History VideoGame / HitMan

** "Death Factory", the weapons testing area of Blake Dexter's plant, is quite vast. Of particular note is the minefield testing area, where Dr. Green sits in his skybox and detonates hogs in a facsimile of 1950's American suburbia. Dr. Greeninforms you over the intercom that the whole place is honeycombed with mines. If you wander into the path of one, it won't be fun.

** So many ways to do that [[spoiler:to Soder]] in the last mission of 2016 Season 1. Just a pleasant hello will give him a shock and killed him, and tempering with his surgery will also do, but in case you want to outsource your killing again, just show the actual chief surgeon his patient is also his father's killer, and the nice doctor will off your target himself.

Each title follows the career of Mr. 47, a genetically-engineered super assassin. Accompanied by his handler, Diana, he carries out hits for the [[MurderInc International Contract Agency]] ICA whilst dodging the law (and industry rivals). It plays like a {{pastiche}} of spy and crime thrillers, blowing kisses at Creator/IanFleming and Creator/JohnWoo in particular.

Each title follows the career of Mr. 47, a genetically-engineered super assassin. Accompanied by his handler, Diana, he carries out hits for the [[MurderInc International Contract Agency]] (ICA) whilst dodging lawmen and industry rivals. It plays like a {{pastiche}} of spy and crime thrillers, blowing kisses at Creator/IanFleming and Creator/JohnWoo in particular.

** In [=H2=], you can use the hospital vents to scope out which O.R. the cult leader is staying in, but the game engine apparently wasn't ready for this yet, so the "vent" is is accessible by ladder. You don't even have to crouch.

* 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.

** In [=H2=], you can use the hospital vents to scope out which O.R. the cult leader is staying in, but the game engine apparently wasn't ready for this yet, so the "vent" is 12 ft. tall and accessible by ladder. You don't even have to crouch.

* GangstaStyle: In the reveal trailer for Hitman (2016), 47 turns his pistol to the side before killing a target. This makes the casing eject straight into the air so he can catch it.

** A notable thing about [=NPCs=] is that they aren't very observant. They rarely if ever glance upwards, and if a locked door is suddenly wide open, no one cares. If gasoline is pooling around their feet, no one smells it. (In any other game, the door thing would be trivial. But a common exploit is to shoot/wire guards through half-open doors.)
** The improved lighting engine doesn't help matters. The menacing outline of 47 is clearly seen, but enemies will not turn around to check where this shadow is coming from--even in restricted areas! In ''Absolution'', guards won't be able to spot you behind an air vent (even at eye-level), despite the telltale flicker of 47's lighter.

** Smith steals general's clothes, guards sound alarm, gatekeeper is too engrossed in his book, ignores it. Finally reaches for the phone but stands at attention for 47 and Smith.
** As long as you're wearing right disguise, guards generally don't mind if you try to navigate the levels in more-than-suspicious ways (climbing the pipes and walking on roofs). In one level of ''H2'', you can silently attach the bomb to a car while disguising as a limousine driver... and go straight down the sewer hatch, which guards apparently consider a perfectly normal thing to do.

** ''Absolution'': Wait until the "BBQ Pro" Mason [=McCready=] sends one of his men to fetch his hot sauce, which you were clever enough to exchange for some spicy butane. What's interesting is you do not hide, or even do anything during this scene. His friends will just gawk as Mason goes up in flames and will not attempt to help him.
** No NPC ever detects the strong odor of gasoline at their feet in this game.

** Agent Smith, often. No wonder he took up drinking.

** Will wonders never cease? The police are shown actually ''doing their job'' in and around the Vixen Club, investigating the death of a girl found with a Hawaii postcard on her person. The staff insists that what the dancers do "on their own time" is not their problem. (Forgive us if we don't take the mob-owned nudie bar at their word.) Looks like the net is closing tight on Dom Osmond, even if you killed him already: the cops are seen combing through the basement with flashlights, not far from where Wade practices his grisly art. Dump a cadaver over the railing and at the officers' feet to close this case.

* LighterAndSofter: ''Codename 47'', ''Silent Assassin'', and the 2016 ''Hitman'' all have a lighter, more adventurous "international man of mystery" feel to them,

** Pablo Ochoa. Interestingly enough, Don Delgado wears the same attire: a white suit and pink shirt.

* 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.

** 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.
** Mark Parchezzi and Alexander Cayne both carry Custom [=1911s=] loaded with magnum rounds.

** 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.)

''Hitman'' is a series of [[ThirdPersonShooter third-person]] [[StealthBasedGame stealth]] games by Danish developer [=IO=] Interactive, a former division of Eidos which was later a part ofe Creator/SquareEnix. As of June 2017, they are now an independent company.

