he can pretend to surrender. The guard will then approach him, giving him a moment to disarm and hold said guard hostage.
** The first time 47 runs into his brother, Mr. 17, he's grazed by a few harmless shots before 17 ducks into a crawlspace. If you follow him, you'll be [[SchmuckBait caught in the blast of a bomb]].

** The girl in Absolution.

* BloodOnTheDanceFloor:
** "The Meat King's Party". You deal with some seriously sick scenarios in this game (as opposed to the others which felt like a proper spy thriller), but the location for this mission hardly makes sense. Supposedly it is because 47 is hallucinating most of it, but it's hard to imagine anyone partying in a slaughterhouse.
** "Dance With the Devil"... for real. One of your targets in ''Blood Money'', Vaana, is the emcee of the Heaven/Hell club in Vegas.

** Unusual for an adversary in ''Hitman'', Charlie won't defend himself or even try to flee when you confront him, instead hiding underwater like a big baby until you leave.
** Deewanna Ji is lying unconscious on a hospital bed and awaiting a heart transplant. The same goes for [[spoiler:Eric Soders]] in ''Hitman'' (2016), when you finally do confront him.

* DeadlyDoctor: ''Paging Dr. Cropse''... When he's not checking into hotels under horrible aliases, 47 has his pick of doctor disguises: a psychotherapist in the Romanian asylum, and a surgeon in the cult hospital. Careful with that scalpel.

** In both versions of the Hong Kong missions (in ''Codename 47'' and ''Contracts'') it's possible to secure a key to Lee Hong's living quarters by escorting Mei Ling to an exit (in ''Contracts'', you can [[WhyDontYouJUstShootHim just kill her]] either, if you prefer).

* MasterOfUnlocking: ''Hitman'' was one of the early stealth series to use lockpicking several times during a mission, before games like ''Dead to Rights'' and ''Fallout'' caught on. Generally this becomes less and less useful as the games go on, as later stages rely on use electronic locks and keycards.

### "Hidden Valley." This mission was voted by the Hitman fans as the Second worst mission of the whole franchise, "At the Gates" being the first.

** The Hope Cougars are enjoying some Chicago-style pizza in celebration of their first big score. "Limp-Dick" Lenny Dexter plans to move north with his old man and take over the city with his alkie friends. Watch out folks, it's the next Al Capone. You can safety neutralize him by adding sleeping pills to the pizza.

* KillAndReplace:
** On rare occasions, 47 can assume the identity of a Target (the Red Dragon negotiator, Dr. Kovacs, Ort-Meyer's clones, Fabian Fuchs, Hendrick Schmutz, or Agent Martinez), but you'll have to kill them first. It doesn't always work, however: a lab coat alone won't permit you entry into Fritz's dental office, and Angelina will show you no mercy if you get caught with her hubby's Mardi Gras costume.
** There's a VIP room in the Pink Mansion where the Franchise assassin waits out the mission, and if you go in there, she'll try to stab you in the throat. If you look behind the sofa, 47 spies the silhouette of a unfortunate hostess lying dead in the same room. Looks like the hitwoman killed the bunny and assumed her place.
** If you hang around the Shark Club's garage, a guest will stagger out the elevator and puke on the pavement, claiming the bartender is to blame. He's refering to the hitman Maynard John, who obviously isn't very practiced in bartending. Also, if you chat up the waiter in the "Heaven" party upstairs, he mentions how awful the cabaret singer is and that they had to rush-hire another singer because the old one "had a fatal accident". That's a great clue right there as to "Eve's" real identity (a good assassin and a ''bad'' singer).
* KnifeNut:
** Used for cutting fish, veggies, throats, what have you.

** More often as not, to assume the identity of a major criminal (the Red Dragon negotiator, Fabian Fuchs, or Hendrick Schmutz), you'll have to kill them.

** "Meat King's Paty." The targets are found at a party held in celebration of Campbell's charges being dropped... A party which 47 intends to crash.

** The [=KinkyCola=] logo is the series equivalent of the Silvercup sign. It uses the same typeface as Coca-Cola.

** The Mr. 38 "Betas" are only half formed, with missing limbs and exposed muscle tissue n their face. When we do meet an earlier model of Hitman, Mr. 17, he appears perfectly normal apart from a lack of independent thought. The cult leader in Punjab manages to brainwash 17 into coming over to his side.
** ''Blood Money'', in turn, reveals that Dr. Ortmeyer's cloning techniques are being "circulated" through the hands of various organizations including The Franchise... but due to missing details, or maybe some special ingredient (the "47th chromosome") known only to Ortmyer, all of the clones are flawed. Specifically, they're all albino and mysteriously die after one or two years.

** Five of the six games in the Hitman series (''Codename 47'', ''Silent Assassin'', ''Blood Money'', ''Absolution'', and 2016) have one (''Contracts'' has a dreamscape training ground instead):

** As 47 approaches the Villa Borghese, he spots two disguises right out of the gate: a mobster and a postman. If you run, you get both before they're done piddling in the bushes. The delivery boy can't be replaced (he's a regular face around here), but hiding guns in his crate is a good tactic.