* HoistByTheirOwnPetard:
** A lot of enemies can be killed in this manner. Lee Hong, for instance, has a personal bodyhuard (Tzun) who follows him around. This man is also a taste-tester, so if you spike Hong's soup with laxative & pass it on to Tzun, Hong will be left totally defenseless. Here are some more unusual examples:
** ''Contracts'': Second verse, same as the first. You have to thwart Frantz's and Boris' attempts to get their hands on a bomb again. In this hotel, the nice thing about Fritz's dental clinic is that the walls are lead-lined to hide his explosive, so nobody outside (or inside, if you fire a gun next door) will hear your gunshots.
** Thanks to the dodgy a.i., it is possible to lure Vinnie out into the driveway after alerting the FBI, then sit back and watch as he gets run over by his own witness protection team.

and his business is good.]]

* BondageIsBad: Worth it just for the fun of looking like a luchador going to a wedding

''Hitman'' is a series of [[ThirdPersonShooter third-person]] [[StealthBasedGame stealth]] games by Danish developer [=IO=] Interactive, a former division of Eidos which was later a part of Creator/SquareEnix. As of June 2017, they are now an independent company.

* GoodGunsBadGuns: If the target isn't a crack dealer or a pimp, they're most likely running guns. ''Hitman'' doesn't think too highly of merchants of death--conveniently forgetting that 47 makes full use of Kruger-Schmidt's services in each game. Thankfully he buys ''good'' guns, y'know, the ones used on people other than himself. A vast majority of enemies in ''Hitman'' wield [=Uzis and AKs=].

** Dr. Otto Wolfgang Ort-meyer is in charge of your education in the initial training level.
** Sergei appears in the flesh in H2's second mission, "St. Petersberg Stakeout". Like [[spoiler:the bride]] in ''Blood Money'', he's actually your mystery client, so sniping him by mistake results in a Game Over.
** In ''Blood Money'', Cayne spends the entire game recounting how he 'caught' 47 to Rick Hendersen, a reporter from ''First Addition''.
** Travis is steamed over Diana's defection from the Agency. He installs himself as your Handler to ensure the hit goes down smoothly. (It doesn't.)

** Soders appears in your ICA Induction before becoming the last target of 2016 season 1. The Shadow client, who is expected to be the final boss overall, narrates the opening cinematic.

** Margeaux takes over her father's drug cartel after Pappy's dementia takes a turn for the worse, mainly due to paranoia about being assassinated like Skip. She also arranges for the downfall of the Gator gang, killing six of their members and marrying their leader, Buddy, whom she puts a hit on immediately after their wedding. With Pappy, Skip, and Buddy all taking their dirt nap, Margeaux winds up holding the whole pie.

* 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.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident:
** A game mechanic introduced in ''Blood Money''. The player can shove people over balconies, rig heavy objects to fall on top of them and so on. It won't fool the coroner (their deaths are reported as "murders" in the press), but it will confuse the guards and keep them off you back. Of course, the obvious question is if you were to assassinate someone, why would you do it in such a questionable way? 'There are a million and one ways we can have this man killed, let's prioritize the least plausible ones.'
** Vice president Spaulding Burke was killed in a supposed limousine crash (staged by The Franchise). He died on the Maryland Beltway around 5:40 PM, when said limo spun out of control, flipped into oncoming traffic and was hit by a southbound tractor trailer. Yuck.
** The famous tenor, Alvaro D'Alvade, was once charged with the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. The charges were dropped after the girl refused to testify and subsequently 'disappeared'. Although Alvaro did fall under suspicion, her body was later found in a ravine and her death ruled a suicide.

* CIAEvilFBIGood: Inverted. Smith is an upstanding (if incompetent) CIA agent who has the best interests of his country at heart. The terror ringleader of ''Blood Money'' on the other hand, is a former Director of the FBI. This further complicated by Cayne's vast network of friends in the other agencies--including one Agent Martinez, a bag man for the CIA.

## In ''Blood Money'', The Franchise's mysterious boss is the same man spearheading a task force to capture 47.

[[folder:#-D]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:E-H]]

** 47's bone marrow. [[spoiler:Cayne]]'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.

** [=SMGs=] and rifles are noisy and therefore useless unless part of a disguise. The silenced SMG would be very silent and useful...if you could conceal it. Unfortunately, it is made less useful but the size of the sound suppressor, which makes it act as a rifle (i.e. it can't be hidden and you can only carry one). Also, the enemies usually have the same weapon, making them a considerable threat. Only use if in serious trouble. In a confined space, Kalashnikov is your best friend.

** In exchange for the research funding, Ort-Meyer provided his former comrades with donor organs harvested from clone bodies, which significantly extended their longevity. In his correspondence with Lee Hong, Frantz Fuchs seems to be feeling his age more than the other donor, thus explaining his impatience with Ort-Meyer: "I'm sick and tired of waiting for this old man. As you know my work needs a steady hand and sharp wit. And I'm not getting younger. Therefore I support the idea about splitting the fruit. Let's split the fruit while we can still savor it!"

** ''Contracts'': All we know about Alistair Beldingford is that he hates the Northcott family but loves to hit the booze -- hard. If 47 steals the glass that the butler (constantly) refills, he can poison Alistair's drink, which kills him quietly and instantly without his drunk friend noticing.

* GatlingGood: [[spoiler:The InfinityPlusOneSword of ''Contracts''. AwesomeButImpractical - 47's damn slow. One of the Mr. 48s comes after 47 with one.]]

** The series owes a good bit to James Bond. This is not news. From the well-dressed heroes with funny names (Agent 47 and his lovely assistant, [[PunnyName Diana Burnwood]]), to the exotic locations, to the use of "Tomorrow Never Dies" (''not'' [[Film/TomorrowNeverDies the Sheryl Crow song]]) for the end credits, they're the greatest 007 games never made.

### The second happens at the end of ''Blood Money'', at an art deco crematorium somewhere on the east coast, where Cayne plans to destroy 47's remains so nobody can create clones of him. The upside is 47 gets to shoot the attendees of his own funeral.

** Sergei appears in the flesh in H2's second mission, "St. Petersberg Stakeout". Like the bride in ''Blood Money'', he's actually your mystery client, so sniping him by mistake results in a Game Over.

** Inverted with Rick Henderson, a Washington reporter who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the beginning, Rick thinks he's been assigned to record Cayne's "post-retirement reflections" and write an opinion piece on terrorism. This is actually a cover story for Cayne's real scoop: the capture of Mr. 47. Initially, Rick doesn't trust Cayne's account of events and attempts to poke holes in the story. But when he sees 47's 'body' being readied for cremation, he realizes that the "story of the century" has fallen right into his lap -- just in time for the antidote to kick in, poor bastard. Although he will try to run away from the bloodbath, Diana locked the gates to prevent his escape.

** The objective of "Requiem" is to kill ''everyone'' at the church who can positively identify 47, as Rick's story hasn't hit the presses yet. That means taking out the 12 guards, Cayne (a paraplegic who can barely roll away), the Chaplain, and Rick Hendersen himself. Depending on which directions your enemies scatter, Rick will probably be your last target. Put a cap in his dome to end the game.

** Intentional or no, the scenes with Alexander Cayne call to mind ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire''. Just like Malloy, Rick gets killed as soon as the interview ends.

** Article of interest in a Nevada paper: ''"Lady Luck Gets a New Twang: Bajou Beauty Spreads the Chips".'' This "Bajou Beauty" is none other than Margeaux [=LeBlanc=], the black widow bride from "Till Death Do Us Apart". Looks like she fled Mississippi after the spate of murders and became a local celebrity, thanks to your help.

* LastSecondEndingChoice: In [=C47=] and ''Blood Money'', there are two endings to the final mission, depending on whether you hesitate to kill your adversary (Dr. Ort-Meyer in the original, and Alexander "Wheelchair Guy" Cayne in ''Blood Money''), with the former being the bad ending.

** Subverted in ''Blood Money''. "Requiem" starts on 47 cleaning his pistols in anticipation of a gunfight with Cayne which will make Normandy look like a tea party, but Diana wisely sneaks up and sedates him before he can act. The payoff turns out to be a combo of stealth and brawn, as Diana smuggles 47's body into the Franchise's lair and revives him while everyone else is distracted and at ease. (Although it is possible, albeit very difficult, to kill them all with "accidents".)

** 47's bone marrow. Cayne'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.

** In "Till Death Do Us Part", the bride wins her mob war without firing a shot.

** "Pappy" [=LeBlanc=] is a Mississippi crime boss as well as the father of Margeaux, who is arranged to be married to the boss of a rival cartel. Margeaux has other plans, and hires 47 to bumps off her father, uncle, ''and'' husband, allowing her to skip town with all their cash; when last seen Margeuax is partying with a {{Chippendales dancer|s}} in Vegas.

** Margeaux is a black window who put out a hit on her bridegroom and father in order to inherit all their money.

** On the loading screen for Lorne's mansion, you'll probably be curious as to who the '?' is. This represents a female assassin who's been sent to kill you by Cayne.

** "St. Petersberg Revisited", and the reemergence of a very familiar face. To quote Jeremy Irons, Sergei practically gift-wrapped that clone for you, 17, and you couldn't even dispose of him.

** Mr. Cayne in ''Hitman: Blood Money''. Turns out [[spoiler:he's the BigBad.]]

## "Requiem": If you act quickly to revive 47, you can shoot Cayne in the head before he is wheeled out. He travels with an escort, too, so he won't be as easy to grab when he's on the move. Cayne also packs a powerful sidearm, if it comes to that.

* WorldOfBuxom: In Hitman's world, there are two types of people: Ashen hags and supermodels. There is no middle ground. In the original, 47 rescued a woman who by all accounts looks like she was raised in an Saudi sheik's pleasure cage.
** A better way to phrase the issue: there are three types of human in ''Hitman'': targets, guards, and civilians. The game only considers women capable of two of those roles. Targets (dressed in latex bondage nun outfits) and civilians (whose job is to get scared and run away) And anyway, most of the men are ''impossibly'' ripped, too.

** No shortage of ammunition in South Dakota. "Birdie's Gift" can go very wrong if 47 starts a shootout at the gun range; all [=NPCs=] except for one are packing firearms.

* SchmuckBait: Shooting a bouncer in the middle of a crowded midwest saloon? Sure, nothing could possibly go wrong there! Well, unless you count 47 being turned into a human colander as something wrong...

* SenselessViolins: 47 hides his [[SniperRifle WA 2]][[RareGuns 000]] in a guitar case during the events of ''[[TieInNovel Enemy Within]]''.

** The Police Chief of Rotterdam enlists 47 to recover some photos of him having sex in the back of the cruiser. Not the kind of image enhancement you want, especially when running for Mayor.

** The son of Colorado's own Senator, Chad Bingham Jr., managed to bribe his way out of prison after an adventure with a stripper went bad. Write your congressman today and help correct this grave injustice. --Scratch that, it's an election year and daddy's friend can't afford to let Junior upset any more apple carts.

** 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.

* CallBack:
** In ''Absolution'', as 47 walks out of the church at the end of the "Operation Sledgehammer" mission, "Ave Maria" from Blood Money plays in the background.
*** The name of the mission is in itself a Call Back to the game's opening cutscene, where Travis remarks that "the job calls for a scalpel, not a sledgehammer".

* CombatDiplomacyStealth: , Most missions give you the options of run-and-gunning (at the risk of killing civilians), disguises (which sometimes let you access areas or talk to people whom you couldn't otherwise), or avoiding or evading conflict in the first place via stealth.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Many of Wade's henchmen are very uncomfortable with shooting up an orphanage full of nuns.

** The strike team in "Rosewood" need swift death. Wade lays waste to an children's hospital full of clergymen, something which disturbs even his posse. ("Whatever happened to ''duct tape?''") As if that wasn't enough, some hoods are ransacking the drug dispensary for personal and entrepreneurial use. Even Satan is like 'Are you serious??'

** 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.

** ''Codename 47'' has the Hong Kong Chief of Police. While he does his best to keep the bloodshed to a minimum, his relationship with the Hong Kong Triad is a cozy one. The big fear is that something might happen to the Chief to replace him a callow, more naive subordinate who refuses to play ball.
** ''Contracts'' features one as the main antagonist, Inspector Albert Fournier.

* 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.]]

* FramingDevice: At the opening of ''Contracts'', 47 gets shot in the chest. As he lies in a hotel room bleeding out, he begins to hallucinate and has flashbacks to previous hits he carried out, which form the game's levels.

* PraetorianGuard: Travis' last line of defense is referred to this by name. TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse in being a nuanced, realistic version, a squad of older special forces soldiers who hole in at the church and booby trap the outside. As badass as they may be, they go down just like everybody else.

* RareGuns:
** All over the place...gold plated, silenced, you name it, he's fired it. His [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMT_Hardballer default pistols are rare enough as is.]]
** The almighty W2000. Only 176 of these rifles were ever made because it was too expensive to reach widespread sales of the weapon. Notably, it is the single most expensive weapon in [=C47=]. It's also not available until you reach Rotterdam, which is 3/4 of the way through the game (he uses a Remington 700 until then). After that, 47 uses it as his primary rifle. (It is also featured in the sequels and The Movie.)
** The final level of [=C47=] is crawling with Mr. [=48s=], one of whom is toting around a minigun [!]. It's seen again in ''Contracts'' in the hands of a mental patient, but getting it is a case of GuideDangIt.